Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
College students on drunken spree seek sex; language.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 16+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Mardi Gras: Spring Break
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
Loutish behavior characterizes MARDI GRAS: SPRING BREAK's reason for being. Bump (Josh Gad) is a loud, oblivious college student whose stated goal is to spend spring break getting "laid," and helping his seemingly stupid friend Scottie (Bret Harrison) lose his virginity. He hopes to find the perfect level of drunken debauchery to achieve those goals in New Orleans at Mardi Gras. Their seemingly normal friend Mike (Nicholas D'Agosto) has a pretty girlfriend and no desire to go to partying in the Louisiana streets, but the girlfriend bails on him because her grandfather has died. With no vacancies in New Orleans hotels, they sleep on the street. They get very drunk and watch women bare their breasts at the request of men on the street. Unfortunately, one of the ecstatic breast-barers turns out to be Mike's girlfriend. Could this trip get even worse?
Is It Any Good?
The quality here is low, but so is the goal, it seems. Mardi Gras: Spring Break aims to be as crude and offensive as possible, as when the dumbest of the trio decides that the best way to deal with a toilet that doesn't flush is to take the poop he deposited in it out by hand and wrap it in a towel. This gross-out leads to a clunkily set-up joke involving the towel's contents and, yes, a fan. Much screen time is spent on Bump using crude slang body-part words, denigrating women as if to show he's a cool, knowing man of the world. He is none of those. He is, in fact, a tedious buffoon. That all three seem kind of clueless is part of the scenario, as they mostly delight in Bump's pushy demeanor and daring utterances.
Mostly, the guys act as if they were 14-year-old boys pushing the envelope to see what they can get away with in front of the grownups. If this movie appeals to anyone at all, it would probably be 14-year-old boys. The outtakes that run during the final credits suggest that the cast had a far more amusing time making this movie than anyone will have watching it.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the notion that it's funny to say aloud what many people think (but keep to themselves) and to say it in the crudest and raunchiest terms possible. What makes a movie that does that funny? What makes it uncomfortable?
How does this movie compare with Bridesmaids, which is also crude but is also about friendship?
How do movies that emphasis bodily functions we may be uncomfortable talking about (sex, urination, pooping, farting) differ from comedies that get us to laugh by way of making more complex observations about humans?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : September 23, 2011
- Cast : Nicholas D'Agosto , Josh Gad , Bret Harrison
- Director : Phil Dornfeld
- Inclusion Information : Middle Eastern/North African Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Comedy
- Run time : 88 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : crude and sexual content, graphic nudity, and language throughout
- Last updated : May 1, 2026
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