Parents' Guide to Wild Things

Movie R 1998 108 minutes
Wild Things Poster Image

Common Sense Media Review

By Afsheen Nomai , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 18+

Convoluted erotic thriller, not for kids.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 18+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

age 17+

Based on 1 parent review

age 17+

Based on 4 kid reviews

What's the Story?

Two high school girls, Suzie (Neve Campbell) and Kelly (Denise Richards), accuse their high school counselor (Matt Dillon) of raping them. This turns out to be a part of a big scheme to bilk Kelly's rich mom out of money, but the twists don't stop there. Kevin Bacon also stars in WILD THINGS as the police sergeant investigating the trio.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say ( 1 ):
Kids say ( 4 ):

This film employs every possible exploitation cliché. Girls in slow motion (washing cars even), crooked cops, oversexed high school girls, bad acting, terrible dialogue, repeated shots of wild animals ("wild things," get it), plot twist after plot twist, a catfight that turns into girl on girl action -- this film has it all. Some reviews called this movie lurid; others simply settled for trashy. But the long and short of it is that this is a movie about high school students in as little clothing as possible doing very bad things.

Richards, while pretty, can't act her way out of a paper bag, which is unfortunate. But she didn't land this role for her acting ability. Otherwise notable actors such as Matt Dillon, Kevin Bacon and Theresa Russell give wooden performances that make you question if they are actually good actors. The only saving grace of this film is Bill Murray playing in his usual dead pan style that always makes us laugh, even when it isn't a comedy. Plain and simple, this is NOT appropriate for kids.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the actions of the two girls in the film who lie about being raped by their high school counselor. What are some of the potential ramifications of reporting a false crime?

Movie Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by

Wild Things Poster Image

What to Watch Next

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate