The in Crowd (2000) User Reviews

Decent story, mediocre acting

[FlickJunkie-2 · 5/10 · 1 December 2000]

This beach-club teen murder mystery was pummeled by the critics and lasted about three weeks in theaters before beating a hasty retreat to the rental market. Like all films that foster extreme comments and establish preconceived expectations, this one failed to live up (or should I say down) to them. It wasn't great, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as its critics say it was.

The story was actually good, in a puerile way. What I liked about it was that it accurately portrayed the immature backbiting and excessive preoccupation with superficialities that are common among teens. In certain ways, the story was predictable. It was easy to foresee that Adrien (Lori Heuring) was kidding herself if she thought there was no ulterior motive behind Brittany's (Susan Ward) open acceptance of an outsider into the group. What was cleverly presented and not so obvious was Brittany's motive.

The production was TV quality. Director, Mary Lambert has mostly TV credits on her resume and didn't push the envelope. The acting was mediocre at best. Both Lori Heuring and Susan Ward were passable but unpolished and they lacked subtlety. The rest of the cast was far worse.

This film will probably find a niche with teens and twenty-something young adults, but I don't think it is camp enough to attain cult status. I rated it a 5/10. It's not terrible, but it really doesn't distinguish itself in any meaningful way.

Shallow, pretentious monotony.

[=G= · 4/10 · 28 November 2000]

"The In Crowd" is a mindless drama about a young woman who, released from a mental hospital on a work furlough program at a resort for rich kids, becomes involved in murder and intrigue. This unfortunate film takes off like a snail on Quaaludes and spends over half the run time developing paper thin characters amidst a quagmire of filler. Although the production is technically nominal, acting is amateurish, direction poor, script blah, and the story just plain weak.

RL Stine goes golfing

[dazda · 5/10 · 21 July 2000]

This movie was so-so, but the mystery did carry through the movie. We already knew who the bad girl was, but we never knew where she'd take us. This movie reminds me very much like an RL Stine or Christopher Pike book, the Fear Street fans would probably enjoy this movie. It was scandalous, fun, and naughty, I give it 2.5 stars

A Great Teen Thriller!

[famousgir1 · 5 April 2002]

The In Crowd is a great teen thriller. The movie is about Adrien, a strange girl who gets a job at a posh country club, when she meets Brittany, a pretty, rich, popular girl who is the leader of 'The In Crowd.' Brittany invites Adrien to hang out with her and her friends and everything is going well at first until things go bad and Brittany turns nasty. I thought most of the cast played there parts well and even though as the movie went on you tend to know what is going to happen, the movie is still enjoyable to watch. This is definitely recommended for people who enjoy teen thrillers as this is a really good one.

Like watching an episode from a daily soap opera...

[paulclaassen · 3/10 · 12 April 2022]

'The In Crowd' plays like an overlong episode from a daily soap opera. Look, even the film's cover looks like an advert for a soapie....

The film went from an interesting and promising start to a predictable and boring conclusion. The teens are young, beautiful and rich, and they hang out at an exclusive golf estate. Adrien (Lori Heuring) is released from a mental institute. Although they do give hints of why she ended up in the institute, she is an unexplored character.

When she starts working at the golf estate, the film indeed follows the same recipe as melodramatic, predictable episodes from a daily soap opera. Nothing here is plausible - just like in the soaps! Brittany, who comes across as sweet, is so obviously the antagonist. With her lesbian inclinations, her motives are not always clear and I didn't understand what she thought she could gain from her actions. (oh, and her 'fake drowning' was so laughably pathetic and utterly ridiculous!!!).

'The In Crowd' didn't feel like a movie. It honestly felt like I was watching an episode on TV just because there was nothing else to watch. It became tedious, with so many missed opportunities. I blame the weak script and poor direction. The ending was so "oh, whatever...".

Would I watch it again? No.

A great sex-less porno!

