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"So you're the new chicken licker."
I Like ... the movie's first line of dialogue, from Florida princess Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards). "Fuck off!" Kirk (Paulo Benedeti) was thinking he could kiss her without asking, so Team Kelly on this one.
I Like ... that it doesn't take long to realize that Wild Things is a movie that embraces escalation. For things to work, director John McNaughton and screenwriter Stephen Peters have to deliver a fairly constant "I can't believe that just happened!" sensation. Kelly's "Fuck off!" is soon followed by trashy townie Suzie (Neve Campbell) declaring "This prick can kiss my ass." "This prick" being Det. Ray Duquette (Kevin Bacon), who's there to talk with high schoolers about sex crimes. "What is a sex crime?" '"Not gettin' any!"
I'm Okay With ... the relationship between "Educator of the Year" Sam Lombardo (Matt Dillon) and Jimmy (Cory Pendergast). It's not as nuanced as Ray and his law enforcement partner, Gloria (Daphne Rubin-Vega), or as fun as Sam and his lawyer, Ken (Bill Murray), but it'll do.
I'm Okay With ... the music as Sam takes Jimmy and Kelly home. We haven't had much memorable movie music so far in 1998, and Wild Things doesn't buck the trend. I'm wondering if whoever chose "Semi-Charmed Life" was aware of the song's darker meaning. If so, kudos! Smash Mouth's cover of "Why Can't We Be Friends?", meanwhile, reminds us exactly what time period we're in. Alex McLevy, A.V. Club, called these scenes "'90s as hell."
"Where's your hose, Mr. Lombardo?"
"The hose, Kelly, is right in front of the Jeep."
I Love ... Theresa Russell as Sandra Van Ryan. What I hated most about Hush was that it felt like a movie to see after you've seen countless better ones. I had a similar experience with Wild Things, but this time around, it's not a liability. Sandra was likely written-acted with an attitude of "Eat your heart out, Joan Crawford!"
"Okay, Kelly, what's the matter? What is it?"
"I miss Dad."
"Jesus. ... I miss him too, sometimes."
"No, you don't."
"He didn't have to kill himself, Kelly. ..."
I Love ... that following Kelly's claim of being raped by Sam, Sandra quickly makes it all about her. "My daughter ... does not get raped in Blue Bay!" That's a justifiably classic line, but I'm even more partial to "That son of a bitch must be insane to think that he can do this to me."
I Don't Like ... hearing Kelly's detailed account of the alleged rape. I know why it's included, because we needed to hear the eventually meaningful line, "No little girl can make me come." But it does also remind us that these sort of things happen outside of trashy movie characters' lies.
I Like ... that Wild Things apparently earned Bill Murray his Los Angeles Film Critics Association award for Best Supporting Actor just as much as Rushmore did. "A year ago, when her old man blew his brains out, Kelly lost it, ran away. They found her in some fleabag motel coked out of her gourd. Meanwhile, you, Sam, are voted Educator of the Year, or some crap. ..."
I Like ... the foreshadowing of Ray's past when Ruby (Carrie Snodgress) directs him and Gloria to Suzie. "You won't shoot her, will ya?"
I'm Okay With ... Neve's over-emphasized delivery of "Don't touch me!" being used out of context in the TV ads.
Courtesy YouTube
"He raped me on the floor of his shitty house."
-- I Like ... Tom Baxter (Robert Wagner), the Van Ryans' attorney, being put in his place by Judge Wexler (Victoria Bass) when Kelly's claims against Sam publicly unravel. I'm of two minds about Tom and Sandra more or less disappearing from Wild Things after Sam scores $8.5 million from her for defamation. There's really nothing else they can do, but it was fun having them around.
-- I Like ... Sam's Educator of the Year trophy getting pulverized during Kelly's public rampage. C'mon, you knew that thing would eventually be destroyed.
-- I Like ... the reveal that Sam, Kelly and Suzie teamed up to get Sandra's money. Considering $8.5 million in 1998 is worth nearly $15 million in 2022, I can understand why all three wanted to make sure they wouldn't get (proverbially) screwed.
-- I Don't Like ... the sadness in hindsight emanating from this April 1998 Entertainment Weekly piece on Denise Richards. "Scripts (are) arriving almost daily -- although she still hasn't found that 'light romantic comedy' she's hoping for." While I'm bummed that romcoms were the best Denise could hope for*, I hope that she still got a shot at them. Entertainment Weekly in 2018: "And for Richards ... Wild Things might have defined her a little too much. Within four years she would be Mrs. Charlie Sheen."
*In reality, the best she got was Drop Dead Gorgeous, which did at least fulfill her want to play comedy.
-- I'm Okay With ... the increasing reveals that Ray's a real bastard. Justice For Davy! As it turns out, it's both in-character (following orders) and because that's the type of person he is. Ray didn't have to talk so seemingly sincerely to Gloria, but it's those little touches that make him almost as ingenious as Suzie.
