Beauty vs Beast: They Make Everything... Groovy
Jason from MNPP here wishing our favorite 90s scream queen Neve Campbell a very happy 43rd birthday today! Since we've already done a Scream themed "Beauty vs Beast" we've decided to celebrate with another choice Neve-fest, and it don't get no choicer than John McNaughton's spectacularly sleazy 1998 thriller Wild Things. Coming as it did in the middle of Party of Five and after the first two Scream films it was a bit of a shock to watch Neve let loose with some seriously indecent behavior; it was a little less surprising coming from her co-star, the boisterously indecent Denise Richards, but no less entertaining for it. But which Wild Thing makes your heart sing...
PREVIOUSLY Last week Grease was the word, and that word was spelled S-A-N-D-Y. Why? Because Olivia Newton-John, people. She was, as the saying goes, the one that we wanted, to the tune of 77%. Said Derreck:
"Team Sandy for Hopelessly Devoted to You and that outfit at the end but I have a soft spot for John Travolta's final note in Summer Nights because I can actually hit it when my drunk ass does karaoke."
Reader Comments (21)
Love the "Never" slip.
I've loved Neve Campbell's low-key comeback on House of Cards.
remember when Neve Campbell was on Mad Men for a split second? wait or did i just dream that?
I'm so glad you have an appreciation for Neve!
On my Instagram, @newqcartoons, I'm participating in Inktober-- but all my drawings will be of the Scream franchise. If anyone wants to take a look, please follow along!
Happy Neve Day!
the Kevin Bacon / Matt Dillon shower scene still rocks my world after all this time :)
The last thing I saw Neve Campbell in was The Company. Where did she go?
Sadly I must abstain...Neve and Denise are both so irritating. Sigh.
Wild Things taught me that "there is a penis in this movie" was an effective marketing strategy with a lot of personal appeal. Wouldn't really matter who it was attached to.
It helped, though, that Neve was in Wild Things because when I was a teenage penis-movie watcher, I was also pretty infatuated with her.
I love this movie. It is just a lot of trashy fun! Denise Richards and Neve Campbell have good chemistry together and each of their performances are just pulpy enough not to veer into overboard territory. I also think Teresa Palmer, as Richard's mother, gives a delightfully nasty performance.
Ahhhhhh good catch, Sawyer! I fixed that -- I swear I typed "Never" every damned time I meant to write Neve for this post, it was a reflex or something - I thought I'd gone back and fixed them all but I missed the dang poll!
Suzie doesn't ruin a Bond movie.
To Neve Campbell: she survives in all her movies and kept her career alive as well. What is Denise doing now? You could ask that about a lot of the 90s women.
Voted for Denise. I always had a huge crush on her. But yes that male shower scene was one of my first movie memories of puberty...
Aw, this film is so rooted in my '90's teenage girl experience. I saw it with my buddies for the first time at a sleepover birthday party. We all squealed at the Matt/Kevin shower scene! We were big Party of Five fans (I remember that it aired on Sunday nights after The Nanny in Australia) so we were totally there for Neve. So for nostalgia's sake, my vote goes to Neve :)
Gah, they don't make them like this anymore. Unabashedly trashy story, twist after twist after twist, awesomely gratuitous sex scenes (that pool scene was HOT) and mainstream penis. *sigh*
While I love how much of a bitch Kelly was, Suzie ended up being THAT BITCH so she automatically wins.
Neve Campbell was practically my beard from fifth to seventh grade (everyone knew that I loved her!). I would get so annoyed when boys would prefer Jennjfer Love Hewitt.
Neve! Bless. Whenever she does pop up on stuff, it's always a treat and this movie is a blast of trashy delight.
I remember Roger Ebert reviewing this and he was like a little kid describing how much fun he had watching this. It is one of the guiltiest of pleasures....Pulpy, sweaty, lurid and twists for days! Such a delight to watch
I love this movie so much, and all the leads are great. That shower scene.... that was a big moment for teenage me. Love both Denise and Neve in the movie, but Suzie wins for her boating knowledge and friendship with Bill Murray.
Love, love, love this movie...
Why isn't Denise taking this in a landslide (she's perfectly cast and could never better this role - even her stilted line deliveries 100% work here).
Neve is, erm, a bit miscast. And I still resent her "no nudity" clause - I feel like if she'd gone naked then Matt Dillon would have too and I'd love the movie even more.
Anyway...
wild things is seriously one of the greatest movies.