Spring Breakers is honest about what it has to offer and relishes it, as if it is cherishing its dirtiness. It glamourizes its boundless inhibitions filled with sex, drugs, and alcohol for all to see. If you are like me, you’re expecting to see a watered down version of girls gone wild, and like me, you’re gravely mistaken. When you ponder about Spring Breakers, think in the most general sense that parts of the High School Musical, Disney channel, and Pretty Little Liars casts made a porno together while under the influence of heavy drugs and succumbing to drunkenness as it clouds their judgement. That might be too broad and bold of a statement to make, but honestly, the amount of abuse and usage shocked me. Not because the acts themselves are shocking, simply because I wasn’t expecting Spring Breakers to be so provocative.

Spring Breakers features James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, and Selena Gomez. Directed and written by Harmony Korine, Spring Breakers is not a cliched coming of age story and it is not a horribly written love story featuring a youthful hunk for girls to drip over. You should not let your prepubescent, innocent preteens watch it until their minds are fully developed or at least until their bodies fully realized.

Four college girls named Faith (Gomez), Brit (Benson), Candy (Hudgens), and Cotty (Korine) begin scraping money together to pay for their spring break vacation but soon realize they don’t have enough cash. Planning a simple, yet dangerous robbery to gather the remaining amount needed. The girls put their plan into action and pull it off successfully. Soon they are busing their way down to spring break. Upon attending a wild party, the girls wind up in jail. They are bailed out by a rapper named Alien (Franco). As the situations continue to become more and more severe and uncomfortable, the girls begin to trail off. When guns, violence, and murder creeps its way into their vacation, the girls dwindle until the strongest remain.

The most surprising and seductive sequence is definitely the three way between Ashley Benson, Vanessa Hudgens, and James Franco. I was not expecting that at all. The most hilarious, yet oddly hypnotizing scene is the singalong sequence. James Franco sits in front of a piano outside, his dreadlocks waving as he shows his gangster sensitive side. The girls begin to surround him, dressed in pink ski-masks and holding weapons. Together, they begin a haunting rendition of a Britney Spears song. With the ocean glistening and the calmness of their surroundings contrasting the sheer dissonance in their voices and the ambience of the piano, this sequence is one of the best of 2013 to date.

As for performances, I was actually stunned at how the girls handled their characters, capably I might add. The four are never insecure about getting personal and physical with their co-stars, especially Rachel Korine. The three way with Benson and Hudgens definitely took courage and stamina, so I applaud them. Gomez is passable in a limited role and still looks stunning. But, as decent as they were, Franco steals the movie. If it wasn’t for his inspired performance of an illiterate, vicious thug, the picture would have been a bust. The film in its entirety is surprisingly decent, but it becomes excessively repetitive, literally. The same dialogue is looped and the themes, even though relevant, are played out and weary. Despite Franco and the girls giving it their all and some uniqueness worthy of appreciation, there is little to grasp hold of.