Susan Ward Movie:

Editorial Review:
If you like murder and dig beachwear, you'll love The In Crowd. Former obsessive Adrien is released from a mental institution (cue ominous music) and her nice psychiatrist finds her a summer job at a snooty country club, apparently reasoning that there's no better place to rebuild your self-esteem. Adrien quickly encounters the rich kids, who mostly run around being rich and beautiful. Rich queen Brittany decides to become Adrien's new best friend. Could it be for (oh, no!) the wrong reasons? Actually, her reasons turn out to be baffling, along with the rest of the poorly thought-out plot and thinly sketched characters. Director Mary Lambert makes a game attempt at building suspense with incredibly dark lighting and generic Spooky Music, but the script doesn't give her any help. The ending involves one of those elaborate, Scooby-Doo-ish plots that require knowing precisely how someone will react and exactly where she will go when she is very, very upset. Nonetheless, the movie presents lots of attractive young people in swimwear and provides an excellent opportunity to play the which-of-these-actors-will-still-have-a-career-next-year game. Enjoy. --Ali Davis

The In Crowd [Region 2] Reviews:
The In Crowd
2009-11-20 - This was always an indie favorite of mine. I suggest this to anyone with an open mind and a cheesy love of party indie films.

Somewhere between Dawson's Creek and Melrose Place
2009-05-05 - Recently released from a mental institution, a hot blonde named Adrien (Lori Heuring) gets set up with demeaning job at a posh country club full of aimless trust-fund teens in the mold of Paris Hilton. All the gorgeous kids are led by seductive socialite Brittany (Susan Ward), whose decadent lifestyle, beautiful but sycophantic friends, and mysterious past has turned her heart as black as charcoal. Prompted by Brittany's inexplicable initial friendliness (BFFs), Adrien ingratiates herself into the gorgeous group, and get used to the glamorous lifestyle. It's a great setup, but eventually the cast's beauty must step aside for a plot.

Why was Adrien in a loony bin? Who cares, she looks great in that dress!
What's up with the other rich kids? Um, did you see the blonde bulging out of that pink bikini!?
Why is Brittany so inviting with Adrien? OH EM GEE! They are both in a clearly frigid pool!

Eventually, dark pasts uncover ridiculous revelations that tie the putrid plot together similar to a 4-year old attempting a Windsor knot. This movie is perfect for a teen crowd (not me), or someone who enjoys the FACT that Susan Ward's exposes her breasts more than once, and they steal the show (me). For the most part, the problem with the drama is that it's equally impossible for any viewer to look beyond the boobs to believe Ward is scary or Heuring is powerful.

It's essentially somewhere between Dawson's Creek and Melrose place, not as innocent as the former, and about as catty as the latter. Aside from the casting director, this movie doesn't deserve any awards; it's just about hyper-sexual, incredible looking, early twenty-somethings parading around the beach in swimsuits, and attending swank parties. It's a guilty pleasure movie carried by the casts' looks - which is fine by me.

The In Crowd
2009-02-09 - Product just as described... love this movie even though it's such a B movie. Great for rainy days!

Nothing special makes for a dull and unrewarding waste of time...
2007-10-10 - I remember when this movie was first released and I was just dying to see it. I was young and stupid and it looked cool. Well, I never got around to seeing it in the theater and by the time it was released on DVD I wasn't too interested in seeing it. Then I saw it in a bargain bin at like Walmart or something and so I bought it thinking that it couldn't be all that bad. I was wrong. Well, okay honestly it's not the worst movie ever made for I sure have seem much worse, but it's nothing worth watching really. There are so many things wrong with this movie, so many things that make it any of the following adjectives:

Stupid, boring, predictable, ridiculous, annoying, irritating, confusing, pointless...

