Wild Things | A Seductive Sleight Of Hand (Retrospective) 

What movie do you think is only talked about for one scene, and what are your overall thoughts on "Wild Things"? Let's talk about it! As always, every like/share/comment helps the channel enormously. If you're in a position to do so, you can also show your support over at www.patreon.com/inframeout IFO x

Fun Fact: In an interview, Kevin Bacon said that he has a no-nudity clause in his contract, and that becuase he was a producer of this movie, he technically could have sued himself.

Man, that moment... when the black female detective figures out that Neve Campbell's character was playing everyone all along, it flipped the whole movie on it's head for me. 🤯

A remarkable movie that punched above its weight and was perhaps too clever for its own good. The same could be said of this otherwise spot-on analysis, packed with so much head-spinning word-play and pithy puns to the point of being a distraction.

Has a really good soundtrack too. Always enjoyed watching it for the twisty plot, and Bill Freakin Murray.

This movie was supposed to be a thriller, but feels more like a parody of one. Some of the scenes and dialogue are awkward at best, and Kevin Bacon and Denise Richards ham it up. Only Bill Murray seems aware that the material is supposed to be tongue in cheek.

Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction both come to mind as films that are famous for one scene. I haven't seen either since they were in theaters, so I wonder if they hold up, or were even good at the time? Is the "one-scene-wonder" a pitfall of the "sexy thriller" genre?

Can’t thank you enough for reviewing this childhood movie of mine.

Yeah man it's brilliant. Even as a spotty teen I knew it was smarter than how it was sold. Pretty funny too. Watched it a couple years back and it still held up.

I'm glad I watched this video before I watched the movie. I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much without some minor spoilers. Thanks for the recommendation. 👍

What a great film to cover 😊

double "d"ealing. dude, you so good at this.

Excellent. Only found your channel today. But I will be watching your videos. Kudos. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

not a miss in sight. always hittin. ty IFO.

Wow, perfect timing! Just re-watched this movie a couple of days ago for no particular reason. Looking forward to what you have to say on it!

something about Matt Dillon’s line delivery in this movie makes it hard to suspend my disbelief. it sounds like an actor playing a character rather than the character. doesn’t make it less entertaining though (edited to add that I just read your comment confirming that the whole cast was actually aware of the parody-like tone. fair enough!) I love the film either way. great vid! love your channel

Watching the recent "X" made me think how we used to have films like these in the mainstream. I think that film was smarter than one might think despite it's trashy veneer. But then again it had Mia Goth in it and she is fearless as hell. I guess I thought of that film because of the alligators

It's kinda funny to think about the fact that Dennise Richards even has that in her catalog. Though really, I guess the pure edginess and shock value are slightly mitigated by Portman and Kunis doing it much more intensely in the middle of an avant garde film so strange that their sapphic shenanigans will be the only time many people stop saying "I don't understand what's going on" over and over during Black Swan, which is probably pretty funny to experience theatrically 😂🤣😂

If you watch Wild Things as a straight drama/thriller it collapses immediately. If you watch it as a satire of erotic exploitation thrillers it works. Regarding the homoerotic subtext between Dillon and Bacon I'm not sure it would have worked within the confines of the characters as already written. Both come across as so self centered that its hard to believe they could be friends let alone more. Bacon especially is so jerky he almost seems to hate everyone. It would have required quite a few rewrites to make it work and by extension resulting in a bloated movie.

Hell yeah, dude

All I remember about this movie is the threesome and the ending. I might have seen it movie theaters since I would have been like sixteen seventeen at the time. It is strange to think how big deal the three some was back than given how short it was and how you only ever she Denise Richards topless with champagne being poured on her. Really it is funny to think back how big those erotica thriller type movies back in the day given how short on sex and nudity they really were.

is it 25 years old? in my head it's only been like 10-15 years since it came out.... damn i'm getting old...

I never watched it because I thought it was exactly what they wanted me to think it was. What? On the watchlist!

I have absolutely no memory of Bill Murray being in this movie.

I wouldn't say its a single scene, I just want you to do an essay on Cruel Intentions..but I also fear it as its one of my favourite films from my youth that I love and enjoy and has one of the best movie soundtracks...then I think of the start of this film and want a full deep dive on Gregg Araki's work. now THAT would be a beautiful essay because my goodness its spanned a long length of decades now and what Gregg has done for the LGBTQ+ community and queer film has always been rather amazing.

good video, but how dare you put Paul Verhoeven in the same sentence as that hack

It's obviously a proper film. Look at the cast.

Oh man one movie that is overlooked now that also has a sexy as hell water scene is About Schmidt. I can't even count how many restless nights I've spent thinking about that hot tub scene.

3:40....well... guess I better stop the video and go check out the movie before coming back to this.

Oh man, my favorite Late Night HBO/Skinemax watch when I was a kid, ha! Seriously, though, I always thought this movie didn't get enough credit for being twisty and well developed. Yeah, it has its issues that didn't age well, but you can say that about any movie from this time. I always looked at this this film as a satire of big money Floridian culture.

A movie that tried and wanted to be heathers so badly and failed

I actually always thought Wild Things was the opposite of this video's thesis. They wanted a sexed up soapy thriller with real named actresses so kind of did enough with the plot with the hope it was high brow enough to not be seen a soft porn. They snuck a soft porn mainstream movie into the theaters under a sheen of respectability with a real plot. It only partially succeeded. I always thought Matt Dillon was a pretty wooden actor and really was a poor choice. I think it would have benefitted and been better if the lead guy was not so traditionally good looking as it would have made the first half more believable (when he was accused) and made the second half where he is revealed to be a master manipulator who drew in the femme fatales land so much more surprisingly. Denise Richards clearly just looked good and she said it typecasted her to her detriment. But everyone else pretty much escaped this unscathed. Bill Murray did kill in this, like always though. One of the reasons the erotic thriller era ended was the real belief after this and "Showgirls" that between the career going down in flames duo of Elizabeth Berkley and Denise Richards, most mainstream young actresses did not want to do smut like this to get noticed anymore as the super publicity this kind of movie received was not worth their long term career plans.

thinking about unsubscribing over the phrase "throwing ropes in the oval office", but the video was good so i'll have to let it slide i GUESS

I don't think I've ever seen this, partly I think due to the fact I did already know of that particular scene so figured that was all there'd be to the movie. Surprised to discover there's actually a movie there too, so this is added to the list. Also surprised to discover that this thing had _three_ sequels, not one of which even breaks 25% on RT audience reviews - but one of which does feature the other lass from Starship Troopers, so that's a nice bit of "degrees of separation" trivia there.