In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
One example is below.
Q: plot : two teen couples go to a church party , drink and then drive .
they get into an accident .
one of the guys dies , but his girlfriend continues to see him in her life , and has nightmares .
what 's the deal ?
watch the movie and " sorta " find out . . .
critique : a mind - fuck movie for the teen generation that touches on a very cool idea , but presents it in a very bad package .
which is what makes this review an even harder one to write , since i generally applaud films which attempt to break the mold , mess with your head and such ( lost highway & memento ) , but there are good and bad ways of making all types of films , and these folks just did n't snag this one correctly
.
they seem to have taken this pretty neat concept , but executed it terribly .
so what are the problems with the movie ?
well , its main problem is that it 's simply too jumbled
.
it starts off " normal " but then downshifts into this " fantasy " world in which you , as an audience member ,
have no idea what 's going on
.
there are dreams , there are characters coming back from the dead , there are others who look like the dead , there are strange apparitions , there are disappearances , there are a looooot of chase scenes , there are tons of weird things that happen , and most of it is simply not explained .
now i personally do n't mind trying to unravel a film every now and then , but when all it does is give me the same clue over and over again , i get kind of fed up after a while , which is this film 's biggest problem .
it 's obviously got this big secret to hide , but it seems to want to hide it completely until its final five minutes .
and do they make things entertaining , thrilling or even engaging , in the meantime ?
not really .
the sad part is that the arrow and i both dig on flicks like this , so we actually figured most of it out by the half - way point , so all of the strangeness after that did start to make a little bit of sense , but it still did n't the make the film all that more entertaining .
i guess the bottom line with movies like this is that you should always make sure that the audience is " into it " even before they are given the secret password to enter your world of understanding .
i mean , showing melissa sagemiller running away from visions for about 20 minutes throughout the movie is just plain lazy ! !
okay , we get it .
. .
there are people chasing her and we do n't know who they are .
do we really need to see it over and over again ?
how about giving us different scenes offering further insight into all of the strangeness going down in the movie ?
apparently , the studio took this film away from its director and chopped it up themselves , and it shows .
there might 've been a pretty decent teen mind - fuck movie in here somewhere , but i guess " the suits " decided that turning it into a music video with little edge , would make more sense .
the actors are pretty good for the most part , although wes bentley just seemed to be playing the exact same character that he did in american beauty , only in a new neighborhood .
but my biggest kudos go out to sagemiller , who holds her own throughout the entire film , and actually has you feeling her character 's unraveling .
overall , the film does n't stick
because it does n't entertain , it 's confusing , it rarely excites and
it feels pretty redundant for most of its runtime , despite a pretty cool ending and explanation to all of the craziness that came before it .
oh ,
and by the way , this is not a horror or teen slasher flick . . .
it 's just packaged to look that way because someone is apparently assuming that the genre is still hot with the kids .
it also wrapped production two years ago and has been sitting on the shelves ever since .
whatever . .
. skip it !
where 's joblo coming from ?
a nightmare of elm street 3 ( 7/10 ) - blair witch 2 ( 7/10 ) - the crow ( 9/10 ) - the crow : salvation ( 4/10 )
- lost highway ( 10/10 ) - memento ( 10/10 ) - the others ( 9/10 ) - stir of echoes ( 8/10 )
A: N
Rationale: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").
Q: wild things is a way to steam up an otherwise dreary early spring day ?
provided , of course , that you 're the victim of a frontal lobotomy .
there is , in fact , no doubt about who this motion picture is aimed at : movie - goers in their late teens and early twenties -- the most lucrative target group .
this is film noir for the mtv generation : fast - paced , slick , flashy , gleefully mindless , and hollow to the core .
wild things is easily one of the five dumbest movies to arrive in theaters during the first eleven weeks of 1998 .
i 've seen more convincing drama ( with nearly as much bare flesh ) on that pinnacle of narrative quality , baywatch .
wild things wants to dupe viewers into thinking it 's a thriller with a real story .