[unkle_lui · 3/10 · 19 January 2007]

Flipping through channels I came across a really hot girl and kept watching what I thought was porn (yes, shame on me... I don't care). The script, plot and acting had me convinced this was the work of porno producers. Apparently it's about a weird protagonist that has no Plan B for her actions whatsoever. In attempting to do whatever she wanted to do, (because it didn't see like she wanted to live, in fact every dumb possible thing she could've done was done, even after genius plans to escape a facility), she failed miserably. Then more stuff happens, which I wont reveal in order to not spoil the magical suspense of fine storytelling. I didn't see the beginning of this movie, I don't know if she's supposed to be mentally retarded or something. If they didn't show the kid at the end of Forrest Gump I would've thought this was his daughter and they included her in some cheap thriller for a sequel. The hot girl was the antagonist, who just needed to act evil and pretty, which she did, and do tons of sex scenes, which she didn't. I just found out on this site that it was PG-13, I wish I had known that in advance. The acting is horrible, but you can mute it and just look at her for a couple of minutes. Not too long though, you will get dumber gradually as the film progresses. As you can see I don't mention the actual events, because the only way you can enjoy this movie is if you're one of those people who enjoy jenna jameson movies for its riveting story lines.

The girl: 10/10, The movie: 0/10

A copy off of Cruel Intentions meets The Crush

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 2/10 · 7 October 2004]

If you have ever watched "Mad TV", they did a skit of "Dawson's Creek". They called it "Pretty White Kids with Problems". That's all I kept thinking in this film. I mean, this was such a bad movie. It was trying too hard to be good. The girl who played Britney was such a bore. Her character was just too flat. And I don't remember the other girl's name, the blonde one. She annoyed the hell out of me. The acting was just horrible. I'm glad Sarah Michelle Gellar turned down this film. I would suggest you stay away. The trailer lied! They made it seem like it would a fun film to watch. This was trash!

2/10

why do thrillers have to be so bad

[mmereos · 1/10 · 18 September 2001]

I don't understand it. The movie starts of pretty descent, and then as it progresses the star and co-star seem to forget what acting is all about. This movie was not very good unless you want to see a rich kid, who is psycho, act really bad, and of course people start dying but you don't know who it is......DUH!!! You probably figured it out in the first 15 minutes of the movie. .....

Almost great, but may seem a little convoluted

[unapalomablanca · 5/10 · 7 May 2008]

The In Crowd is a film about a friendship that went wrong, leading to sequels of manipulative actions.

Although Lori Heuring's acting is somewhat commendable, the movie has its share of extremely disappointing downs. Some gaps in the plot seem to make the film too convoluted for some viewers and the ending was extremely cliché. The movie also had too much to say that it saturates the film with more convolutions.

Final say? Lori Heuring was great, but the movie's convoluted plot and seemingly cliché chain of events may make some viewers bored to death. It might make up for a good late night watch but it still doesn't come close to the minimum requirements for a good film.

A Guilty Pleasure

[crooked_spoons · 7/10 · 18 January 2010]

The In Crowd is your basic teen thriller with lots of trashy girls and bad lines & acting and a mediocre script, but it was tolerable. Actually, it was more than tolerable, it was actually fairly good, not the acting, by any stretch of the imagination, but it served its purpose. In my opinion, it's a great movie to watch on a slow/rainy weekend evening. I went into this film with little to no expectations and ended up being pleasantly surprised. I was sure by the reviews that it would be terrible, instead I found myself thoroughly satisfied. While TIC is no "Cruel Intentions", it's of the same genre. Spoiled rich kids, doing bad things to each other and sucking in the lowly outsider in the process.

"In Crowd" has the same atmosphere and draw as any soap opera today, but the cheesy drama of soaps seems to translate well to a certain niche, but it DOES have a niche. Expect nothing more than a two hour version of "All My Children" and you won't end this film angry. I say give it a chance. If anything it'll end up on your guilty pleasures list.

