Susan Granger’s review of “THE IN-CROWD” (Warner Bros.)
The kindest way to describe this teensploitation movie is to call it “a time waster.” Violence-prone nymphomaniac Adrien Williams (Lori Heuring, looking just like Madonna) has spent time in a psychiatric hospital learning to come to terms with “erotomania” and her troubled past. Nearly recovered and on the recommendation of her physician (Daniel Hugh Kelly), she emerges to build a quiet, anonymous, new life as a lowly cabana-girl at an exclusive seaside country club. But she’s too lovely not to be noticed by “the in-crowd,” a privileged clique led by perky, psychopathic Brittany Foster (Susan Ward, looking just like Denise Richards), whose lip gloss glows for the tennis pro (Matthew Settle) who, predictably, flirts with Adrien. Amidst the simmering feuds, there are lethal secrets that threaten to emerge. Is this world-shaking, or what? Directed by Mary Lambert (“Pet Sematary”), this wannabe girl-on-girl thriller is definitely a hard-bodied loser with great credit going to the imbecilic, homo-erotic screenplay by Mark Gibson and Philip Halprin. Even the climactic cat-fight between Adrien and Brittany isn’t clearly delineated since it’s photographed by Tom Priestley in a storage room with gloomy, dim lighting. The message of the movie: appearance isn’t everything…i.e: all that glitters is not gold. Duh! On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The In-Crowd” is a sluggish, ludicrous, barely tolerable 1. It gives melodrama a bad name – and it’s not gonna get better on video.
