Three comedians are off to the beach for spring break fun, but their vacation turns out to be direct-to-video. Our leads have been funnier in other films and spring does appear to breakdown, but it’s more to do with the film than the idyllic setting.
Three thirty-something BFFs, Gayle (Amy Poehler, who brings along husband Will Arnett for a cameo), Becky (Parker Posey), and Judi (Rachel Dratch, are feeling like they want shed their geeky personas and wrecked personal lives.
Becky works for the gun-toting senator Kay Bee Hartman (Jane Lynch) and when her daughter Ashley (Amber Tamblyn) is going to South Padre Island, Texas for some spring break hijinks. Becky has the opportunity to unofficially escort Ashley to the island and sees it as an opportunity for she and her gal pals to finally shed the image they feel they’ve been saddled with.
Rachael Dratch probably has the most to loose since she co-stars as well as came up with the idea on which this slim comedy is hung on. The actresses have all been funnier with perhaps Posey and Poehler being the funnier of the trio as they’ve have a bigger career to milk funny out of.
However, the film’s plot is so old hat and familiar that it feels motheaten and the performers fail to breath any life into the old gal. Perhaps Dratch called in some favors to her co-stars to get them on the film to begin with. The film does start to pick up once they get to Padre Island and the partying begins, but it’s a bit too little too late.
The hope was that the film would be run through theaters but it was unceremoniously dumped onto video, even with the higher caliber of stars. When you see the tepid results you know exactly why the film was released this way. It’s been done and done better, but the picture is pretty in high definition even if the comedy is standard definition.
Spring Breakdown is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (1.85:1). Special features include a commentary with writer/director Ryan Shiraki and co-writer/actress Rachel Dratch. The rest are presented in standard definition and include 3 minutes of deleted scenes and a 2 minute gag reel.
The disc is BD-Live enabled (if your Blu-ray player is capable) and a digital copy for your PC or portable device (like you’ll want to take the film with you).
You may be familiar with the stars of the film but they’ve been funnier in other films and you’re recommended to seek one of those out. This certainly won’t feel like a vacation if you happen to pick it up at ye olde video shoppe. You might think you got dysentery on the flight over.
Spring Breakdown [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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