Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Spring Breakdown DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Chaperones Find Fun in Sun during Spring Break in Silly Sitcom

Saturday Night Live fans starving for Amy Poehler while she’s on maternity leave might like to check out this silly, straight-to-video sitcom from Ryan Shiraki who directed the equally effective Freshman Orientation. Poehler, along with Parker Posey and Rachel Dratch play chaperones sent by a U.S. Senator (Jane Lynch) down to South Padre Island on the Gulf of Mexico to make sure the Vice Presidential hopeful’s teenaged daughter Ashley (Amber Tamblyn) doesn’t do anything embarrassing over Spring Break and thereby compromise the election campaign.
Well, you can only keep a girl with raging hormones cooped up in her motel room and away from boys for so long. So, wouldn’t you know it, Ashley eventually ends up involved in the sort of wanton behavior that typically transpires at resort areas catering to kids her age, like entering a wet t-shirt contest, kissing another female and getting arrested after a bar brawl?
Unfortunately, for her, the paparazzi only care about such shenanigans when a Senator’s child is involved, so there’s hell to pay when word reaches Washington. Nonetheless, the biggest laughs in this surprisingly funny farce don’t come courtesy of the predictable antics of the younger generation but from those of the nerdy babysitters who seize on a second chance in life to party with the beer and bikini set, especially Judi (Dratch) who flaunts her newfound sexuality, boasting “I mounted an Abercrombie model who’s 19 years-old.”
Thirty-something girls gone wild!

Very Good (3 stars)
Rated R for crude humor and sexual references.
Running time: 84 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Extras: commentary by the director and co-star Rachel Dratch, deleted scenes and a gag reel.

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