41 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
41 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
i have a soft spot in my heart for pure , amoral sleaze .
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i liked showgirls ( there , i said it ) .
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i typically enjoy myself when sitting through that eszterhaz , sex-filled cinematic tabloid-ish trash .
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wild things is the best sleazy film i've ever seen .
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it's filled with great performances , graphic sex , three-way sex , rape charges , double-crosses , plot twists , genitalia of all genders , graphic violence , death , witty humor , and , best of all , denise richards .
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criticizing this film for being disgusting , raucous , and just plain wrong is as fundamentally pointless as criticizing citizen kane for being disturbing , or titanic for being lofty and epic .
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wild things is a film that succeeds in its endeavors , but i don't just admire it for this--i admire it for being so entertaining and such a fun time at the movies .
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i must admit up-front , however , that i am directly in the center of the age group to which this film has been engineered to appeal .
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i imagine that this shows .
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it's hard to give a plot summary without giving away pieces that shouldn't be known .
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i thought i had the whole thing worked out from the trailer , but i was wrong ; there are a lot of turns here .
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i'll just say that the film takes place in blue bay , a rich little town in florida .
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in blue bay lives sam lombardo ( matt dillon ) , a teacher who is accused of rape by two of his students , kelly van ryan ( denise richards ) , and suzie toller ( neve campbell ) .
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kelly's mother , sandra ( theresa russell ) , immediately presses charges .
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all of this happens fairly early in the film .
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and right up until this point , i had the whole film predicted .
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i was wrong , though , and every time i was proven wrong , i was shocked .
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wild things isn't even remotely plausible , but it is so fun to see where the story takes us that the implausibility of every scene is meaningless , and often invited , just for kicks .
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i remember first seeing the preview for wild things before the replacement killers .
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i'd give the preview four stars .
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it made me want to see the movie so much that i've been waiting for it anxiously ever since .
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over the past few weeks though , i started to realize that there was no way the film could live up to the preview ( see independence day ) ; thankfully , i was proven wrong .
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the preview for this film is one that needs to be studied by marketing analysts of every distribution company : not only does it make us want to see the film , but it doesn't give away any of the secrets .
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but i'm not here to talk about the preview .
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i'm here to talk about denise richards .
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now , i found her mildly interesting in starship troopers , but in wild things she appeals to such a base instinct that every scene she's in demands attention in a way that almost no other performer can .
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of course , this might have something to do with her oceanic eyes . . . and
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flawless body . . . but
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i thought she did a great job acting , too ( stop laughing ) .
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no , richards is truly a find--she is talented , and always convincing in this film .
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this mixed in with her insane physical appeal makes her a vital asset to any film she may grace in the future .
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the other actors are good , too .
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dillon is as suave as ever ( it's nice to see him bouncing back from albino alligator and in & out ) .
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bacon does a good job acting all determined and stuff as a sex crimes officer .
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neve campbell gives the most layered performance of all of them , though i won't pretend that any of these characters are deep and complex .
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for a plot like this to work , all of these people have to be insane and basically contrived .
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that's okay , because director john mcnaughton knows that he's making a self-consciously wicked film .
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each scene--even the three-way sex scene--is observed with hilarity by mcnaughton , and the result is a sleaze-fest that's too smart to resist .
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there isn't an inconsistent moment in wild things : every bit of it is alluring garbage , so trashy it's funny , and so entertaining it's painful .
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i loved it .
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