"My mom would kill me if she knew I took the Rover."
-- I Don't Like ... Walter (Marc Macaulay) trying to make his own dentures. Eww!
-- I'm Okay With ... Matt Dillon experiencing voyeurism from both sides in 1998. I don't like that he didn't have to get as undressed as Cameron Diaz did in There's Something About Mary.
-- I Like ... that McNaughton and Peters were imaginative. In a 1998 interview with Nathan Rabin, McNaughton said Wild Things is a twist on thrillers. "If I'm in a genre again, the whole challenge is to make it original."
-- I Like ... the next round of twists. Kelly, who Ray claims that he killed in self defense, posthumously takes the rap for Suzie's murder, which we saw was committed by Sam. This was when I really wanted another check-in on Sandra, although maybe it would have been too heavy for the movie. Ray, whose last action as a police officer was to claim Sam killed Suzie, turns out to be Sam's partner.
-- I Wouldn't Have Minded ... some clarity as to whether or not the guys had sex. Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly, agreed. "(I wondered) why the film didn't go further with its bisexual implications, as if such activities are encouraged only when they involve babelicious lesbians." Alas. Anyway, Sam is not happy that Ray killed Kelly. "To large accounts and no loose ends."
-- I Like ... that Wild Things was a bit meta. Janet Maslin: "A certain mythology has begun to surround (Campbell's) on-screen survival instincts, and this film pointedly manipulates that." Surprise! Suzie's alive, and a blonde! She kills Ray, whose bad blood with Suzie is revealed back in Florida to Gloria. Poor Gloria. I hope she was able to put these beautiful but ugly people behind her.
-- I Like ... that Suzie apparently also prefers having no loose ends. She likely anticipated that Ray would kill Kelly, which would convince Sam that he and Suzie needed to kill Ray. After that, she could have let Sam live ...
"That's one of the first things I noticed about you, Sam. You like to cruise. ... Take college, for instance. I'll be the classes you took were the ones where the finals were multiple choice. And you never bought the book. You'd always find some girl to loan you hers, and then you'd have to fuck her after that, right? Is that how it went? ..."
-- I Love ... the escalation. Suzie doesn't just poison Sam, she knocks him overboard. And partially because she really was hurt that Sam wasn't there when she needed him. In spite of it all, she was kind enough to leave some money for Ruby and Walter, which is more than I can say for Kathleen Turner in Body Heat.
-- I Like ... that Wild Things was a pioneer in the field of mid-credit scenes.
Recommended.
Thoughts:
-- "Where'd she get those shoes, Whores For Less?"
-- Box Office: Grossing $30.1 million on a $20 million budget, this opened at No. 4 and came in at No. 64 for 1998.
-- Critic's Corner, the movie: "Could not have existed before the current age of irony," Scott Tobias declared at the A.V. Club in 2008. "A movie that's sophisticated in its classlessness." Ten years later, McLevy called it "almost embarassingly watchable ... grade-A cheese, and knows it." Desson Howe, Washington Post, from 1998: "(It) may not have a single redeeming feature, but it doesn't have a dull moment, either." Gleiberman: "(It) does prove that a little erotic nastiness always looks good, especially on the most unblemished of stars."
-- Critic's Corner, the cast: "She's an adolescent fantasy made flesh, plus a little silicone -- a blow-up doll come (mostly) to life," Sam Adams wrote of Richards in 2013. Roger Ebert was slightly more respectful: "(Richards) reminds us of the classic Hollywood line about Esther Williams: 'Dry, she ain't much. Wet, she's a star!'" Variety was impressed that "There's not a wrong not struck by the game group of players." Tell that to Troy Patterson, Entertainment Weekly's video reviewer. Troy found Dillon to be "fabulously miscast."
-- Awards Watch: In addition to Murray's L.A. critics award, Wild Things was recognized by the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards for Favorite Supporting Actress -- Suspense. Rubin-Vega won over Carla Gugino in Snake Eyes and Becky Ann Baker in A Simple Plan. Things weren't so rosy with the Saturn Awards, where the music lost to Vampires; the MTV Movie Awards, where Dillon, Richards and Campbell's kiss lost to Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes in Shakespeare in Love; and the Stinkers Awards, where Campbell lost for this and 54 to her Party of Five costar, Lacey Chabert, for her work in Lost in Space
-- Hey, It's ...!: Jeff Perry.
-- Fanservice Junction: Besides Richards, Dillon, Bacon, Campbell's body double and Russell, there's Eduardo Yáñez as Frankie, Sandra's "deck hand."
-- "Hey, Jimmy. People aren't always what they appear to be. Don't forget that."
-- Next: Mercury Rising. On deck: Grease.
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