Wildly bad

paul2001sw-1

'Wild Things' is a hard film to comment on, basically because it is two films; or at least, one film in disguise.  It commences as an "issue-based" melodrama, except that two things seem odd: the pacing is too fast (how is the story going to last the movie?) and the bizarre score seems more fitted to a comedy.  Sure enough, this "straight" drama is wrapped up, only to subside into a larger thriller; a thriller in which twists and turns of the plot come at an ever faster rate, until in the end the film's aim is clearly to make you gasp rather than care (this is particularly evident when the missing holes in the plot are explained through the perfunctory insertion of extra scenes into the closing credits).  So, to assess it we need to ask: what's the quality of the initial set-up; how good is the twisty thriller; and how well is the transition handled?  

In fact, the same answer pretty much covers all three bases: badly.  The initial drama is based around a high school teacher accused of sexual abuse. A potentially interesting situation, but presented in an absurd manner: the teacher seems terrified from the start that the moment he is alone with a girl, she'll fall out of her bra for him (and it's the kind of film where a lot of falling out of bras goes on); and sure enough, the moment that it happens, the girl in question (inevitably gorgeous) is accusing him of rape (and her evil mother is trying to run him out of town).  One might suggest that one is meant to smell a rat as a lead in to the film's later development; but it's not just the details of the situation that ring false, but the portrayal of the whole world (when the girl, for example, first gives a statement, one policewoman suspects her of lying from the start, but never tells her colleagues (or us) why - indeed, all police work seems to proceed by arbitrary pronouncement at all points).

The twistier second half doesn't work either, in part because the first part proved so shallow; as none of the characters are likely or believable, who the hell cares if they aren't what they seem?  As the twists mount, the whole thing feels more like a parody of a David Mamet film; one can only suppose that it's meant to be humourous, but there's no humour beyond the outlines of the plot.  And the film's final joke depends entirely on the audience's prior relationship with Bill Murray; otherwise it simply makes no sense.

On the way to this disappointing end, it manages to commit most of the sins typical of films aimed at the teenaged market: gross materialism, gratuitous profanity and titillation, the insensitive intrusion of popular music in almost every scene, wafer thin characterisation and the complete absence of real insight into the human condition.  In its defence, the brisk telling of the complex story ensures that, however shallow, 'Wild Things' isn't boring. But it is flimsy, exploitative entertainment hiding under the thinnest veneer of pretension. Avoid unless you've truly nothing worthwhile to do.

score 3/10

paul2001sw-1 21 May 2004

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0476621/