Wild Things

Wild Things is entertaining if a little bizarre. Don't miss the end credits.

Matt Dillon is a teenage guidance councillor at an American high school that just seems to be full of girls who want to get into his pants.

It appears that that is exactly what happens, but the bimbo, (Denise Richards of Starship Troupers fame), screams rape. It also seems that our counsellor has been bonking with the young girl's very rich Mum (Theresa Russell who first memorably appears in a bikini and on a balcony, in one of the scenes that just must have been thrown in for laughs) and the lawyers are called in.

But are we supposed to be laughing or grimacing in Wild Things? Is this serious or what? The women are long haired American beauties and are either continually sharpening pencils and preening or writhing in short shorts.

This is high farce and sometimes soft porn, and meanwhile Wild Things chronicles an increasingly serious, if erratic plot line.

There are elements of Scream in Wild Things, partly because of the presence of Scream star Neve Campbell and Wild Thing's pop driven sound track, but Wild Things isn't another horror film, not often anyway.

This is tabloid film making. We're told that Daddy topped himself in the same vein as those stories about Aliens abducting granny, but then Wild Things slips away from black comedy into fairly sordid realism, and for a while events turn pretty serious.

But should we laugh out loud? Are we likely to cop nasty looks as we leave the theatre if we guffaw at what could be serious and rather nasty, but appears to be good old fashioned sick humour?

The messages are mixed, but this is fun movie making.

For example, it appears that Neve Campbell's character has also been violated but before you know it it seems that there's more than puppy love scurrying about, in a swimming pool, with more than midriffs exposed.

Throw in a comical Bill Murray as a low rent lawyer and most importantly Kevin Bacon who also executively produced Wild Things, as a dour cop, and by the third reel we find we're involved in a one of those twisty plot turners that leaves you guessing pleasantly as to who done it.

And what do we make of Kevin Bacon's female fellow cop (Daphne Rubin-Vega) who also can't resist our teenage counsellor? Are there really blokes who are that sexy? And what about the sex scenes, one or two of which are fairly raunchy for a Multiplex? Recommended.