What did he do wrong? Everything. It seems as though either no advice or was given, or taken, in the process of directing this production. The story flow is beyond boring and formulaic, the film is a chore to watch and any movie fan can see straight through the "message". I find flaw in the vision Mr. Korine had for the film and nothing more, in fact I believe if read separately, the screenplay can probably be rather enjoyable, which explains how the movie received funding and attracted such attention.
Off the top of my head, the first half of this film is by far the longest, most dull and tedious "set up" I have experience in a movie. The first act (45 minutes or so) is spent hammering home the same idea that is painfully obvious within the first 10 minutes to any movie fan [these skanky college girls are bored, and all but one are of questionable moral fiber]. Worse yet, the process in which Mr. Korine spoon feeds us these characters and unravels the "plot" is through repetitive dialog and scenery (a stylistic choice which remains and intensifies throughout the film, at one point towards the end almost three painful minutes are spent repeating the same pointless exchange between two characters, literally). The entire movie has been dragged through every post production filter known to man so that ultimately the film is reminiscent of a bad acid-trip, electronic music and all (more on the soundtrack later).
By the time James Franco's character is introduced, I wanted to cry at how slow, derivative and seemingly pointless the story was. Mr. Franco was to be a breath of fresh air, an injection of talent and experience into the film as he portrayed a South Florida native, a gangster/rapper/drug dealer and all around scummy guy. His performance was fantastic, further cementing him into the annuls of great actors; a position he deserves all the more having to work with such terrible material. Yes, Franco's performance was believable and scary, a grandiose on-screen realization of an extravagant, soulless yet disappointingly shortsighted criminal. Inspired by all the gangster movies and rap videos one would imagine, yet woefully misguided. You believed the character, whether you liked him or not. Having met people like whom the character is based on, I was shocked at how accurate a portrayal Franco painted. Bravo; if only it was put to good use.
Unfortunately, James Franco's infusion in this mess did nothing to make the film bearable. At about halfway through the film, his character replaced Selena Gomez's character (who I am certain is in the film solely to add fame and credibility to the movie and gain the attention of countless "tweens" who the movie attempts to target with its message). Her character's departure is hilarious if it parallels what I can only imagine Ms. Gomez was actually feeling at the time. Sadly, the second act of the film, while thematically different, suffers from all the same stylistic and narrative flaws. The characters engage in activities that should be entertaining to watch, but are filmed and regurgitated back to us in such a lucid way that all momentum is lost and we are back to watching the slow, loud and pitiful death of a large mammal. You feel bad, and you just want it to end.
In a move that tells me Mr. Korine was at least somewhat self aware of the transparent and predictable nature of his story, a "twist" is inserted into the final moments of the film. Needless to say it is neither shocking, nor relevant; the only human emotion I could muster at this point was "meh". The final moments, a mix of sexuality and gunplay, play out entirely in slow motion; humorously proving once and for all that slow motion does not make everything better. In a better movie, with better vision, editing and cinematography, this may have been an exciting and climactic ending, here it was just an ending - and for that I was grateful.
One of the most advertised aspects of the movie is its exploitative soundtrack, riding on the fame and success of a relatively new genre of music known as 'dubstep' - music I actually quite enjoy. I have no complaints about the tracks or artists featured throughout except that they are quite dated; Mr. Korine is clearly not a fan of the scene else he would populate the film with more current and relevant tracks and artists from the genre, rather than the most famously played out examples of yesteryear. The music's purpose and blatant advertisement of the artists involved in the trailers and bills is as transparent as the plot and I cannot help but shake my head solemnly.
Every stylistic decision Mr. Korine has made is seemingly to appeal to the "young" crowd; the 16-18 year olds on their way to, or recently arrived at college. And here is where the movie displays its only redeemable quality - its message: Avoid being like these people. I do not know how popular and well received/regarded this film is or will be with that generation, although I am not sure I care.
I can only evaluate it as a fan of cinema, and as that, I repeat, This is not a good movie. And if this is the extent of Harmony Korine's capabilities as a director, he will probably never make a good movie; perhaps writing should be the extent of his role in the movie industry.
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