In the Florida glades town of Blue Bay, Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards) is the rich queen bee of the high school. Her father killed himself leaving her with her flirtatious mother (Theresa Russell). Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon) is the school counselor accused of raping her. Police detectives Ray Duquette (Kevin Bacon) and Gloria Perez (Daphne Rubin-Vega) investigate. Sam hires unscrupulous defense lawyer Ken Bowden (Bill Murray). Suzie Toller (Neve Campbell) is the outsider poor white trash classmate who has a similar story about Sam raping her. Both stories have Sam saying No little girl can make me come.
As a noir crime mystery, this is way too convoluted to be compelling. It tries to be hard-boiled but it has a few too many twists. It has two or three twists too many. The good thing here is that this is a full-on campy sexploitation and the movie knows it. Director John McNaughton happily and proudly wades through the muck. This is deliberate cheese and there is some good fun to be had. Bill Murray is really camping it up. The threesome is famous or infamous on par with Sharon Stone. It's a cheap guilty pleasure.
Wild Things
1998
Action / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller
Wild Things
1998
Action / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller
Plot summary
Having recently been named educator of the year, Sam Lombardo is the well-liked guidance counselor and sailing instructor at Blue Bay High School on the Florida coast just outside Miami. The student body of the school is largely comprised of the offspring of the country club set, and while he helps any student he can, he especially tries to mentor those who are disadvantaged, such as Jimmy Leach who would not have been able to afford being in the sailing program otherwise, and tough Suzie Toller, a proverbial swamp girl who he's helped through a few scrapes with the law in the absence of any parents, Suzie living with her streetwise grandmother Ruby at an alligator sideshow zoo. Although not socioeconomically part of that country club set himself, he nonetheless has ingratiated himself within it, he having slept with a good number of the country club maidens, he currently settled into a relationship with Barbara Baxter, the well-off daughter of high powered lawyer Tom Baxter. Sam's world comes crashing down around him when student Kelly Van Ryan, who has made it quite clear to her classmates she is sexually attracted to him and who is the daughter of one of his former bed mates, sexually provocative widow and socially powerful Sandra Van Ryan, accuses him of raping her. Already in trouble in that no one can fight and win against the Van Ryans in Blue Bay, Sam, whose career is ruined regardless of his guilt or innocence in never being able to recover from such accusations, gets into even more problems when Suzie quickly thereafter comes forward also accusing him of previously raping her, her story similar to Kelly's. The likelihood of Kelly and Suzie colluding together to manufacture similar stories is remote as it is well known that they have always detested each other. Having now become persona non grata among that country club set, Sam is forced to hire sleazy storefront lawyer Ken Bowden to defend him. Blue Bay Police Detective Ray Duquette of the Sex Crimes Division, he investigating with his partner Gloria Perez, goes against her advice and that of DA Bryce Hunter by delving into sensitive areas in believing that not all associated with the case are as they appear on the surface.
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Fully committed campy noir sexploitation
This is where the Wild Things are
Maybe at this time some of the names are not really saying a lot to folks right now. But back when they made the picture (I know it's only just over a decade, but still) those names meant something. Denise Richards was just fresh of the success of Starship Troopers and onto being a Bond girl. Neve Campbell came off the success of Scream and it seemed she had a wonderful career in front of her. Those two women were doing an erotic thriller?
It was a dream come true (no pun intended) for most fan-boys. But what really made this movie work (apart from the great acting by everyone involved) was the script. It is very twisted and wicked, but also very good and suspenseful. So apart from the obvious titillating scenes, there is more here that will get you excited ...
Try not to read too much about the story and just enjoy this thriller for what it is ... a great B-movie with great actors and a really great story.
Twist-a-minute thriller
I remember when WILD THINGS came out on first release; for some reason, it never appealed to me. Back then I only cared about horror films like SCREAM, and this sleazy-looking thriller didn't have what it took to whet my appetite back then. Fourteen years later my tastes have broadened a great deal, so I decided to check it out.
WILD THINGS turns out to be a real thrill-ride of a film, and that's all down to Stephen Peters' script, which is tremendous. It packs more genuinely surprising twists into its running time than half a dozen other Hollywood thrillers, and you can never predict where it's about to go next.
An ensemble cast of actors known for appearances in sometimes-trashy cinema adds to the appeal. Matt Dillon does well balancing a difficult leading role, and Kevin Bacon has fun as a hard-ass cop, riffing on a role he must have played dozens of times during his career. Denise Richards, too, appears to be having a good time, trading on her cheerleader looks to decent effect, though Neve Campbell can't seem to shift her SCREAM-style goody two-shoes persona.
Watch out for decent production values, slick direction from John McNaughton (HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER) and a wicked supporting role for Bill Murray.