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In Crowd, The
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Watching "The In Crowd" reminds me of when I'll watch daytime talk shows on a day off or between reviews. It's not particularly brilliant in any way, but junky fun in that bad, but still enjoyable way. If the film doesn't sound familiar, don't worry - the film was released late last Summer with little promotion or buzz, and quickly faded from theaters. The film was directed by Mary Lambert, who previously directed the "gem" "Pet Sematary" (as the back of the box reminds us) and stars newcomers Lori Heuring and Susan Ward, who I believe were featured in an issue of Maxim.
The film turns out to be a junior version of "Cruel Intentions", as we meet our lead character, Adrien Williams (Heuring), who is being released from a mental hospital as the film opens. Under supervision, she gets a job serving drinks and working around at a local country club where she meets a bunch of good-looking rich people, lead by Britney(Ward), who takes her under her wing.
Then things begin to go wrong as it turns out that one of the crowd is a bit....eeevil?. The actors are generic - taken from the lower end of the group of teenage (er, I mean 20-30 year olds who play teenagers) actors/actresses. Ward and Heuring are actually pretty good in their roles, but the material is so silly that most will probably wait to see what they do next. The majority of the movie really is pretty much an issue of Maxim magazine come to life, complete with a catfight between Ward and Heuring and before that, some flirting between the two. The film is often sleazy and proud of it, and usually doesn't seem to take itself very seriously.
Technically, the film is definitely lacking. Night scenes are hardly lit to the point where you can barely see what's going on at times, and there were a few times where the camera shook like someone had just accidentially bumped into it. The acting often provides a couple of very solid unintentional laughs. Rather than compare it to "Cruel Intentions", I suppose it's a bit more "Wild Things" - or even better, those "Poison Ivy" films - , but not as successful as that picture was. "The In Crowd" is a feature-length soap opera, but I suppose it's an above-average one compared to some of the ones that are currently playing on daytime TV (actually, Ward's previous acting experience was on soaps, so I guess that fits pretty well). If you look up "A Good Bad Movie" in a film dictionary, I wouldn't be suprised if "The In Crowd" was listed as an example.
The DVD
VIDEO: There are a few minor problems with "The In Crowd" that are worth noting, but for the most part, the film's presentation continues the upswing that Warner Brothers DVDs have taken since "Any Given Sunday", offering rather remarkable image quality. Yet, "The In Crowd" is not the most visually stunning picture in the first place - some scenes look rather dark at times, although that could be how the film looked originally in the first place, as it seems like a pretty low-budget production. Sharpness varies a bit, but during the daytime scenes, the film looks particularly well-defined and crisp.
A couple of scenes look a little bit grainy, and a couple of interior scenes display some brief, but minor pixelation. Now and then, a stray but small mark appears on the print used. When the image looks great though, it looks excellent. Colors are a bit blah at times, but for the most part they look enjoyable and natural. Overall, "The In Crowd" isn't always quite consistent in the way it looks on this presentation, but at its best it looks great.
SOUND: "The In Crowd" offers a very enjoyable, if a bit inconsistent, Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. The music sounds fantastic, and is often presented by all speakers. Bass is sometimes a bit stronger than one might expect, although nothing too intense. Surrounds recieve some work with the music or the occasional outdoor sound. Otherwise, they stay pretty silent. Dialogue sometimes doesn't seem well-integrated, but is always easily understood.
MENUS:: Stylish animated menus open up the disc, and are nicely done, complete with background music. There's even animated cast and crew bios as the text scrolls upwards.
EXTRAS:
Commentary: This is a commentary from actresses Susan Ward and Lori Heuring that is worth the price of admission alone. The discussion is incredibly fun as the two hyperactively chatter on about the making of the film and trade quite a bit of funky, silly tidbits about their feelings about the story and working on the movie. There's a lot of "oh my gawd, look at that house", "oh my gawd, look at that" kind of thing going on throughout the track, and much of it is incredibly amusing.
There are hardly any pauses throughout the commentary, and the two have an enormously good time joking and commenting on what passes by onscreen. Although "The In Crowd" isn't a particularly good picture by any means, these two sounded like they had a blast during filming. This will almost certainly stand out as one of the most entertaining commentaries I've heard all year, and probably one of the most energetic I can remember.
Publicity: The teaser and theatrical trailers (Dolby 2.0) as well as 4 TV ads and a photo gallery.
Deleted Scenes: 3 deleted scenes that are moderately interesting, and there's a nice feature where a text box tells you why they were cut out when you select them - they were cut out for either being repetitive or for pacing.
Morgan Creek Trailers: Trailers for 6 other Morgan Creek titles - Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Chill Factor, Pacific Heights, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, True Romance and Young Guns 2.
Also: Isolated score (Dolby Digital 5.1) and DVD-Rom additional information such as production notes and more.
Final Thoughts: Fans of junky fun (or hugely entertaining commentary tracks) should consider a rental of "The In Crowd", but others will probably want to skip it. If you were one of the relatively tiny "crowd" who saw this in the theater and enjoyed it, the DVD is priced well at $19.99 or less and offers generally good audio/video quality and a great commentary track.
