On March 15th, "Spring Breakers" hit theaters filled with buzz.
The film about four college girls who land in jail after robbing a restaurant received mixed reception but the actor's garnered phenomenal reviews and some critics even began to speak of Oscar possibilities.
The Associated Press phrased Franco stating, "James Franco steals the whole movie away when he arrives about halfway through as a cornrowed, wanna-be gangster rapper named Alien (pronounced a-LEEN). It's a showy, wonderfully weird performance, but Franco also finds the vulnerability beneath the bravado. And in playing a complicated, flawed ringleader, he's much more effective here than he was in ''Oz the Great and Powerful.''
The Village Voice stated that Franco's acting is "a full-blown Method performance (with an emphasis on "meth") that can also be seen as a knowing lampoon of Method acting."
Peter Traver's of Rolling Stone called his performance a "Tour de force" and the Playlist stated, "it's Franco's film. He doesn't appear in any substance until nearly halfway through, but his Florida Fagin is enormously entertaining."Finally Coming Soon added, "it's another high point in Franco's career, because the character is insanely hilarious, and he seems to be improvising whole sequences."
Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine were also given outstanding reviews. The associated press stated that the four girls "get to show some range, we get to gawk." The PlayList added, "Gomez has the best-defined role and Hudgens and Benson are charismatic."
With Oscar nominations being announced next February it may be too soon to predict a nomination for Franco or any of the girls. Still if the film continues to receive buzz and does well at the box office, the film could potentially resonate and get Oscar Nods.
The film premiered at the Venice, Toronto and SXSW Film Festivals. A24 distributed the film in limited release and will expand nationwide later this month.