Primavera Maluca

This is one of those times where you CAN judge a book by its cover (or judge a DVD by its box). As the cover implies, it's a silly movie about three 30-something, nerdy women trying to pass for spring break partiers. The gags are predictable, but much like a Rodney Dangerfield movie, that's why we go to see it. No surprises, just a series of expected scenes & funny clichés.

I watched this mainly because I'm a big fan of Parker Posey (Josie & the Pussycats, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman). After seeing her in so many eccentric roles, it was interesting to see her play the straight role for a change while most of the crazy antics were handled by Rachel Dratch or Amy Poehler. Actually what made me lol the most was a hilarious supporting role by Missi Pyle (an actress who is mostly known for hilarious supporting roles, like in Galaxy Quest, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Sarah Silverman Program). Missi plays a perfect Texas slut. Equally hilarious is a supporting performance by Jane Lynch (Best in Show, Mighty Wind) as she plays a psychotic senator who could easily be the result of an unfortunate cross-breeding between Hillary Clinton & Sarah Palin. Yes, very frightening.

Lots of the gags deal with late 80s nostalgia, such as music by Cyndi Lauper, Wilson Phillips, and a painful scene of the Electric Slide that'll give you horrible flashbacks. My guess is that this film would be enjoyed by similar 30- or 40-something people who remember how awkward & goofy the 80s & 90s were. For those of us who lived through those brutally cheezy decades, it's always fun to see these kinds of movies. If you fall into that generation, I highly recommend "Music & Lyrics" with Drew Barrymore & Hugh Grant.

Final note, if you go down to your local Blockbuster you can find this DVD for $1.99 on the bargain table. For two bucks you can't go wrong!

Spring Breakdown stars Amy Poehler, Parker Posey and Rachel Dratch as three thirty-something losers. They are 15 years out of college and now they are going on a spring break vacation.

The high school or college losers are very common characters, it was a pleasure to see the older version of the cliché characters.

The movie is riddled with clichés, you will know what is going to happen next, but I still found myself laughing along with it. There are a lot of great actors in this movie and they all embody their different characters perfectly.

The movie is short and spends just the right amount of time necessary to give us the background information needed on each of the characters. The movie does not take itself seriously so it works very well for a quick, funny comedy.

Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch are among the funnier women to have been on "Saturday Night Live". It's unfortunate that they, along with Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph, were on SNL during the longest stretch of unfunny writing and sketch-making (circa 2002-2006) the show has ever had. Still, these two women most especially know what's funny, and they know how to write a funny movie.

You'll notice in the credits of this movie that Dratch and director Ryan Shiraki wrote the story for "Spring Breakdown", but who wrote the actual screenplay, consisting of dialogue and all the important fill-in-the-blank material that makes a story into a multidimensional movie? Yep, just Shiraki. Just one guy wrote the dialogue for this movie, and no women apparently wrote the script with him. The result is a pretty cliché spring break movie that doesn't so much spoof the faux holiday as much as exploit it equally as much as MTV does every year.

If Dratch, Poehler, and even co-star Parker Posey could have contributed their handwriting to the screenplay, it would have been far less cliché. The premise is original, being about three thirty-something women who were unpopular in high school (and apparently college, too), and never had the fun spring break trip they allegedly dreamed about. I say "allegedly" because you never quite know what fun is to these characters. They entered talent shows in the past where they sang stale pro-woman anthems like "True Colors", and spend their nights together holding make-your-own-pizza parties. Even though none of them are especially unattractive, the outside world appears to treat them like they are. There's a scene where a blind student of Poehler's (played by Poehler's real life husband Will Arnett) asks her out on a date, only to touch her face and immediately change his mind. If Poehler's character is supposed to be unattractive, they obviously hired the wrong actress.

