Wild Things

Wild Things.
1998 Columbia Pictures & Mandalay Entertainment.
Starring: Matt Dillon, Kevin Bacon, Neve Campbell, Theresa Russell, Denise Richards, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Robert Wagner, Bill Murray
Director: John McNaughton
Available at Amazon in an unrated version with seven extra minutes added. I do not own this version.

This was the first DVD I ever bought, back in late summer of 2008, when I was the biggest geek for this movie. It's safe to say that my tastes have broadened ever so slightly in the subsequent eleven years. Hell, I never once thought after stopping into the now-defunct Tower Records in Bloomingdale, Illinois one Wednesday evening after playing laser tag with my brother in law to buy this one that I would acquire over a thousand more titles since then, and almost none of them were similar to Wild Things. Unfortunately, this movie has two sequels, which from what I've read, are just remakes of the original with more emphasis on girls makin' out.

To sum it up in a few sentences: there's an ongoing plot to scam popular cheerleader Kelly Van Ryan's (Richards) mother Sandra (Russell) out of several million dollars, that involves alleged sexual misconduct between Kelly and popular guidance counselor Sam Lombardo (Dillon), and the plan also involves the outcast goth grrrl Suzie Toller (Campbell) who just happens to be romantically linked to Kelly behind the scenes, and in the swimming pool. Add the wisdom of Sam's storefront lawyer Kenneth Bowden (Murray), who's also involved, and you've got yourself $8.5 million dollars, or maybe not.

And then, as police sergeant Ray Duquette (Bacon) gets more suspicious of things, almost everyone involves starts screwing, screwing each other over, and then killing one another to get ahold of the money. Eventually, even Duquette gets caught up in the plan, and he pays for it. Lombardo also gets killed, and Suzie, who we thought was the first one knocked off after the settlement, is revealed as the true mastermind, although she had a little help from Mr. Bowden. Suzie plotted to get back at Ray for killing one of her friends, as well as Sandra (her stepsister) for being abandoned by their father. Seems like Sam was just the fall guy.

Okay. Eleven years ago, I would've easily said "YEAH, GREATEST MOVIE EVER!!!1!", but I'm not 22 years old anymore, and the idea of Neve Campbell and Denise Richards (who still can't act) kissing really does nothing for me now. Truth be told, this movie really isn't that good. Today's rating: ever so slightly recommended, largely thanks to Bill Murray, who I'm still amazed agreed to be in this film.

Instead, I'll just say "Yeah, Bill Murray is awesome!" and move on to the next review.