Wild Things
The 1990s were definitely the era of the erotic thriller, softcore sex fests that would feature storylines of deception, deceit and betrayal as per the film that spawned the genre in Basic Instinct. Most of these movies were of a lower budgeted variety (special effects are not widely needed for practically shot sex scenes) and usually found their way to the late night cable TV audiences specifically those who had a subscription to Cinemax (aka āSkinemaxā). In 1998 though we saw the release of maybe the erotic thriller to end them all and it was certainly not a straight to cable effort either. It was helmed by an (at the time) A list director in one John McNaughton, featured a bevy of big name stars (including one who was attached as the producer) and showcased as lurid a storyline as there has ever been seen in a big budget studio production, so much so that due to its South Florida locales it became dubbed by many as being āFlorida Noirā. It was also for all obvious purposes intended to be a breakout role for one Neve Campbell who was red hot at the time coming off of her role in the first Scream as the pure as ivory snow Sidney Prescott and now the allure of seeing her in a sexually charged storyline and possibly even in sexual situations was designed to draw the cinema crowds in so that they may see Neve as theyāve never seen her before. And that they did (to an extent) as Campbell would play a girl āfrom the wrong side of the tracksā or rather because her character lived in The Everglades, āwhite swamp trashā with her showcasing her newly found edgy side by wearing dark lipstick, combat boots and peppering her dialogue with allegedly shocking obscenities including an explicit reference to anal sex. Thatās about it, except for a couple of mild lesbian scenes where her clothes would stay on due mostly to her ongoing contract status with the Party Of Five TV show that forbid her from doing any nudity in any other projects which she might work on. And that might possibly have been a mistake on her part (and doomed her career to endless Scream sequels from that point on) especially when it came to the mild lesbian scenes that she was involved in as Campbell wound up being completely upstaged by her female co star Denise Richards (then an unknown at that time but not for long) whom when everything was said and done turned out to be the only thing about the movie that any (male) viewers cared about with her beautiful eyes, pouty lips and perfect body which she would show off to absolution while Campbell would just stand by and not do all that much. Even better, playing a rich, spoiled high school student / schoolgirl type in comparison to Neveās grungy rebel just made her seem all that much hotter. As for the film itself, it’s salacious nature begins and ends with the very idea that constantly working around young teenage girls in an educational environment almost acts as an entitlement from God to have your way with anyone of them you choose as personified by guidance counselor Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon enjoying this role for all that it was worth), a swinging bachelor who walks the halls of his institution of learning and is constantly met with flirtatious looks from every proper young lady that he sees on top of hanging out on the country club circuit and properly and appropriately dating the daughter of the most powerful lawyer in this small town (Robert Wagner). The Holy Grail Of Forbidden Fruit though is one Kelly Van Ryan (Richards), madly obsessed over by every teenage boy in the school but rumored by many to be secretly in love with Dillonās Mr. Lombardo. One day after offering to wash his car, Richards sneaks into Dillonās modest little house with the apparent intention of seducing him only to later be seen running from the house crying even though we were not witness to what had happened between them. Did he rape her? She claims that he did which leads to the local police detective (co producer Kevin Bacon) and his partner (Daphne Rubin-Vega) getting put on the case. Bacon makes no secret of the fact that he finds Dillon to be a lecherous slimeball which is only amplified after his female partner mentions to him that she too finds Dillon to be attractive. After Campbellās Suzy also files a rape report against Dillon with eerily similar details, a proper arrest is formally made which really sets off Richardsā mother (Theresa Russell on the downslide of her career and still doing some quick nudity because why not?) who also happens to be one of Dillonās past country club conquests in her own right. Dillon hires a shyster lawyer (Bill Murray slyly stealing the few scenes which he gets to be in) to defend him and in a revelation that almost seems too good to be true, Murray gets Campbell up on the stand and manages to break her in open court, getting her to admit that not only did she lie, but that her and Richards (who were widely thought to have hated each other) had conspired together to make the phony rape accusations because at different times they had both felt that their trusted friend and guidance counselor Dillon had āabandonedā them in their times of need and were now looking for revenge. Murray and Dillon (who had been getting threatened and harassed by the mother and her associates) successfully parlay this into a massive lawsuit settlement which makes it appear that Dillon is now in for some easy living and retirement, but Bacon isnāt so sure, being all but certain that the whole thing was entirely a setup and vowing to get to the bottom of it even at the risk of his own law enforcement career. That in a nutshell pretty much describes the first half of this movie, but it is in the second half with a nearly nonstop barrage of bombshell plot twists that this movie earns its near legendary status amongst the erotic thriller crowd, almost shamelessly going all out in revealing one untold secret about the characters after another. When it comes to all of these twists, it seems that the one constant factor that drives them is that almost ALL of the main characters (including Murray) are pretty much lying to each other at ALL times which sets up a literal Battle Royale in the second half where we seem to be witnessing an all out fight for survival amongst them in order to see just who will be stabbing one another in the back and at what point in time it will happen. A number of things depend greatly on the different shades of grey that the characters possess, most notably Bacon (who seems to be on a crusade to bring down Dillon which nobody else can understand) whom not only is said to actually be a dirty cop (and whose past crimes could come back to haunt him) but it is also very strongly implied that not only is he GAY but also a misogynist on top of that (possibly because he chooses to remain in the closet) who is only after Dillon (a well liked pussy hound by women and girls of all ages) out of raging jealousy that Dillon is something which he could never be, an insecurity at least partially brought out by his cute female partner having mentioned earlier that she found him attractive and in the filmās most psychologically fascinating scene, she finds herself alone with Dillon on the pretense of doing her job only to wind up nearly being seduced by him as he pulls away at the moment of truth when he clearly could have wound up having her too and he knows it. Campbell and Richards also fascinate too with their hot lesbian activity as well as Neveās character (who appears to be a total social misfit complete with stutter, nervous tics, and unstable faƧade) actually turning out to be a far more intelligent and resourceful person than anyone had ever taken her for with seemingly the only person that knows anything resembling the truth about her being her grandmother (former Best Actress Oscar Nominee Carrie Snodgress) who had raised her from childhood in the swampy Everglades. And then there is Dillonās suave ladykiller, never letting anyone completely into his sociopathic nature as he wavers between kindly teacher, borderline pedophile, sex crazed deviant, swindling con artist and possibly even a murdering piece of shit who could have any woman or teenage girl that he wants in his small Florida town and winds up overcompensating that gift in order to put himself in way over his head in a film that was not only a sexy, sleazy romp but also a mildly light hearted exposure of the darkness within the human soulā¦
8/10