Watching "The In Crowd" reminds me of when I'll watch daytime talk shows on a day off or between reviews. It's not particularly brilliant in any way, but junky fun in that bad, but still enjoyable way. If the film doesn't sound familiar, don't worry - the film was released late last Summer with little promotion or buzz, and quickly faded from theaters. The film was directed by Mary Lambert, who previously directed the "gem" "Pet Sematary" (as the back of the box reminds us) and stars newcomers Lori Heuring and Susan Ward, who I believe were featured in an issue of Maxim.
The film turns out to be a junior version of "Cruel Intentions", as we meet our lead character, Adrien Williams (Heuring), who is being released from a mental hospital as the film opens. Under supervision, she gets a job serving drinks and working around at a local country club where she meets a bunch of good-looking rich people, lead by Britney(Ward), who takes her under her wing.
Then things begin to go wrong as it turns out that one of the crowd is a bit....eeevil?. The actors are generic - taken from the lower end of the group of teenage (er, I mean 20-30 year olds who play teenagers) actors/actresses. Ward and Heuring are actually pretty good in their roles, but the material is so silly that most will probably wait to see what they do next. The majority of the movie really is pretty much an issue of Maxim magazine come to life, complete with a catfight between Ward and Heuring and before that, some flirting between the two. The film is often sleazy and proud of it, and usually doesn't seem to take itself very seriously.
Technically, the film is definitely lacking. Night scenes are hardly lit to the point where you can barely see what's going on at times, and there were a few times where the camera shook like someone had just accidentially bumped into it. The acting often provides a couple of very solid unintentional laughs. Rather than compare it to "Cruel Intentions", I suppose it's a bit more "Wild Things" - or even better, those "Poison Ivy" films - , but not as successful as that picture was. "The In Crowd" is a feature-length soap opera, but I suppose it's an above-average one compared to some of the ones that are currently playing on daytime TV (actually, Ward's previous acting experience was on soaps, so I guess that fits pretty well). If you look up "A Good Bad Movie" in a film dictionary, I wouldn't be suprised if "The In Crowd" was listed as an example.
The DVD
VIDEO: There are a few minor problems with "The In Crowd" that are worth noting, but for the most part, the film's presentation continues the upswing that Warner Brothers DVDs have taken since "Any Given Sunday", offering rather remarkable image quality. Yet, "The In Crowd" is not the most visually stunning picture in the first place - some scenes look rather dark at times, although that could be how the film looked originally in the first place, as it seems like a pretty low-budget production. Sharpness varies a bit, but during the daytime scenes, the film looks particularly well-defined and crisp.
A couple of scenes look a little bit grainy, and a couple of interior scenes display some brief, but minor pixelation. Now and then, a stray but small mark appears on the print used. When the image looks great though, it looks excellent. Colors are a bit blah at times, but for the most part they look enjoyable and natural. Overall, "The In Crowd" isn't always quite consistent in the way it looks on this presentation, but at its best it looks great.
SOUND: "The In Crowd" offers a very enjoyable, if a bit inconsistent, Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation. The music sounds fantastic, and is often presented by all speakers. Bass is sometimes a bit stronger than one might expect, although nothing too intense. Surrounds recieve some work with the music or the occasional outdoor sound. Otherwise, they stay pretty silent. Dialogue sometimes doesn't seem well-integrated, but is always easily understood.
MENUS:: Stylish animated menus open up the disc, and are nicely done, complete with background music. There's even animated cast and crew bios as the text scrolls upwards.
EXTRAS:
Commentary: This is a commentary from actresses Susan Ward and Lori Heuring that is worth the price of admission alone. The discussion is incredibly fun as the two hyperactively chatter on about the making of the film and trade quite a bit of funky, silly tidbits about their feelings about the story and working on the movie. There's a lot of "oh my gawd, look at that house", "oh my gawd, look at that" kind of thing going on throughout the track, and much of it is incredibly amusing.
There are hardly any pauses throughout the commentary, and the two have an enormously good time joking and commenting on what passes by onscreen. Although "The In Crowd" isn't a particularly good picture by any means, these two sounded like they had a blast during filming. This will almost certainly stand out as one of the most entertaining commentaries I've heard all year, and probably one of the most energetic I can remember.
Publicity: The teaser and theatrical trailers (Dolby 2.0) as well as 4 TV ads and a photo gallery.
Deleted Scenes: 3 deleted scenes that are moderately interesting, and there's a nice feature where a text box tells you why they were cut out when you select them - they were cut out for either being repetitive or for pacing.
Morgan Creek Trailers: Trailers for 6 other Morgan Creek titles - Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Chill Factor, Pacific Heights, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, True Romance and Young Guns 2.
Also: Isolated score (Dolby Digital 5.1) and DVD-Rom additional information such as production notes and more.
Final Thoughts: Fans of junky fun (or hugely entertaining commentary tracks) should consider a rental of "The In Crowd", but others will probably want to skip it. If you were one of the relatively tiny "crowd" who saw this in the theater and enjoyed it, the DVD is priced well at $19.99 or less and offers generally good audio/video quality and a great commentary track.
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