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 "The
Out 'Crowd'" by Scott Mantz
"The In Crowd"
Susan Ward, Lori Heuring
Directed by Mary Lambert
Ah, peer pressure!
There's nothing like it. The need to conform to your surroundings
by doing whatever it takes to fit in with the rest of the crowd
can be an enormously uncomfortable experience, but it still beats
sitting through the 120 excruciating minutes that make up this movie.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that while "The In Crowd"
isn't trying to be "The English Patient," there's still something
to be said about establishing characters that have some sort of
depth. So take heed. If you're looking for an engaging movie with
complex characters and an intense storyline, then look elsewhere.
However, if you're the type of pervert who gets his thrills out
of watching bratty teenagers run around in string bikinis, then
this one is for you!
Poor Adrien
(Lori Heuring). She's just gotten out of the loony bin, and now,
under doctor's orders, she has to take a job at a ritzy country
club. Talk about going from the frying pan into the fire! She befriends
a group of spoiled rich kids, who's leader, Brittany (Susan Ward),
takes the emotionally fragile Adrien under her wing. After getting
a taste of the good life, Adrien suspects that there's more to Brittany
than meets the breast, er, the eye. When she uncovers some dark
secrets about Brittany's past, Adrien realizes that she's not the
only one in need of a little psychotherapy.
There's really
nothing that's "in" about "The In Crowd," which merely comes across
like a bad episode of "Beverly Hills 90210" (come to think of it,
were there any good ones?). The theme of doing whatever it takes
to fit has been explored many times, with "The Lost Boys" and "The
Skulls" instantly coming to mind. Unfortunately, "The In Crowd"
takes itself far too seriously to be the campy guilty pleasure that
it should be. Scenes that are supposed to carry some weight and
add meaning to the characters end up being unintentionally funny,
and instead of laughing with the film, we end up laughing at it.
Every imaginable
teenage stereotype is provided for your convenience. There's Adrien,
the fragile-yet-strong character who the audience is supposed to
root for, Brittany, the bitch-on-wheels whose physical beauty overshadows
her manipulative dark side, and Kelly (Laurie Fortier), the token
lesbian who's bitter that her best friend is now neglecting her.
Dr. Henry Thompson (Daniel Hugh Kelly) is the well-meaning psychiatrist
who's not as perfect as he appears to be, and Matt (Matthew Settle)
is the buff stud who has so many pathetic one-liners that you wish
the killer from "Scream" would jump out and knock him off. As for
the rest of "The In Crowd," they're so hollow that they're not even
worth mentioning.
If the characterization
is bad , then the plot is even worse. For that matter, when the
true story is finally revealed, it doesn't pack enough of a wallop
to justify sitting through the first 90 minutes. The direction is
sloppy and confusing, but considering that the film was directed
by Mary Lambert, who gave us such cinematic classics as the two
"Pet Cemetery" films, it makes perfect sense. Only Susan Ward's
performance as the evil Brittany is worth mentioning, and even that's
not saying much.
Perhaps if "The
In Crowd" ended up on late-night cable, where it obviously belongs,
then maybe it would find it's core audience. To answer the film's
tag line, which asks "what would you do to get in," my response
is "not much." Find something else. That is, if your friends don't
talk you into seeing it first.
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