TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: jerry springer has got nothing on " wild things .
"
john mcnaughton 's new thriller tackles more tawdry themes in less than two hours than springer 's notoriously sleazy talk show broadcasts in two weeks -- bisexuality
, threesomes , poolside catfights , slutty rich bimbos , even redneck gator - wrestling , they 're all part of the movie 's raucous , complex storyline .
but even trash
tv topicality ca n't drag " wild things " down -- this crazy campfest
plays like something you 'd find late - night on the usa network , only infinitely more palatable and with a solid ensemble cast .
despite a smattering of needless scenes ( most of them sexual in nature ) , there 's wicked fun to be had here .
" wild things " would be a guilty pleasure , only there 's no guilty feeling involved in having a good time with it .
high school guidance counselor sam lombardo ( matt dillon ) is well - liked in the town of blue bay , especially by pretty , popular kelly van ryan ( denise richards ) , whose family name is among the florida yachting enclave 's most financially prominent .
hoping to take her crush to a physical level , kelly seductively slinks into lombardo 's house after washing his jeep for a fundraiser , but , the very next day , tearfully admits to her trollop mother ( theresa russell ) that she was raped .
before long , blue bay detectives ray duquette ( kevin bacon ) and gloria perez ( daphne rubin - vega ) are listening to similar allegations from kelly 's rebel classmate suzie toller ( neve campbell ) .
lombardo , who maintains his innocence , hires neck brace - sporting , opportunistic lawyer ken
bowden ( bill murray ) to defend him in court .
the previews give away the following revelations , so if you have n't seen any of the movie 's spots on the television or in the theater , you might want to skip to the next paragraph .
while cross - examining suzie on the witness stand , bowden gets her to break down and admit that the alleged rapes never took place -- that kelly had concocted this entire scheme because she was angry that lombardo was sleeping with her mother and not with her .
to pay lombardo for the damages , kelly 's mother breaks her daughter 's trust fund and gives him $ 8 . 5 million .
but lombardo , kelly and suzie are actually all working together , and plan to take the money and run as fast as they can .
duquette and perez , however , begin to suspect that there 's more afoot to the case than just false accusations .
if there 's a major drawback to " wild things , " it 's that it 's oversexed to a fault .
the much - talked - about hotel room menage - a - trois between dillon , campbell and richards is a turn - off .
it 's also cut short ( sorry , guys ) , and should have been cut shorter -- the movie grinds to a halt for pure titillation once too often .
what we do n't see is far more effective than what we do .
another example of this is kevin bacon needlessly going the full monty in a shower scene .
er , no thanks .
also , bacon 's duquette feels simultaneously underdeveloped and overwritten .
daphne rubin - vega , from broadway 's " rent , " tries to compensate for a superfluous character .
theresa russell is just plain wooden .
and when , in the end , all is out in the open , ask yourself if certain scenes involving these three were really necessary .
but what keeps the movie from being
throwaway junk is an engaging chain of surprises
( some predictable , some not ) that never seems to end .
" wild things " has more twists than a crate full of corkscrews , and most are so gleefully , over - the - top nasty that you ca n't help but be charmed by their absurd showmanship .
a great deal of amusement also comes from watching bill murray in a supporting part that appears to have been written for his sly comedic talent ;
murray 's a stitch , especially when pulling up beside the van ryan limo after winning lombardo 's case and flipping them off .
and do n't leave when the closing credits hit the screen , or you 'll miss the film 's best part -- four bonus flashbacks that smooth over plot holes while offering a few more tiny turns , plus a final scene that caps everything off with a great stunner of a bombshell .
speaking of bombshells , denise richards , who plays almost every scene in a blue bikini top , does the teen tease thing with a malicious allure that she was never allowed to flaunt in " starship troopers .
"
matt dillon flexes
his sleepy - voiced sex appeal , and pulls off personality changes with chameleonic precision .
neve campbell ,
lovely as ever except when sporting a blond wig , gives suzie a vengeful vulnerability that makes her the most interesting member of the conspiring trio .
re - edited and toned down a bit , the dynamics between these three actors could have carried the film to greater lengths .
but what we 're given works well enough .
