Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that even though former Disney stars Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens are in Spring Breakers, it's absolutely not appropriate for teens. This is a hard-R film from controversial director Harmony Korine (Kids), and it explores the naivete of college students who expect spring break to be an otherworldy, life-changing experience. There's constant, overt sexuality (including three-way sex scenes and lots of toplessness), substance abuse (mostly marijuana and cocaine), swearing ("f--k," "s--t," and much more), and violence. People die from being shot and are injured with bullet wounds. Underage men and women are arrested and indulge in sexual acts with strangers they've just met. Bottom line? Every terrible thing that a parent could imagine happening during spring break is unflinchingly on display in this envelope-pushing satire of teen comedies.
Sexual
Content
The entire movie is highly sexualized. From the opening scene, there are countless close-up shots of topless, bikini-clad young women -- at the beach, at motels, and at parties. There are two three-way sex scenes, one of which shows topless older women and the other the bare backs and bottoms of the younger women. Widespread debauchery tied to substance use. Shirtless guys pour beer (strategically placed in front of their crotches) into the mouths of topless girls on the floor below; young men and women snort cocaine from a topless woman's chest -- some of them stopping to kiss her breasts. A topless woman teases a guy "You're never gonna get this p---y," and much, much, much more.
Violence
A shoot-out leaves at least a dozen people dead, and in another sequence, the girls rob a restaurant with squirt guns that they wield as if they were real. A drug dealer's henchman shoots at a car, and Cotty gets shot in the arm (but survives). Alien is obsessed with his machine guns and pistols and lets the girls play with them. Brit and Candy each pull a gun on Alien and even stick it into his mouth, but then the violence turns sexual.
Language
Not quite Quentin Tarantino-level, but pretty close: tons of "f--k" (including both the sexual connotation and "motherf---er"), plus "s--t," "a--hole," "bitch," "p--y" (as both an insult and a euphemism for "vagina"), "t-ts," "d--k," "ass," "hell," the "N" word, several "goddamn"s, and more.
Social
Behavior
The movie's most important message -- that the sexualization and "party till you drop" nature of spring break and the obsession with that lifestyle is ridiculous and in no way helps a young person discover who they really are -- may be clear to adults, but it may not be obvious to most teens.
Consumerism
El Camino, Camaro, and a Ferrari are featured, and random beer brands are shown. Tie-in products include clothes and shoes based on the characters' apparel in the movie.
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
Barely a scene that doesn't feature college students (most of whom are underage) drinking copious amounts of alcohol, smoking marijuana, and even snorting cocaine. Many of the scenes of substance abuse are repeated and incorporate sexual acts as well, like people snorting cocaine off of a topless young woman's chest, doing body shots, etc. There's also drug dealing and scenes that show people packaging and weighing drugs.
