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IMDbPro

Spring Breakdown

  • 2009
  • R
  • 1h 24m
IMDb RATING
4.8/10
4.9K
YOUR RATING
Parker Posey, Rachel Dratch, Sophie Monk, Amy Poehler, Jana Kramer, and Kristin Cavallari in Spring Breakdown (2009)
A thirtysomething woman tasked with looking after her boss's daughter while sheÂ’s on spring break recruits her two best friends for a trip to South Padre Island.
Play trailer2:25
1 Video
99+ Photos
ComedyRomance

Three women vacation together at a popular travel destination for college co-eds on spring break.Three women vacation together at a popular travel destination for college co-eds on spring break.Three women vacation together at a popular travel destination for college co-eds on spring break.

  • Director
    • Ryan Shiraki
  • Writers
    • Ryan Shiraki
    • Rachel Dratch
  • Stars
    • Amy Poehler
    • Parker Posey
    • Rachel Dratch
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    4.8/10
    4.9K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Ryan Shiraki
    • Writers
      • Ryan Shiraki
      • Rachel Dratch
    • Stars
      • Amy Poehler
      • Parker Posey
      • Rachel Dratch
    • 18User reviews
    • 21Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Spring Breakdown
    Trailer 2:25
    Spring Breakdown

    Photos141

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    + 135
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    Top cast99+

    Edit
    Amy Poehler
    Amy Poehler
    • Gayle O'Brien
    Parker Posey
    Parker Posey
    • Becky St. Germaine
    Rachel Dratch
    Rachel Dratch
    • Judi Joskow
    Amber Tamblyn
    Amber Tamblyn
    • Ashley Hartmann
    Seth Meyers
    Seth Meyers
    • William
    Sophie Monk
    Sophie Monk
    • Mason Masters
    Jonathan Sadowski
    Jonathan Sadowski
    • Doug
    Missi Pyle
    Missi Pyle
    • Charlene
    Jane Lynch
    Jane Lynch
    • Senator 'Kay Bee' Hartmann
    Mae Whitman
    Mae Whitman
    • Lydia
    Sarah Hagan
    Sarah Hagan
    • Truvy
    Jana Kramer
    Jana Kramer
    • Seven #2
    Kristin Cavallari
    Kristin Cavallari
    • Seven #3
    Justin Hartley
    Justin Hartley
    • Todd
    Nick Thune
    Nick Thune
    • Dan - Announcer
    Bruce Vilanch
    Bruce Vilanch
    • Celebrity Judge
    Christopher Knight
    Christopher Knight
    • Celebrity Judge
    La La Anthony
    La La Anthony
    • Celebrity Judge
    • (as Alani 'La La' Vazquez)
    • Director
      • Ryan Shiraki
    • Writers
      • Ryan Shiraki
      • Rachel Dratch
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews18

    4.84.9K
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    Featured reviews

    8radigirl132

    Funny funny funny funny

    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!
    6SnoopyStyle

    Some funny bits in otherwise weak movie

    Gayle O'Brien (Amy Poehler), Becky St. Germaine (Parker Posey), and Judi Joskow (Rachel Dratch) are three friends from State College. They think that things will get better, but 15 years later, they are still losers. Becky works for Senator Hartmann (Jane Lynch). She gets sent down to springbreak to watch over the senator's daughter Ashley Hartmann (Amber Tamblyn) and her friends Lydia (Mae Whitman) and Truvy (Sarah Hagan). Only the three young friends are really just as much of losers as the three older women.

    Amy Poehler got some pretty good laughs in. When she was rejected by a blind Will Arnett, that's a funny bit. Parker Posey and Rachel Dratch aren't that funny at all. Dratch chasing after Justin Hartley seems more creepy than funny. As for the younger three, they just don't have enough to do. Amber Tamblyn is pretty good but there might be too many lead characters. Not everybody has the room to breathe.
    4D_Burke

    "Spring Breakdown" Should Have Allowed The Women Into the Writer's Room

    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.
    4Wuchakk

    Wannabe party girls

    Released in 2009 and directed by Ryan Shiraki, "Spring Breakdown" is a comedy about three geeky women in their mid-30s (Amy Poehler, Parker Posey & Rachel Dratch) who finally decide to get "with it" by going to Spring Break at the notorious South Padre Island, Texas. They're supposed to keep an eye on a senator's daughter (Amber Tamblyn) so she doesn't get out of hand. Jane Lynch plays the politician whereas Missi Pyle is on hand as a party girl.

    The plot is cute, there are some quietly amusing bits and the raunch is thankfully kept at bay, but this is mostly a missed opportunity. I think females will appreciate it more than I did; it screams "chick flick." It does, however, show the awful truth about the bikini & beer subculture built around Spring Break (pukin' on the beach and having sex with a total stranger while dead drunk; yeah that sounds like fun – woo hoo!).

    The film runs 84 minutes and was shot at South Padre Island, Texas, and Long Beach & Los Angeles (UCLA), California.

    GRADE: C- (4.5/10)
    7inkblot11

    Spring for a few bucks to rent this funny film, it will make you grin like a Cheshire cat

    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.

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    Related interests

    Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
    Comedy
    Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)
    Romance

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      When asked what IMDb-credit he would like to have removed Armie Hammer named this title.
    • Quotes

      Gayle O'Brien: This place is dog balls.

    • Connections
      Featured in MsMojo: Top 10 Must-Watch Spring Break Movies (2020)
    • Soundtracks
      True Colors
      Written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly

      Produced by Anna Waronker

      Performed by Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch and Parker Posey

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    FAQ16

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 16, 2009 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • MySpace
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Desmadre vacacional
    • Filming locations
      • South Padre Island, Texas, USA
    • Production company
      • Code Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $12,000,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 24m(84 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • SDDS
      • DTS
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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