Where to watch The in Crowd
1 Star
Adrien Williams enters the “in crowd” when she is hired by a posh East Coast country club and befriended by Brittany Foster, the charismatic leader of a clique of wealthy college students who are home for the summer. Brittany takes Adrien under her wing, attempts to show her the benefits of the good life and introduces her to other members of her inner circle, including the object of Brittany’s affection, tennis pro Matt Curtis. When Matt shows an interest in Adrien, Brittany begins to reveal her dark side and Adrien slowly starts to learn that Brittany and her pack of friends will do anything to protect their circle and the dark secrets they harbor.
The In Crowd is an awful movie with so much camp value that I thought it would surely reach cult classic status. Showgirls has recently found redemption as a guilty pleasure sing-along; ala Rocky Horror Picture Show, The In Crowd is worthy of a similar rebirth with modern audience participation. This is a confusing movie in every way. The In Crowd presents the audience with a story that is not interesting, a heavy-handed tone, and a group of visually interchangeable characters. In exchange for clever storytelling, we get attractive girls and boys on-screen attempting to distract us from the thin writing. The glossy veneer doesn’t elevate this silly tale above its soap opera roots.
The In Crowd belongs to a trio of films, the others being Gossip and Valentine, respectively, that are adult-themed erotic suspense thrillers marketed to a youth audience. None of these movies were successful with critics or moviegoers, but, in retrospect, they serve as a time capsule of the pre-9-11 era in which melodramatic teen dramas were still able to find nationwide theatrical distribution. Susan Ward, whom I was in love with in 2000, is stunning and proves to be the film’s greatest asset, while Lori Heuring comes off less well as the mentally unhinged hired help.
Directed by: Mary Lambert
Written by: Mark Gibson, Philip Halprin
Starring: Lori Heuring, Susan Ward, Matthew Settle