I'm sure there are many more that I could add to this list but I'll refrain at the moment. The thing is that this could have been more than B-Grade movie fluff but it fails to really elevate itself. It borrows everything that was unique about countless films yet it doesn't do any of it justice. In the end it reminds me of a `serious' episode of `Dawson's Creek' or something like that. The tension the film tries to create in scenes is non-existent and the atmosphere of `party-all-the-time, isn't-this-cool' just doesn't really fulfill. It's really just a film filled to the brim with clichéd characters, over-dramatized plot twists that really aren't that dramatic and an ending that fails to really deliver on the goods.

The film follows Adrien, a disturbed young girl who needs to move away and start over fresh, get her past behind her. When she moves to a country club to work she becomes infiltrated into a group of spoiled bratty rich kids whose queen Brittany takes a personal liking to Adrien. Brittany is not all she seems either for her past may be even darker than Adrien's.

It's not that `The In Crowd' didn't have somewhere to go, it just goes somewhere it shouldn't have. The revelations of both girls `pasts' are a bit misplaced. One is way over the top and the other is actually much less impressive and creative then I had imagined. The film seems more interested in making this as teen-attractive as possible with overt sexuality, borderline lesbianism, weird party scenes and a club scene that fails to really deliver anything titillating. In the end they slack off on the script and character development for nudity and amateur sleuthing (I'm not complaining about the Susan Ward boob scene, it really was the highlight of the film).

The directing, editing and most importantly the lighting of the film is atrocious. In one night scene on the beach in particular it's downright impossible to see what is going on. Like I said, the film is nothing more than an extended episode of `Dawson's Creek' or `Saved By The Bell' even, so please don't watch with high expectations. In the end I'm sure there is some enjoyment to be found in `The In Crowd' but nothing substantial enough to really warrant watching the film at all, unless you count Ward's nudity as substantial enjoyment, which I guess technically it could be.

Everyone Seems To Have Been Hired On The Basis Of How They Look In A Swimsuit
2007-09-03 - This saga of catfights between gorgeous rich bitches--none of who seem to own a bra--is almost a documentary of how to make an awful movie. With its scantily-clad babes, lurid lesbian come-ons and innuendo-laden lines like "Didn't mean to get you all wet," The In Crowd aspires to Showgirls levels of camp, but while the cast of that much-adored stripper opus did nothing but act, the denizens of The In Crowd couldn't act their way out of a Ziploc.

Susan Ward (straight from her masterful work on NBC's canceled "Sunset Beach") stars as Brittany, the teen queen of a hoity-toity summer resort. Lori Heuring is reformed psycho Adrien, who becomes a cabana girl at Ward's decadent hot spot. Ward takes Heuring under her wing, and soon, Bad Things start to happen. Is any of it believable? Only if you think bisexual teen seductresses exist in the real world. (See WILD THINGS and CRUEL INTENTIONS for further examination of this epidemic.)

Not surprisingly, the whole feminist nightmare was conceived by two men, who, while writing, must have had one hand on the computer and one hand on something else. Meanwhile, Mary Lambert directs as if she is still making Madonna videos: transparently gay actors are cast as womanizers, Ward's lip-gloss plays a supporting role and everyone else seems to have been hired on the basis of how they look in a swimsuit. Politicians will also note how sex, drugs and booze abound in this PG-13 movie totally aimed at teens. Offensive? Nah, just laughably inane. Kudos to Ward, who gleefully dives into her low-rent Basic Instinct-predator role, even if she is woefully ill-equipped to carry it off.

For the DVD lovers out there, there is a hilariously knowing, self-deprecating commentary by Ward and Heuring (who are now our two favorite people in the world) as well as deleted scenes and interviews with the cast (one of whom is clearly on drugs).

It would seem that Warner Bros. studio executives (circa 2000) would most likely rather die than release an edgy, thought-provoking film. Thankfully, they bankrolled this steller Bad Movies laugh-a-thon, which, justifiably, didn't make a plug nickel.

For lovers of unintentional camp and Bad Movies We Love, THE IN CROWD is a must see. A worthy addition alongside such modern day misfires as THE TEMP, THE CRUSH, SINGLE WHITE FEMALE and BASIC INSTINCT 2. All others should stay far away.