what it is , however , is a series of increasingly- improbable and shockingly predictable plot twists .
everything in between those serpentine moments is filler -- a flash of a breast , a spatter of blood , and some of the most idiotic dialogue this side of a steven seagal movie .
the film tries so hard to surprise its audience that the twists end up being easy to guess -- just take a stab at the most unlikely thing to happen , and that will probably be it . using this approach , i was right three times and wrong only once .
that 's not a good average for a production that wants to keep viewers in the dark about what 's around the next corner .
the ad campaign uses two things to sell this movie : the hot , young cast and the old standby , sex .
both have an abundance of screen time , although i 'll admit that the film 's erotic content is somewhat less impressive than i expected .
nothing about wild things is exceptionally risqu ? .
the soft - core sex sequences are generic , and do n't generate much heat .
the lesbian kisses ca n't hold a candle to those in bound .
theresa russell and denise richards have only token topless appearances ( neve campbell , possessing an iron - clad " no nudity " clause in her contract , keeps her clothes more or less on ) .
the film 's greatest curiosity is a full frontal shot of kevin bacon climbing out of the shower .
maybe a few girls will skip seeing a fully - clothed leonardo dicaprio for the thirteenth time in titanic to catch a glimpse of what kyra sedgwick ( mrs .
kevin bacon ) is familiar with .
the director of wild things is john mcnaughton , whose last effort was the finely - tuned psychological thriller , normal life .
that movie featured copious sex , a pair of real characters , and a powerful script .
it 's difficult to believe that something this shallow could come from the same film maker .
but i suppose we all need to put food on the table .
mcnaughton appears to have completely lost his way here , in what is obviously a stab at mainstream success ( his previous wide - release picture , mad dog and glory , was a box - office disappointment ) .
quick cuts and pretty sunrises ca n't even begin to cover up this movie 's flaws .
the main character ( and i use that term lightly , since no one in wild things shows more than an occasional flash of personality ) is sam lombardo ( matt dillon ) , a guidance counselor at florida 's blue bay high school .
a student , the deliciously curvaceous kelly van ryan ( denise richards ) , has a crush on him .
one afternoon , she comes to his house to wash his car , and , when she leaves , her clothing is torn .
after confessing to her mother ( theresa russell ) that she was raped , she goes to the police station , where she tells her story to detectives ray duquette ( kevin bacon ) and gloria perez ( daphne rubin - vega ) .
they are skeptical about here claims until another girl , suzie toller ( neve campbell ) , comes forward with a similar tale .
meanwhile , sam , convinced that he 's being set up , goes to a shyster lawyer ( bill murray ) for help .
the acting in wild things is n't very good , but none of the principals have much to work with .
this is definitely not a character- based motion picture .
not only does the ludicrous screenplay ignore the possibility that someone in the audience may have a triple - digit i .
q . , but
it does n't bother to give any of the on - screen individuals even a hint of depth .
the men and women populating the picture are there to look nice , but nothing more .
matt dillon is given plenty of opportunities to flex his biceps .
neve campbell gets to model the slutty look .
denise richards strikes a fetching pose in a see - through , one - piece bathing suit .
and nothing in the film gets a rise out of kevin bacon .
the only one who 's even remotely interesting is bill murray , and he seems to think he 's in comedy , not a thriller ( maybe he 's got the right idea ) .
columbia pictures has specifically requested that critics not reveal the film 's ending , which prompts the question : which ending
do they want kept secret ?
wild things has no less than three ( one occurs during the end credits , so stay seated ) , all of which are jaw - droppingly absurd --
a feat that joe eszterhas ( the writer of basic instinct and showgirls ) would be impressed by .
thanks
to jeffrey kimball 's polished , kinetic cinematography , wild things always looks great , and george s .
clinton 's score keeps it pulsing and throbbing .
but , no matter how shiny the superficial sheen is , this is still trash ,
and , like all garbage , it stinks .
A:
N