Rarely do films wind up more appreciated as the years go by, and even more rarely do especially sleazy B movies suddenly take on the reputation of "art." Wild Things is the exception that shows why, rarely, all the forces can turn potentially cheesy noir into a classic.
In retrospect, it's obvious that the film's stars were major talents at the top of their respective games. At the time, the film seemed like an unassuming little bit of nonsense dropped into theaters in the relatively dead month of March in 1998 that quickly achieved the level of "cult classic."
The film tells the tale of Sam Lombardo, an apparently straight arrow of a guidance counselor at a coastal Florida high school, who gets ensnared by a racy student (Denise Richards) who accuses him of rape after a student car wash. When a second teen (Neve Campbell, pre-Scream) comes forward with a similar charge, it seems like Sam's career is toast. but a last minute courtroom revelation turns the tables and Sam is apparently innocent... or is he?
Wild Things benefits both from strong writing - the scripts various twists are genuinely unexpected - and a string of solid performances, starting with Richards and Campbell, but also Matt Dillon's Sam and Kevin Bacon as the police detective investigating the girls claims (along with his partner, played expertly by Daphne Rubin-Vega). But the cast also includes Theresa Russell, Carrie Snodgrass, Bill Murray, and Robert Wagner, finally getting to play the grown up part in some version of Flamingo Road or Peyton Place, and swearing like a sailor to prove it.
A twisty, tasty plot is part of the film's charm, but what sells it is the sleaziness of the business at hand. Almost nothing this racy has been made for movie screens in years, and while some tv shows offer hints of debauchery, this film spares almost nothing. Renowned for Richards' nude scene, and full rear - and frontals - of Kevin Bacon, Wild Things shares with Cruel Intentions (1999) that sense of Hollywood smashing the last vestiges of innocence at the end of the century. Nothing is off limits, and everything is up for grabs.
In retrospect, Wild Things is simply a B movie noir flick that somehow got made with solid direction (John McNaughton) and a top flight cast, a reminder of what can happen when great talent really lets loose on good material, even the dark, smutty storytelling at play here. Dillon's slinky smoothness has rarely been used as effectively. Richards made a career out of this, and Campbell added this to a string of successes (The Craft, Scream) that established her as the smart star of dark films. And Bacon, well, aside from producing it, turns in one of his most solid performances, where the darkness only gets visible by degrees.
But mostly, Wild Things holds up as a great, crazy ride through a naughty funhouse of sex, deceit and murder. And really, how many films offer that, even now?
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