" wild things " is highly entertaining and , indeed , very wild .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: as i write the review for the new hanks / ryan romantic comedy you 've got mail , i am acutely aware that i am typing it on a computer and sending it a billion miles away on the internet .
i am also aware that i have just spent the last 2 hours watching the world 's biggest paid commercial for america online .
and i wonder : is that so bad ?
well , the commercial part is .
as for the movie , well , as long as i can watch tom hanks and meg ryan , i think i 'll be okay .
to paraphrase james berardinelli , whose reviews i admire very much , tom hanks and meg ryan can act .
they are both wonderful , but for all of hanks ' glorious work in serious films , such as his magnificent performance in saving private ryan , and his glorious triumph in philadelphia , i like him best when he 's suitably obnoxious .
tom hanks is wonderful
when he is obnoxious in a romantic comedy when he 's going to get the girl : the only question is how ?
meg ryan , america 's high school sweetheart , can act .
she 's had a handful of memorable performances , including the great scene in the diner in when harry met sally ( i must not mention what she does , due to the , well , um , you get the idea , and if you do n't , get the movie-- fantastic ) .
but , i like her best when she 's , well , perky .
she is so adorably perky / cute that together with hanks , they are the most amazing onscreen duo in my short lifetime .
some people have them going back to really old classic romantic couples , but i do n't really know .
all i know is that i just like them both .
they have such wonderfully kinetic chemistry that 's really hard to resist , and i 'm not going to even try .
they 're just really , really cute , sweet , and charming .
hanks and ryan collaborate once again with nora ephron , who directed them in the megahit sleepless in seattle .
here , the setup is a little different .
kathleen kelly ( ryan ) owns a small children 's bookstore which her mother founded 42 years ago and passed down to her .
she is successful , beautiful , and dates a well - known columnist with very radical idea ( kinnear ) .
she is also having an affair , of sorts .
you see , kathleen , with the handle shopgirl , is secretly emailing ny152 .
they have a strictly un - detailed relationship : there are no specifics , and they have no idea who each other is .
ny152 happens to be joe fox ( hanks ) , a multimillionaire bookseller who is the heir to the fortune of the fox chain of mega - bookstores , run by his father ( coleman ) .
fox books has decided to open a store on the west side , right across from a little children 's bookseller named " shop around the corner " , run by a perky girl named kathleen kelly .
every morning , these two email each other silly , and every day , they fight " to the death ! ! " .
it 's a charming premise , and one that works nicely , balancing the immense troubles kathleen is in with the romance she wants to have .
it also has the great sense of being a classic romance : there is
no " let 's have sex tonight " mantra , if you 'll excuse my bluntness .
this is a solid romance built around that vague concept of love .
hmm .
well , the movie goes through twists and turns , having some sad moments and happy ones , until at one moment tom hanks and meg ryan " hook up " , to use modern terminology , and kiss their way into happiness .
you know it 's going to happen , the question is now ?
thankfully , ephron has a wonderful supporting cast with posey , kinnear , chappelle , and a host of others , including a great scene involving brothers , aunts , and two sweet kids .
it 's all cute and wonderful , and for all of the idealism , it makes me feel good .
hanks is as obnoxious as ever on the outside and as warm on the inside as he always is .
he is , i believe , america 's greatest actor .
does he show it here ?
nah .
but he 's still tom hanks , and she 's still meg ryan .
which is what this movie boils down to .
it 's pure confection .
all the bits about the godfather , the jokes , the superb script
, it 's all really sweet .
there are some immense flaws , like pacing .
the last third of the movie really does n't work as well as i would have liked , and for a romantic comedy , it 's slow .
once hanks knows the secret , it gets really slow .
i even looked at my watch a couple times , to make sure ephron was going to deliver the big onscreen kiss i was waiting for , so that i could get home at a reasonable hour .
the other problem is that this movie is shaping up to be really dated .
e - mail ?
when my kids are my age , i do n't know what we 'll be using .
but hanks can do more with one eyeroll than anybody , and meg ryan just loves to dive into a pillow better than anyone in movie history .
they just work together , and it 's nice to see .
it gives you , well , a smile .
the script helps with some great lines that are absolutely hilarious , and that always come at the exact right time to keep the audience awake .
i was arguing with my father on the drive back home on what the purpose of movies was .
i 've always believed that movies are very powerful , very powerful indeed .
you see , mankind has three abilities he needs to survive : the ability to think , entertain , and procreate .
movies can definitely do the first two , and as for the third , well , i 'd rather not think about that .
i always thought films that made you think enlightened you and made you see something from another viewpoint , and that films that entertained you were good , because you forgot about your troubles and thought about something nice for a night .
and i was thinking about how incredible a year tom hanks has had .
hanks was the driving force behind one of the year 's best films in saving private ryan , which is one of those thinking films that truly made someone wonder about the world .
he 's also half of the glue behind the year 's best example of pure entertainment .
tom hanks and meg ryan are magical , as is this movie .
it 's a sweet , lovely affair with a technology twist .
it may be a long commercial , but it gave me a pretty big smile on my face .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: " jaws " is a rare film that grabs your attention before it shows you a single image on screen .
the movie opens with blackness , and only distant , alien - like underwater sounds .
then it comes , the first ominous bars of composer john williams ' now infamous score .
dah - dum .
