Wild Things Review

What is a studio movie doing in a theater that is supposed to screen porn flicks (not that it ever screens any)? Whatever the reason, it sure deserves to be there. Cheap thrills, sensuality and twists - there is an excess of them all in Wild Things. In fact there are so many twists in the tale that you wonder if there isn't more than one tale. The plot just ties itself in knots over the number of double crosses and betrayals, and after some time you just cease to figure out as to what led to what.

Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon) is a guidance counselor in an uptown school. He knows his job in the movie very well, as the first issue he raises in the movie is sex crimes. The words turn out to be ominous as two of his students, Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards) and Suzie (Neve Campbell), accuse him of raping them. Not a very promising turn of events, as Lombardo is the local Casanova, who's had Kelly's mother among other women in the town.

But Sam manages to wriggle out of the predicament in court, and also strikes a bounty of $8 million by suing the Van Ryans. If you prepare to leave at this point thinking that all is over, then you couldn't be more wrong. If you do leave, then you will have missed nearly 80 minutes of the movie, and some six more twists.

The whole drama turns out to have been fabricated by Lombardo and the two girls, in order to get rich. This lays the ground for betrayals and double crosses, till it appears that the whole cast has changed sides, and more than once. And yes, the cast includes a team of two detectives - Ray Duquette (Kevin Bacon) and Gloria Perez (Daphne Rubin-Vega) - specializing in sex crimes. Is there anything here that doesn't concern that word? Even the lawyer hired by Lombardo specializes in these cases. Phew!

With a cast remarkable for its teen appeal - you can't get better than Neve Campbell (Scream fame) and Denise Richards (Christmas Jones from the last Bond movie), as Angelina Jolie would be asking for too much - there wasn't any real need for the director to bother about the 'look and feel' of things. For all the tailor-made situations, there is one steamy scene, which you are unlikely to witness. But surely, Matt Dillon and Kevin Bacon have done better things with their talent, and they seem to know that if one goes by their expressions.

The movie delivers what it promises, and it's only a question of the projectionist putting it on the screen, without any additional editing.