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SELF-WORTH NOT INCLUDED!

Have you ever been walking down the aisles of your local video rental outlet, perusing the shelves and your eye catches a box, plastered with big(ish) name stars, but it’s a movie you’ve never even heard of? Nine times out of ten these films will star Wesley Snipes and rightfully deserve a DVD-only release, but that one, single time, you’re gonna find a diamond in the rough that leaves you asking yourself just what were the studio executives thinking sending this straight-to-DVD when there is a glut of horrific unfunny female-centric comedies, films like The House Bunny, stinking up the theaters.

This is the case with the hilarious Spring Breakdown, starring a trio of the best comedic actors working today: Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch and, for all intents and purposes, Parker Posey. You’d think that, especially with Poehler being a current mainstream darling, coming off of hits like Baby Mama and Parks and Recreation, they’d happily dump this movie in theaters, at least maybe in late August. It would have made a decent amount of cash back and would have probably garnered enough notice to be a bigger hit on DVD. Instead, you’re relegated to a paralyzing look of surprise as you pick up the DVD at Blockbuster and debate whether it is really worth your time, considering you’ve never heard it, especially with a “great” movie, like, say, The House Bunny in prime rental competition for your evening’s entertainment. I mean, everyone’s heard of The House Bunny, right?

The threesome of Poehler, Dratch and Posey were stereotypical nerds in college and, now, in their mid-30s, things are not much better. When the opportunity to relive their freewheeling(ish) college days via a week at South Padre presents itself, they halfheartedly accept, only to drunkenly revel in their inner-sorority whores, changing who they are completely when various stages of false-popularity start to take hold, with outlandishly grotesque results.

And it is in this parody of sorority whore/cougar world that the film works so hilariously; the three women are so wonderfully vicious in their portrayal of the world of vapid skankery that has overtook our culture in the past few years, from the white girl “urban” wannabes to the embarrassingly old “party animal” who thinks she can keep up with her younger stalwarts when it comes to keg-stands. The jokes probably hit way to close to home for too much of the audience. Test audiences were probably offended when they realized that they were the ones who were being ridiculed. I can only imagine the scores of Kappa Delta chicks who, suddenly inflamed, went home to design a t-shirt for an Anti-Spring Breakdown beer bust, only to forget about it the next day once the Sex on the Beach coma wore off. That can only be the reason this went straight-to-video. It has to be.

The special features are very “eh”. A commentary, a few wisely deleted scenes and a giggly gag reel round out the disc.

Spring Breakdown is brutally funny and takes no prisoners, refuses no shot and leaves no t-shirt un-wet. As a matter of fact, this flick can drink most other comedies under the table. Just don’t tell the girls in the Gamma house.

4