One of the year's worst films; stale, boring, no plot or any interesting characters. *1/2 (out of four)

[Movie-12 · 3/10 · 25 October 2000]

THE IN CROWD / (2000) *1/2 (out of four)

Mary Lambert's "The In Crowd" has "straight-to-video" written all over it; with horrible box office grosses and horrible reviews, it is a wonder why Warner Bros. and Morgan Creek Productions even considered purchasing the film in the first place. This is one of the worst movies of the year, with little to no plot, corny, campy situations, disgraceful performances, insipid direction, and a screenplay that is not even capable of wandering off in various directions, which would have been much more interesting than focusing on these boring characters.

What little story present deals with a young woman named Adrien Williams (Lori Heuring) who was just released from a psychiatric hospital: she had sexual obsessions. Her doctor (Daniel High Kelly) has arranged for her to get a summer job at a wealthy seaside club where young adults party amongst theirselves. There she meets a semi-lesbian named Brittany Foster (Susan Ward), who runs a private clique of locals, The In Crowd. The two become friends, share secrets, erotically attempt to seduce the other, all while other club members, including Bobby (Nathan Bexton), Kelly (Laurie Fortier), Tom (Ethan Erickson) and Morgan (Katharine Towne), become confused about Adrien. Soon bad things happen and Adrien is not so sure about the identity of Brittany.

The dialogue provides an excuse to continue the movie forward, but goes nowhere with a pointless and meaningless theme of action. There is simply no plot here, and the scenes do not provide the necessary tension, suspense, conflict, or character development required for anything to be of any interest. What are the characters trying to achieve? Most individuals in the film just drift around the lush landscape drinking, showing off their shapely bodies, and playing tricks on the "new girl": there is no purpose or motive to propel the screenplay. The film's final half hour is revealing, involving, and inquisitive, but still ranks as a pale shadow to similar, better productions like the sexy and twisted "Wild Things."

"The In Crowd" contains a showcase of lazy, deprived performances from a variety of unknown novice actors. I am a part-time Broadway actor myself and have seen seven-year-olds portraying Shakespeare who had most of a clue of what they were doing than these bland performers. Lori Heuring, Matthew Settle, and Nathan Bexton act like they are in a cheesy soap opera. They lack energy, style, and depth, but contain attractive allure and seductive gestures. Does director Mary Lambert ("Pet Cemetery") think good movies are made from good looks?

The movie also fails technically. Although there are times when the various camera angles and intense cinematography impressed me, the cuts are often too meteoric and fragmented. Its style is lush, but cannot overcome the lack of any good qualities.

"The In Crowd" earned a discrepancy-laden PG-13 by the MPAA, but deserves an R-rating. The film is for adults with its almost constant sexual content, nudity, homosexual undertones, often lethal violence, and the whole subject of sexual obsession and alcohol abuse. If this movie goes as far as it does erotically, why didn't it push the envelope or emphasize shock value, like "Wild Things," instead of holding back. I guess boldness was not what these filmmakers were looking for, but instead constructing eye candy that tastes like moldy bread.

The dangers of joining the "In Crowd"

[GOWBTW · 8/10 · 23 May 2007]

Finding to belong is always a struggle in life. After being locked up in any institution would change the person. Some go back to their old ways, some don't. In "The In Crowd", it goes to show that cliques aren't worth your while. A woman named Adrien(Lori Heuring), gets out from the psych ward, and into a country club where she can work. In the club, she meets a clique run by Brittany(Susan Ward). Her co-worker warns her about her. Naivity would settle in, then Adrien does catches on about her. Tough as nails, she handled the snake joke very well. Others would have a coronary. The lip gloss Brittany wears is the only thing that makes her look good, everything else brought out the ugly truth. When Adrien was set up for the murder of Dr. Henry Thompson(Daniel Hugh Kelly), one of the in crowds makes a trap for Brittany. It takes one person to stand out in front of the crowd, and think for one self. The rest would look at Brittany in total disgust. They'll be finding themselves a new leader. The point is, crowds can be dangerous. That's why I believe in individuality. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Great summer CAMP

