By Doug Levy
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 26, 1998

'Wild Things' brings on the Bacon

Hey, Kevin Bacon fans, great news!

With the release of Kevin's new film, Wild Things, your Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon connections have taken on some major additions. (OK, for those of you who don't know, Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon is an extremely silly game that plays off the old Six Degrees Of Separation idea. The point is to connect Kevin, in six moves or less, to whatever actor your opponent mentions. Laugh if you will, but this is more than a fad. There's even a book out, titled after the game, that helps aspiring players on their way, which is fully endorsed and features an introduction by the man himself.)

Bacon, who also executive produced the film, stars alongside Neve Campbell (giving you the potential of the entire casts of both Scream films), Matt Dillon (who can get you to the entire Brat Pack, including the illustrious Rob Lowe, in just one move, through The Outsiders) and Denise Richards (which brings you the cast of, um, Starship Troopers. Well, every little bit helps, I suppose).

These days, of course, Mr. B. is no longer Footloose and fancy free, having moved toward more serious, adult roles, such as his performances in Apollo 13 (with Tom Hanks, another great move only one degree away) and Sleepers (Robert DeNiro, Brad Pitt; seriously, it's easier than you think). And of course there was the ultra-dramatic role he took on in Picture Perfect with Jennifer Aniston. All right, so there are still exceptions. Wild Things isn't one of them, though. In this movie (which also features Bill Murray and Robert Wagner - come on, even you non-Bacon fans should be able to play by now), Kevin plays Ray Duquette, a police detective with some unique passions that start to interfere with his work.

Oh, and you also get to see Bacon's buns. In one of the film's many gratuitous steamy shots, the man reveals all, for better or worse, for all the world to see. (At least, as much of the world as goes to see the movie.) So, those of you who love the oddly venerated actor for more than just his talent and party-game use are in for a treat.

Personally, it wasn't something I really needed to see, but it is something for the ladies in a film which spends a lot of time pandering to the men. Because, Bacon aside, there's another appeal to Wild Things. Basically, it's the same appeal as that of Penthouse Forum or late-night Cinemax.

For example, how about a threesome between Matt Dillon, Neve Campbell and Denise Richards, which involves Neve pouring champagne down Richards' half-naked body? This one had the couple next to me in the theater squirming in the seats.

Then there's the scene where Theresa Russell, as middle-aged heiress Sandra Van Ryan, enjoys the favors of one her employees, which employs an angle usually reserved for films of an even more, ahem, adult nature.

Not to mention the requisite lesbian love scenes, one of which comes complete with a lead-in bitch-slap fight, and is caught on camera by someone hiding in the woods. (We won't say who that might be, though. Don't want give away the whole plot or anything, right?)

Any one of these scenes could start out with a voice-over going, "Dear Penthouse, You won't believe what happened the other day."

So, OK, by now, hopefully, you've realized the level of this film. It's not the kind of thing you want to go see with Mom. Or, alternately, with the kids. I get the feeling that they pushed the 'R' rating as far as they could on this one, probably cutting out some clips to avoid an 'NC-17.'

But there's more. The movie was directed by John McNaughton, who is most well known for his film Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, a huge underground hit that garnered immense praise and a number of awards. He also did Mad Dog and Glory, which was produced by Martin Scorsese himself. So what was it that attracted McNaughton to Wild Things? The sex? The Bacon?

Nope. It was the plot twists.

That's the other thing about this movie. It has more twists than a bag of Twizzlers, to the point where you don't know who's really working with whom, what's really going on, and what's going to happen next. Wild Things even goes one up on Scream in this department, to the point you'll believe almost anything that comes next. There are even plot twists during the credits. (It's actually really funny to watch the crowd stand up to leave, then sit back down again, stand up, sit down, etc.) My friend and I were saying afterward and we wouldn't have been surprised if Jabba the Hut flew down in a spaceship at the end, put one of those metal collars that he used on Princess Leia on the girl (won't tell you which girl it is, though - that would spoil it), and claimed responsibility for everything that had happened so far.

And then the Monty Python guys could run in, in Spanish Inquisition gear, while Jabba exclaimed (with subtitles, of course), "I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition!" And even though no one expects the Spanish Inquisition, we'd probably still buy it.

Like Kevin says, as Detective Duquette, "People aren't always what they seem." That's what they call foreshadowing, folks. Keep that in mind and you might even anticipate some of the over-the-top turns of events in Wild Things. But then, that might just take all the fun out of it.

Well, not all the fun. You get the idea.