Customer Reviews

The In Crowd

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

The film follows Adrien Williams (Lori Heuring - "8 seconds" and "Nailed") as she entres the In Crowd and befriends Brittany Foster (Susan Ward - "Sunset Beach" and "Going Greek"). But soon Adrien finds herself on the outside and the dark side of Brittany. This film has it all gorgeous babes, rippled hunks, seduction, manipulation, jealousy and murder! With a brilliant preformance by Susan Ward which goes to show Sunset Beach actors can act! Directed by Mary Lambert(Pet Sematary) who gives it a realist edge. This stylish suspense thiller will keep you on the edge of your seat and screaming for more!! This film is a MUST SEE!! Plus the DVD come crowded with extras and a great buy.

This beach-club teen murder mystery was pummeled by the critics and lasted about three weeks in theaters before beating a hasty retreat to the rental market. Like all films that foster extreme comments and establish preconceived expectations, this one failed to live up (or should I say down) to them. It wasn't great, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as its critics say it was.

The story was actually good, in a puerile way. What I liked about it was that it accurately portrayed the immature backbiting and excessive preoccupation with superficialities that are common among teens. In certain ways, the story was predictable. It was easy to foresee that Adrien (Lori Heuring) was kidding herself if she thought there was no ulterior motive behind Brittany's (Susan Ward) open acceptance of an outsider into the group. What was cleverly presented and not so obvious was Brittany's motive.

The production was TV quality. Director, Mary Lambert has mostly TV credits on her resume and didn't push the envelope. The acting was mediocre at best. Both Lori Heuring and Susan Ward were passable but unpolished and they lacked subtlety. The rest of the cast was far worse.

This film will probably find a niche with teens and twenty-something young adults, but I don't think it is camp enough to attain cult status. I rated it a 5/10. It's not terrible, but it really doesn't distinguish itself in any meaningful way.

Quite obviously this movie didn't get any Oscars, but then again if you're watching this kind of movie, you're not expecting Oscar material.

The plot was slightly above par, the acting- not so much. But this movie was FUN. Personally, I think it should have been in theaters longer, it's no worse then any other teen horror movie that was out at that time (Remember the travesty that was "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer"?) and I believe it could have done reasonably well.

So, if you're looking for a fun movie and not an Oscar Winner, you can't go wrong here. Also, the commentary is hysterical; I'd but the DVD just for that.

This isn't Hitchcock, but it amusing and engaging in its own trashy way. Fairly bad and predictable story, decent acting, lots of eye candy. I wished some background characters were a bigger part of the plot, I thought the ending was too long, and so on, but this is good fluffy filmmaking so my criticisms don't overcome my enjoyment of the movie.

And yes, the commentary track with Lori Huering and Susan Ward is hilarious - it's completely self-depreciating and humble, with behind the scenes insightfulness to boot, and ranks up there with the DVD commentaries to Kevin Smith's movies.

One star off for the thin "Bonus Features" section (only three deleted scenes? no trailer?) but still worth your money if you like this kind of flick.

Why did I give this movie five stars.Well the first time
I watched this movie I thought it was horrible but then I
watched the commentary on the dvd with Lori and Susan narrating.It was hilarious, the funniest commentary I've ever seen hands down.
I bought the dvd just for the commentary.

I watched this movie with a friend and we were both hoping it would be a movie similar in story and quality of Cruel Intentions, which we both enjoyed.
The beginning was kind of out there, but it was showing slight promise. Then it went downhill. By the time the girls were playing golf we knew how it would end. This story has been done many times and much better.
Also, they could have picked acctresses who looked more like each other if they were supposed to look like sisters. Adrien was no way as attractive as Brittany and it was very distracting.
After viewing the movie we both decided it was a movie much more geared toward 15 year olds than adults.

This saga of catfights between gorgeous rich bitches--none of who seem to own a bra--is almost a documentary of how to make an awful movie. With its scantily-clad babes, lurid lesbian come-ons and innuendo-laden lines like "Didn't mean to get you all wet," The In Crowd aspires to Showgirls levels of camp, but while the cast of that much-adored stripper opus did nothing but act, the denizens of The In Crowd couldn't act their way out of a Ziploc.

Susan Ward (straight from her masterful work on NBC's canceled "Sunset Beach") stars as Brittany, the teen queen of a hoity-toity summer resort. Lori Heuring is reformed psycho Adrien, who becomes a cabana girl at Ward's decadent hot spot. Ward takes Heuring under her wing, and soon, Bad Things start to happen. Is any of it believable? Only if you think bisexual teen seductresses exist in the real world. (See WILD THINGS and CRUEL INTENTIONS for further examination of this epidemic.)

Not surprisingly, the whole feminist nightmare was conceived by two men, who, while writing, must have had one hand on the computer and one hand on something else. Meanwhile, Mary Lambert directs as if she is still making Madonna videos: transparently gay actors are cast as womanizers, Ward's lip-gloss plays a supporting role and everyone else seems to have been hired on the basis of how they look in a swimsuit. Politicians will also note how sex, drugs and booze abound in this PG-13 movie totally aimed at teens. Offensive? Nah, just laughably inane. Kudos to Ward, who gleefully dives into her low-rent Basic Instinct-predator role, even if she is woefully ill-equipped to carry it off.

For the DVD lovers out there, there is a hilariously knowing, self-deprecating commentary by Ward and Heuring (who are now our two favorite people in the world) as well as deleted scenes and interviews with the cast (one of whom is clearly on drugs).

It would seem that Warner Bros. studio executives (circa 2000) would most likely rather die than release an edgy, thought-provoking film. Thankfully, they bankrolled this steller Bad Movies laugh-a-thon, which, justifiably, didn't make a plug nickel.

For lovers of unintentional camp and Bad Movies We Love, THE IN CROWD is a must see. A worthy addition alongside such modern day misfires as THE TEMP, THE CRUSH, SINGLE WHITE FEMALE and BASIC INSTINCT 2. All others should stay far away.

Okay, this film has about as much substance as a meal of bug juice and cotton candy. But something about it lingers--enough for me to take the time to write this review, right? Maybe it's because this film is so bad, it's good in a cult classic sort of way. Or maybe it's the great-looking cast--topped off by gorgeous Susan Ward-- that makes the Beverly Hills 90120 kids look like 'Revenge of the Nerds' extras. I'm a woman and I'm not gay, but I still find Susan Ward hot--her looks, her acting, her presence. This gal's got a future!

What a perfect waste of 2 hours. Perfectly hilarious that is. If you're really bored and want to watch a silly, but somewhat suspenseful movie, than you have to see this! Adrian, on leave from a mental hospital and working part-time at a country club is befriended by head "in crowd" Brittney. It soon turns out B has some ulterior motives (although you never quite figure out what they are.)It was actually quite entertaining, with some pretty hot guys, main problem was too much acting with a big "A" on the part of the country club goers--(who seemed to be at the club every day all summer--what did they live there?) Some highlights, a Monica Lewinsky-esque blue dress complete with tell tale "evidence," a token gay hairdresser who comes out of nowhere, a dead body buried for a year under 1 inch of earth and some pine needles,(although no one can seem to find it) and a pretty decent cat fight to end the movie. It's not the worst movie ever made, in fact, I couldn't stop watching it. I'm even buying a copy for my friend Ed.

I bought this DVD to add to my collection.... What I found was a gulity litte pleasure in this moive.The basic plot is that a girl get out of mental ward gets a job and is benfriended by the delicous Susan Ward. When the new girl crosses Susan's chracter there's hell to pay. If this film had been rated R, had some nudity then it would did better at the box office but I liked it though....