The movie continues to show promise, even though we have our doubts about the main characters, when Posey's boss, Texas Senator 'Kay Bee' Hartmann (Jane Lynch, funny as always) hires Posey to watch over her unpopular college-age daughter (Amber Tamblyn, playing yet another woman who's attractive in real life, but not in the eyes of any characters in this movie) while she goes to a Laguna Beach-like vacation spot for Spring Break. Poehler and Dratch come along, they reluctantly get boozed up, party like they apparently should have when they were in college, and then comes the ultimate showdown with the sorority bitches, whose leader is Sophie Monk.

Sophie Monk is an incredibly attractive woman who has a body both women and men would kill to have for different reasons. Unfortunately, her movie career is off to a rough start with the abominably unfunny "Date Movie" (2006) and the disappointing "Click" (2006). Here, she plays a Southern belle, although her voice sounds like she stole Delta Burke's voice box. She hams it up a little too much, trying too hard to play a conniving bitch that she comes off as much like a caricature of spoiled college kids as the rest of the extras.

"Spring Breakdown" was released straight to DVD despite the star power of Amy Poehler, but rightly so because the story is way too cliché. It may as well have been called "National Lampoon's Spring Breakdown", and the magazine probably wouldn't have sued for trademark infringement because of the free publicity. If director Shiraki had given at least one woman the creative input, especially Rachel Dratch, this movie would have been great and not nearly as run-of-the-mill as frat-house comedies we've seen before. I know Dratch will come up with another funny concept, and hopefully be allowed to fill in the rest of the screenplay herself. She's funny enough, and she deserves better than this half-baked comedy that would accept Stiffler's brother with open arms.

Becky (Parker Posey) works as a sub-underling for a powerful senator (Jane Lynch). Her closest friends from high school, Gayle (Amy Poehler) and Judi (Rachel Dratch) also live nearby and they often take vacations together. One day, Gayle, a dog trainer, gets rejected by a handsome blind man (Poehler's real life hubby, Will Arnett) and Judi comes home to find her fiancé in a clinch with another man. These two are so ready for the coming vacay. But, Becky's plans change and, consequently, so does the other gals' destinations. The senator, a possible vice presidential candidate, has a daughter, Ashley (Amber Tamblyn) on a college spring break and she asks Becky to go keep an eye on her child at South Padre Island. Actually, all of the older women are fairly excited, for when they were at the university, they got rejected by sororities and never went on a spring vacation. When they arrive, the trio of ladies are greeted by a hotel clerk (Missy Pyle), who brags she is experiencing HER 18th spring break. Now, this hotel worker is going to ensure that Becky, Gayle, and Judi "party hearty", too! Along the way, the gals meet handsome younger men, witness salsa-tub wrestling, and decide to put on a singing act for the island's talent show. Will this be a memorable spring break or a breakdown, for Ashley is still under observation, after all. Well? This is really a cute story, which Dratch helped write. All of the three principals do a great job as the trusted friends, with Posey the biggest surprise, for her role is sweet and naive, not her usual sassy type. The rest of the cast is also great, with special praise for Lynch and Pyle, they are utterly hysterical. The scenery, naturally, is beautiful, making one want to hop on a plane to SPI NOW. All of the other film attributes, such as costumes, script, camera work, and direction, are worthy, too. If you like romantic comedy or any of the cast members, seek this film out. Springing a few bucks for a view will be the best decision you made all week.

I don't think this movie is for everyone. But I saw it this weekend in Seattle and I thought it was so funny. I haven't laughed that hard during a movie in long time. I thought the entire cast did a great job. You will find yourself laughing from the first moment through the very last scene. I suspect some moviegoers (especially the ones who take themselves WAY too seriously) will be turned off by this brand of humor. Not me. The movie was a real surprise. And the entire theater was rolling with laughter throughout the showing I went to which makes me think that a lot of people enjoyed themselves and were happy to have a good time at the movies for a change. I cannot wait to see it again! If you're in the mood to LOL then this is for you. Funny funny funny funny!