Spring Breakdown - Blu Ray Review

The key with making slapstick movies about women using female comedians is that it really hasn't been done before in a lot of ways where it is all out. The key is getting the right people on the boat. "Spring Breakdown", which originally played Sundance Film Festival this past January, has the right ideas in mind and most of the time is going at such blinding speed that you are definitely into it. It is actually odd that it didn't play in the theaters since it seems that this would have worked well. Warner Premiere is taking advantage of the undeniably powerful Blu Ray market but theaters are still an element of status even if it is only done for a few weeks. Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler and Missi Pyle are absolutely great across the board because they play each character with a caricature but you realize how they play into it. They don't mind playing the losers because there is much more fun in that. The only slight odd duck in the play is Parker Posey as the straight laced character who is trying to keep the Senator's daughter (played by Amber Tamblyn) on the straight and narrow. The girls definitely get out of control. It is amazing how well Poehler keeps up with the younger girls. She has a rock hard body and plays it against type but her control of her constituents intellectually really works well. Missy Pyle plays the spring break girl who has been running steady for twenty years and looks it. Pyle is a very good chameleon so you keep double taking. But it is those rare comic gems like Poehler's ad lib "See ya later Leiderhosen" and Dratch's drunken "Who wants to do me!" that gets the real laughs. The screenplay was written by Dratch and shows that she knows the ideas she wants to portray in a low-end progression. The moral resolution at the end brings to mind the fun 80s sex comedies. They have the right idea but who knows if it is the right time. Some people may not be ready for this type of broad female comedy.The deleted scenes are just snippets although the pictures on vacation with the three girls is kind of funny, more for Dratch and Poehler simply being hams. The gag reel is mostly of Parker Posey flubbing her lines but there is one gem of Missi Pyle taking gin directly from the spicket. "Spring Breakdown" may be dumb humor but for a good part of the time before it becomes resolution oriented, it is quite effective and freewheeling. Out of 5, I give it a 2.