THE AISLE SEAT - "WILD THINGS"
by Mike McGranaghan
Although Wild Things is being sold as an erotic thriller, it is really the latest (very) dark comedy from director John McNaughton, a filmmaker with a gift for combining violent, uneasy plots and sly satire. McNaughton's previous films are the disturbing Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, the underrated Mad Dog and Glory, and Normal Life, a great movie that was shamefully disregarded by its own studio. Wild Things fits perfectly within this series of films. It is lurid, borderline smutty, fascinatingly complex, and often wickedly funny.
Because the plot twists and turns so many ways, I will reveal very little about it. Matt Dillon plays Sam Lombardo, a high school guidance counselor in a Florida town. Sam is noted for his flings with various socialites, but it is a comely student named Kelly Van Ryan (Denise Richards) who really catches his eye. Kelly is hot for Sam, and schemes to be alone with him one hot afternoon. But afterward, she accuses him of raping her. Another student named Suzie Toller (Neve Campbell) steps forward to say that she, too was raped by Lombardo.
I'll stop there. One of the best things about Wild Things is that - while the first hour is a conventional story - the second hour unloads one shock after another. You think you know what's going on, only to find that the characters are mixed up in a series of double and triple crosses. The fun comes in trying to put all the disparate pieces together. The structure of Wild Things adds to the pleasure: the film concocts a meticulously planned crime that leads to a surprise revelation at the end. Then, as the final credits roll, it shows the audience flashbacks that explain how the crime was carried out. During the film, there are moments when the screen fades to black at important times and we are left wondering what really happened in those spaces. The flashbacks allow us to make all the essential connections.
Wild Things also has a terrific cast of supporting characters played by actors you wouldn't necessarily expect to see sharing a screen together. They include a detective named Ray Duquette (Kevin Bacon) who tries to get to the root of the crime, a shyster lawyer (Bill Murray in a fiercely funny role), the sexbomb mother of Lombardo's accuser (Theresa Russell), and a self-absorbed attorney (Robert Wagner) who gets to deliver one of the movie's best lines of dialogue. Each character has some important contribution to the intricate plot.
They're all good, but it is really the three main stars who carry the bulk of the film. Dillon (a good actor who seldom gets the credit he deserves) makes a convincingly vague protagonist. Is Sam Lombardo a vicious rapist who exploits young girls, or the victim of unfounded accusations? Dillon constantly keeps you guessing. Neve Campbell is also quite good in a role light years away from the one she plays on Party of Five. Suzie is an untamed youth, a disaffected woman whose toughness is worn like a medal. As good as Dillon and Campbell are, it is likely to be Denise Richards who gets the majority of the attention. The actress brings a campy intensity to the part of a spoiled little rich girl. Richards serves as the sexual center of the film (the camera often lingers over her body), but she gives a surprisingly strong performance. I figured she was just another no-talent pretty face following her work in Starship Troopers, but after this film I expect she'll become much sought-after in Hollywood.
As I said at the top, this movie is being sold as an erotic thriller - and with good reason. It has all the intrigue of a thriller, and it's a very sexual film. The nudity is extensive (even Kevin Bacon goes full frontal nude) and there are several graphic sex scenes.
However, this is all part of the style of the movie. The actors must walk a fine line by giving serious dramatic performances in a movie where everyone and everything is excessive and melodramatic. There is a kind of dark humor that runs underneath Wild Things due to this style. The contrast between straightforward acting and over-the-top plotting creates a very subtle satire of tabloid TV/Jerry Springer voyeurism. These days it seems like nothing is too exploitative to be turned into entertainment; Wild Things cleverly thumbs its nose at the whole notion of using white-trash sleaziness as entertainment by populating its story with beautiful rich people. When they engage in ritual back-stabbings, multiple affairs, and murder, it seems tragic, not something to cheer for.
I enjoyed Wild Things a lot, on the level at which it was meant to be enjoyed. The movie is a lot like a jigsaw puzzle in which all the pieces fit, but you don't know exactly what you're looking at until the very last piece is in place. Wild Things kept me guessing all the way up to its final image. As I drove away from the theater, I reconnected all the parts of the mystery in my mind and became amazed by how devious it all was.
(
out of four)
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