The In Crowd

The In Crowd depicts the sort of scenario that might be re-enacted by a sexually confused, soap-opera obsessed 12-year-old girl while playing with Barbies. Young and gorgeous Adrien (Lori Heuring; think a younger, more glamorous Sarah Jessica Parker) is released from a mental institution for the summer to go and work at a country club, where she immediately begins reminding everyone of someone named Sandra (deep dark secret alert!). Before long, Adrien has caught the eye of Brittany (Susan Ward; think Denise Richards with smaller teeth and less silicone), the local power girl, and the two are hanging out like best buddies, occasionally wearing see-through tops together for the movie-going public to enjoy. As always, there's a catch: Brittany, like so many other rich and beautiful girls on film, also happens to be evil. Ward may have a similar future to her more famous lookalike Richards: she's similarly lacking in acting ability, but makes up for it with her utter shamelessness. And Laurie Fortier is a hoot as her motorbike-riding lesbian lover. There's enough sheer cheese to keep this film from being contemptible, including the most inept portrayal of a retarded person ever committed to film, but it's also too dull overall to merit any kind of recommendation. Director Mary Lambert only proves, yet again, that Pet Sematary must have been some kind of fluke -- she manages to make even the inevitable final catfight look uninteresting. There is, however, a good soundtrack, which is quite surprising for a disposable teen "thriller," courtesy of a score by Jeff Rona, and songs by Tracy Bonham and a bunch of bands you've probably never heard of (as opposed to the usual B-sides from bands under studio contract). And if a movie like this, with an abysmally obvious script and no stars, can be distributed by Warner Bros., then -- hey -- maybe there's hope after all for all you unknown actors and screenwriters out there.