Wild Things (1998)

reviewed by
Bill Chambers


Review (c)1998 eric lurio
Wild Things
Directed by
John McNaughton 

Kem Nunn and Stephen Peters must have been on something when they wrote the script. for this thing.

It's campy, it's cheezy as cheetos, and half the time it careens from one plot twist to another in a paint by numbers fashion.

Oh yeah, it's almost pornographic, too.

Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon) is a guidence counsellor/sailing instructor at a high school in the ritzy Miami suburb of Blue Bay.

We begin the movie with Sam moderating a class called `senior seminar,' and today's program features police detectives Ray Duquette (Kevin Bacon) and Gloria Perez (Daphne Rubin-Vega) in a discussion of SEX CRIMES!

Can someone say `foreshadowing?

That's right folks! No sooner has the word been uttered than we find Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards), the rich high school slut, trying to get into Sam's pants.

But poor Sam doesn't (apparently) want her to, because he's already done it with Kelly's mom (Theresa Russell) and is currently working on Mom's lawyer's daughter (Jennifer Bini).

Ah! But what about Suzie (Neve Campbell)? Yes...Suzi, the everglades punker. She's hanging around too from the very beginning, getting ready to pounce.

Kelly makes her move. Sam (apparently) rebuffs her. So we get the old `Refusal of sex? Then it must be rape' ploy. Detectives Duquette and Perez are on the case! Then Suzie says SHE was raped by Sam too!

Sam's life goes in the toilet. His girlfriend won't sleep with him any more and her father (Robert Wagner) gets him kicked out of the yacht club.

Fortunately, our hero (?) has hired a lawyer, and in keeping with the tone of the movie, he just has to be Bill Murray...

Murray is at his best here. Sleazy as hell and wearing a neck brace in case insurance agents drop by, it's almost a shock to see that he's actually competent.

It was all a plot. Murray forces Suzy to admit she and Kerry made it all up. The scene's a real hoot.

Then we get to the first unexpected plot twist.

We can tell you about the first unexpected plot twist because it's in the trailer.

Sam was in on the whole thing, and soon he and his two erstwhile accusers are making love on the screen right in front of you. Then we have the lesbian love scenes, and then things get weird.

Now Detective Duquette is unhappy at being duped. He is sure that it was a plot to get Kerry's mom's money from the lawsuit that followed the confession.

They made us promise not to tell what the surprise ending is. And yes, there is one after about twelve more unexpected plot twists.

Then they try unsuccessfully to explain the surprise ending through flashbacks in the middle of the closing credits.

Nekkid high school students with large boobs!!! Now that's what we in the business call `high art!'


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