Five spring break flicks to relive party days
Published 1:30 pm Wednesday, March 24, 2021
- From left: Dolores Hart, Connie Francis, Yvette Mimieux and Paula Prentiss in a scene from “Where the Boys Are” (1960).
Ah, spring break. Time to hit the road, the beach or the club for a week of parting and debauchery always ending with a solid hangover and regret. Or at least that’s the way it seems in the movies. Personally, I spent my college spring breaks at the Oregon Coast eating too much Mo’s clam chowder permanently soaked with rain — not on far -away, palm tree-lined beaches. If you’re like me, or this year’s spring break is keeping you away from bronzing in the sun, relive those days with five films full of booze-soaked misadventures.
“22 Jump Street” (2014) — The follow-up to the hit comedy based on the 1980s TV show of the same name is one of the rare good sequels. For Jenko and Schmidt (Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill), two undercover cops, the mission is to pose as college students to sniff out the supplier of a party drug that killed a student. The film relies on the friendship/bromance between Tatum and Hill’s characters, and that’s what makes it such a fun watch. Is it a perfect sequel? No. Will you still have fun with it if you liked the first? Probably. Stream it on Hulu (with Live TV) or rent it on Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube.
“Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened” (2019) and “Fyre Fraud” (2019) — Both Netflix and Hulu had dueling documentaries made and released at the same time about the now -infamous Fyre Festival. Both showcase the ultimate mess that the festival became as well as the interesting personalities behind it. “Fyre Fraud” (Hulu) has the one thing that Netflix’s doc doesn’t — an interview with mastermind Billy McFarland — and has a larger tone to the entire film, which surrounds the toxicity of social media culture. “Fyre” (Netflix) has a more direct look at the ins and outs of the failed festival in a “tell-all” style with producers and festival goers that lets each of them slowly dig themselves deeper into their privileged behavior. While it’s not specifically about spring break, it feels very much in line with the rowdiness associated with the week. Stream “Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened” on Netflix and stream “Fyre Fraud” on Hulu.
“Ibiza” (2018) — Who says you can have the stereotypical spring break trip if you’re not in college? In this Netflix original, 30-something Harper (Gillian Jacobs) is stuck in a PR job where she isn’t appreciated by her boss, so when an opportunity to fly to Barcelona to secure a new client comes up, she leaps at it and brings her best friends along (Vanessa Bayer and Phoebe Robinson). Once there, she meets DJ and superstar Leo West (Richard Madden) and the two have instant chemistry, but he leaves for party town Ibiza before anything happens. Harper throws caution to the wind and follows him. It’s a pretty typical comedy that follows the same path of a lot of romantic movies of the same ilk but still manages to be a fun watch, if not anything special. Stream it on Netflix.
“Spring Breakers” (2012) — The 93-minute romp through the hedonistic misadventures of four college girls may be on its way towards cult status, but it is still incredibly divisive with the crude and surface exploitative premise. The Harmony Korine-written and -directed film follows the spring break trip in Florida (of course) of four college friends (Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine), who get wrapped up in the dealings of rapper and drug and arms dealer named Alien (James Franco) and his territory disputes with a rival dealer. It’s brash, explicit and interestingly can be argued for being either misogynistic or feminist. Either way, it’s not for the faint of heart. Stream it on Showtime or rent it on Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube.
“Where the Boys Are” (1960) — This early example of a teen sex comedy put Fort Lauderdale on the map of spring break locations for decades to come. It follows four coeds as they make their way to the beach looking for love led by the forward-thinking and assertive Merritt (Dolores Hart). The four do end up meeting beaus, but where the film surprises is with the melancholy turn in its final acts, but does it in a quiet and profound way for the ’60s. The film also stars George Hamilton, Jim Hutton, Connie Francis, Paula Prentiss and Yvette Mimieux. Rent it on Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu or YouTube.