51
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80SalonSalonOne reason Wild Things works so well is that director John McNaughton sustains a darkly comic tone throughout the film without letting it degenerate into farce.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertIt's like a three-way collision between a softcore sex film, a soap opera and a B-grade noir. I liked it.
- 67Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAustin ChronicleMarc SavlovThe fun of Wild Things -- and there's a lot of it -- is in its never-ending game of cross and double cross.
- 60The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinPredicated on two ideas -- that human nature is rife with perfidy and that it's important to get the cast into hot cars or bathing suits whenever possible -- Mr. McNaughton and the cinematographer Jeffrey L. Kimball (''Top Gun,'' ''True Romance'') give a decadent gloss to this far-fetched, quintuple-crossing tale.
- 50Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittContains extremely graphic sex and many twists that are unpredictable but not very compelling.
- 38ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliThis is film noir for the MTV generation: fast-paced, slick, flashy, gleefully mindless, and hollow to the core.
- 30New York Magazine (Vulture)New York Magazine (Vulture)Wild Things, which was written by Stephen Peters and directed by John McNaughton, lacks fantasy and flamboyance, that it lacks, precisely, wild things, and that most of it is just flat.
- 25The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenThis picture breaks through the limits and goes way beyond the pale -- it seems to enjoy irking us for the sheer hell of it.
- 20Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumDespite the cast -- Kevin Bacon, Matt Dillon, Neve Campbell, Denise Richards, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Theresa Russell, Robert Wagner, and Bill Murray -- I found it preposterous.
- Wild Things reaches such dizzying heights of wretched dialogue, creaky contrivances, and panting performances, you're forced to wonder if the filmmakers realized how bad their script was and switched gears into pure camp at some point during the shoot.