from there , director steven spielberg wastes no time , taking us into the water on a midnight swim with a beautiful girl that turns deadly .
right away he lets us know how vulnerable we all are floating in the ocean , and once " jaws " has attacked , it never relinquishes its grip .
perhaps what is most outstanding about " jaws " is how spielberg builds the movie .
he works it like a theatrical production , with a first act and a second act .
unlike so many modern filmmakers , he has a great deal of restraint , and refuses to show us the shark until the middle of the second act .
until then , he merely suggests its presence with creepy , subjective underwater shots and williams ' music .
he 's building the tension bit by bit , so when it comes time for the climax , the shark 's arrival is truly terrifying .
he does n't let us get bored with the imagery .
the first act opens with police chief martin brody ( roy scheider ) , a new york cop who has taken an easy , peaceful job running the police station on amity island , a fictitious new england resort town where there has n't been a murder or a gun fired in 25 years .
the island is shaken up by several vicious great white shark attacks right before the fourth of july , and the mayor , larry vaughn ( murray hamilton ) , does n't want to shut down the beaches because the island is reliant on summer tourist money .
brody is joined by matt hooper ( richard dreyfuss ) , a young , ambitious shark expert from the marine institute .
hooper is as fascinated by the shark as he is determined to help brody stop it -- his knowledge about the exact workings of the shark ( " it 's a perfect engine , an eating machine " ) make it that much more terrifying .
when vaughn finally relents , hooper and brody join a crusty old shark killer named quint ( robert shaw ) on his decrepit boat , the orca , to search for the shark .
the entire second act takes place on the orca as the three men hunt the shark , and inevitably , are hunted by it .
" jaws " is a thriller with a keen sense of humor and an incredible sense of pacing , tension , and horror .
it is like ten movies all rolled into one , and it 's no wonder
it took america by storm in the summer of 1975 , taking in enough money to crown it the box office champ of all time ( until it was unceremoniously dethroned in 1977 by " star wars " ) .
even today , fascination with this film is on par with hitchcock 's " psycho , " and it never seems to age .
although grand new technology exists that makes the technical sequences , including several mechanical sharks , obsolete , none of it could improve the film because it only would lead to overkill .
the technical limitations faced by spielberg in 1975 may have actually produced a better film because it forced him to rely on traditional cinematic elements like pacing , characterization , sharp editing , and creative photography , instead of simply dousing the audience with digital shark effects .
scheider , dreyfuss , and shaw were known actors at the time " jaws " was made , but none of them had the draw of a robert redford or paul newman .
nevertheless , this film guaranteed them all successful careers because each gave an outstanding performance and refused to be overshadowed by the shark .
scheider hits just the right notes as a sympathetic husband and father caught in the political quagmire of doing what 's right and going against the entire town .
"
it 's your first summer here , you know , " mayor vaughn warns him .
dreyfuss , who had previously been seen in " american graffiti " ( 1973 ) and " the apprenticeship of duddy kravitz " ( 1974 ) gives a surprisingly mature , complex performance for someone who had literally only played kids and teenagers .
however , most outstanding is the gnarled performance by robert shaw as the movie 's captain ahab , a performance sorely overlooked by the academy awards .
bordering of parody , shaw plays quint as a grizzled old loner whose machismo borders on masochism .
he 's slightly deranged , and shaw 's performance is almost a caricature .
however , there is one scene late in the film , when he and brody and hooper are below deck on the orca comparing scars .
quint is drawn into telling the story of his experiences aboard the u . s .
s .
indianapolis , a navy ship in world war ii that was sunk by the japanese .
his tale of floating in the water for more than a week with over 1 , 000 other men while swarms of sharks slowly devoured them them is actually more hair - raising than anything spielberg put on screen .
shaw delivers the story in one long take , and it is the best acting in the film .
of course , we ca n't leave out the shark itself ; with its black eyes , endless rows of teeth , and insatiable urge to eat , it is basically the epitome of all mankind 's fears about what is unknown and threatening in nature .
a shark is such a perfect nemesis it is real -- having survived sinch the dinosaurs , great whites do exist , they can be as large as the shark in " jaws , " and they are a threat .
every one of spielberg 's subjective underwater shots makes us feel queasy because lets us see how we look to the shark : a bunch of writihing , dangling , completely unprotected legs just ready to be chomped into .
the shark in " jaws " was actually a combination of actual footage and five different mechanical sharks ( all nicknamed " bruce " by the crew ) built to be shot from different angles .
many have forgotten , but " jaws " was a sort of precursor to " waterworld " ( 1995 ) , a movie 's who soggy production and cost overruns had universal studios worried about a bomb .
but , as we can see now , spielberg overcame all the obstacles , and delivered one of the finest primal scare - thrillers ever to come out of hollywood .

SOLUTION:
P