WILD THINGS (1998) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge
Director: John McNaughton Writer: Stephen Peters Starring: Kevin Bacon, Matt Dillon, Neve Campbell, Denise Richards, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Teresa Russell, Robert Wagner, Bill Murray, Jeff Perry, Carrie Snodgress, Jennifer Bini
When Guidance Counselor Ray Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon) gives a lecture on sex crimes, asking exactly what is a sex crime, one of the students replies "Not gettin' any!" What better way would there be to set the tone for this film, which is campy, ridiculous, trashy? "Wild Things" is one of the most proposterous thrillers, and I'm confident in saying that save for the direction, the presence of major stars, and high production values, this film has no difference than something you'd see on UHF at 2:30 in the morning on any given weeknight, and just a hair bit less sex and nudity than some erotic thriller you'd see on Cinemax starring Shannon Tweed. But as I said, there's still the direction.
"Wild Things" is trash. I'm blunt about this. It's a film that features awful dialogue, some really bad acting, too many twists, no one protagonist to follow and admire, and some truly ridiculous moments. It also features, simultaneously, delightfully bad dialogue, wonderfully campy performances, so many twists that it's fun, no moral characters, and some moments which have the same kind of comic appeal as a Marx Brother movie. Yes, "Wild Things" is trash; it's your decision whether or not that's a bad thing.
"Wild Things" is the second Florida noir of the year, taking place in a giant town near the Everglades. The opening shot is a maginficent montage surrounding the area, showing not only the alligators and swamp areas, but also the large homes, suggesting a possible parallel between the two (and how right it is). And the music by George S. Clinton is a wonderful mix of B-grade jazz noir music and Bernard Herrman Hitchcock music (I swear, he took riffs from "Psycho"). Here, we enter into a high school, and are introduced to two character students: Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards, previously a star of "Starship Troopers"), as a popular high school cheerleader; and Suzie Toller (Neve Campbell, dirtied up considerably), a white trash...or swamp trash outsider who smokes pot and dresses wildly.
Apparently Kelly has a big school girl crush on Sam, and after she enters his house after washing his jeep one Sunday morning, she exits with her clothes torn up, and swearing that Sam raped her. Her wealthy slut mom (Teresa Russell, who I haven't seen since the 80s...and no, I didn't see "Whore") hears about it, and into the scene come two Law Enforcement Officers - Ray Duquette (Kevin Bacon) and Gloria Perez (Daphne Rubin-Vega, from the original cast of "Rent"), who investigate Sam while he gets himself a shyster lawyer, Ken Bowden (Bill Murray), who we meet as he's wearing a false neck brace because "some insurance men were hanging around." To make things interesting, Suzie enters back into the scene, claiming that she was also raped by Sam earlier on.
To explain anything from this point on would be a really nasty thing to do; it gets really really wacky, events blow up that you don't think would occur, and, well, things get really fun. Earlier this year, "Palmetto" came out and while that film didn't possess the campy wit it really needed to make it fun (apparently: I didn't see it), this one does. Director John McNaughton ("Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer," "Mad Dog and Glory") directs this with tongue placed firmly in cheek, making the film an almost comedy, if viewed in the right way. He gets great help from friend Murray who is the funniest he's been in a real long time. Just to see him adds a lot of comic air into the film. He also gets mileage out of Robert Wagner, who, sadly, hasn't been able to be taken seriously as an actor for a long time, but who, gladly, puts a campy spin on himself (just to see him makes me giggle; to hear him say sternly "You're finished in this town!" is downright hilarious).
Meanwhile, Kevin Bacon plays his role delightfully Joe Friday for most of the film, Matt Dillon is wonderfully B-grade serious, Neve Campbell abandons her usual good girl schtick and comes across hilariously, Teresa Russell is wonderfully bitchy and post-seductive, and Denise Richards goes completely south of the border with a performance so campy and wacky it's admirable. Sure, it may seem like bad acting, but it's supposed to.
The film has no center, and is constantly switching protagonists. I actually liked this approach. It was manipulative, so that the viewer never knows exactly what is going on, but instead of playing this straight, which would have killed the film, it plays this for laughs. After about the fifth or sixth twist, I just started laughing at every one afterwards. This also creates for a very fun film to keep track of, as anything can happen at several points, such as two distinctive moments where we see characters go into houses, never see inside, but see the outcome, not sure how it reached there. Even in the end credits, the film is showing us the past, trying to explain itself because of this approach. Thankfully, it works.
And...as an added bonus for some, there IS some sexual content, such as a threesome (between three actors I won't mention here), and some good old lesbian action (between two actresses I won't mention here). I also should just warn those guys who watch "Party of Five" religiously that no, Neve Campbell does not get naked. But Kevin Bacon does. Be warned though.
The result of "Wild Things" is a film that is campy, trashy, but just plain fun. It's a guilty pleasure, an aquired taste. Many people may be completely turned off by all the sex, ridiculous plot twists, and all the other crap in this film. Then again, others like me may have a great time watching it. It's something you watch so that you can guess all the twists, but not to take them seriously because, after all, how could you take some of these twists seriiously. "Wild Things" is a film you enjoy or you don't. There's no middle ground.
MY RATING (out of 4): ***
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