This is the first Korine-directed film I have gotten around to, which is probably the worst way to introduce myself to his oeuvre. I have of course seen Kids, though I was rather young at the time – and rather underwhelmed too.

[Note: This is not true. I had actually seen one Korine-directed film before this, but had forgotten it, because it had made that little of an impression on me.]

But Korine has a reputation for at least being shocking and I guess that’s my first clue that I should have  measured my expectations going into something like this. Because I have seen things like Sweet Movie and Island of Death and what some people consider shocking is, well, probably not that shocking to me. It’s also reasonable to assume since this is sort of “Korine goes mainstream” that a film such as this would be even less shocking than his more infamous early work.

All of this is to say, I guess I should have just not had expectations, instead of expecting something offensive. Because this film isn’t particularly offensive, unless of course you’re a prude or one of the people this film was targeted at offending, people who I guess figured Selena Gomez or Vanessa Hudgens would never appear in films intended for adults. I should have anticipated that casting like that might be the most offensive thing going in a movie like this.

What I’m trying to say is I’m not sure whether it’s the film or me. But given my expectations of something at least a little offensive, well this is just boring. And a satire? I know satires don’t always have to be funny, but it helps if they are grounded in reality. And this isn’t, no matter how stupid kids behave during Sprang Breaaaaaaaak.

I can’t completely dismiss it. There’s some kind of intent behind it. There must be some artistic reason for the repeated dialogue, the repeated shots, the use of different types of camera effects (and possibly different types of film). Perhaps they are even good artistic reasons.

I don’t really care. Seldom have I been so bored by something supposedly so titillating. At least the ending isn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be.

A waste of time.

5/10 seems kind of generous now, but at least it’s supposed to be thought-provoking.