Girls Behaving Badly and James Franco With Cornrows: The Spring Breakers Trailer Has Arrived

Finally, the film you’ve been waiting for: Spring Breakers. In which former Disney stars Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens join Pretty Little Liars‘ Ashley Benson strip down for some ominous fun in the sun. In which James Franco does his best Riff Raff. In which Gucci Mane acts. The Harmony Korine-directed flick looks both bright and dark, silly and terrifying. The young ladies’ wardrobes consist of bikinis; their accessories are guns. The official description:

Brit, Candy, Cotty, and Faith have been best friends since grade school. They live together in a boring college dorm and are hungry for adventure. All they have to do is save enough money for spring break to get their shot at having some real fun.

A serendipitous encounter with rapper “Alien” promises to provide the girls with all the thrill and excitement they could hope for. With the encouragement of their new friend, it soon becomes unclear how far the girls are willing to go to experience a spring break they will never forget.

Like recent movies Hanna and Sucker Punch, Spring Breakers throws a glowing spotlight on gun-slinging heroines. It’s tough to tell from this trailer whether the sexually charged violence is an authentic portrayal of strong, badass, well-rounded female characters, or merely some kind of chickspoitation by writer/dircetor Korine (known for Kids and Gummo). But one thing is for sure: When you mix half-naked young women with cash and automatic weapons, you certainly get our attention. And Vanessa Hudgens doesn’t make it sound exploitative:

I’ve never done anything like this before, and it was so freeing. Every girl at some point would like to go on spring break and have that opportunity to let loose. It’s just really interesting doing it through a character that has a lot of depth.