[Rogue-32 · 7/10 · 14 August 2002]

All the girls in this film slither around like snakes (or feral felines moving in for the kill), and Lori Heuring, the main girl, looks like a deranged cross between Madonna and Jewel (with her twisted little smile and semi-crazed eyes), and the guys are either drunk, stupid or a dazed combination of the two. And these are some of the GOOD POINTS of the movie! High camp at its most pleasurable.

weak...

[Mickey Knox · 3/10 · 2 October 2002]

This is such a weak movie! It's intended as a thriller, but it fails miserably. Beside the point that you can find in this movie every cliche from the book, the acting is really bad and throughout 3 quarters of the film you have no idea what they want from you in the first place. Nothing special, just a waste of time.

* * * out of 4.

[brandonsites1981 · 3 October 2001]

A recently released mental patient lands a job at a posh country club with the assitance of her doctor. She is immediately token under the wing of rich, pampered, and extremely popular Britanny Foster (Susan Ward), but then mysterious accidents begin to occur and people are now showing up dead. Is Britanny responsible for the occurances and for her sister disappearing years earlier or is the supposedly cured ex mental patient??

Extremely entertaining and sexy teen thriller that covers old and new ground, features a perfectly casted Susan Ward who has terrific and intense chemistry with the other lead. Besides being sexy and entertaining, the film is stylish, very fast paced, tightly edited and is pretty well directed with a sensational finale. The only thing that weakens this interprise is a few poor performances in the supporting catergory and a script that doesn't stand to close scurtney. Still well worth viewing though.

Rated PG-13; Sexual Situations, Adult Themese, Drug Use and Referneces throughout film, Nudity, Profanity, Violence, and Attempted Rape.

so bad it's bad.

[triple8 · 3/10 · 4 April 2007]

SPOILERS:

I really didn't care for this at all. I am always up for a good psychological thriller but there wasn't much here with this one. The story was very predictable and while I did not expect it to break any new ground at least it could have been somewhat interesting. Alas that was not to be. This movie bordered on dull. Actually scratch the "bordered", it WAS dull. And rather annoying.

There wasn't one surprise throughout the whole thing and many of the characters were very one dimensional. The length of the movie didn't help. It's not that it is unreasonably long, but it FEELS like it is. One feels every second of this movie and when your waiting for a movie to end that is definitely not a good thing.

Plus there are oodles of other movies similar to this one and many of those just do the whole storyline better. The In Crowd lacked that compelling component that can sometimes make a psychological thriller, even a not so good one, really really fun to watch. But it was kind of lackluster and it also didn't help that there was very little done in other areas as well such as cinematography and music.

Speaking of the music, it was very very annoying. It didn't fit with the movie at all. And the movie itself just crept along and almost every scene could easily have been predicted. Plus there's very little of the campy factor so it doesn't even venture into the "so bad it's good" area.

As far as positives go I will say this is not unwatchable and watching it is not an unbearable experience. but it is rather bland and is easily lost among a sea of other similar such movies. I wouldn't call this the worst of the worst but it sounded to be much more fun then it wound up being and is definitely below average. Great title that can hook one into wanting to check it out but is ultimately a letdown.

Worst movie ever made? Possibly.

[tpaladino · 3/10 · 15 July 2007]

Hot, disturbed college girls, a good looking supporting cast of young actors and a murder plot should make for a good movie. It takes a particular lack of talent to mess up such a failsafe formula, but here we are. The writing was sub-par, the direction and photography were boring and the settings were just barely adequate.

This movie obviously was trying to be in same vein as 'Cruel Intentions' but with some murder thrown in, however it has none of the style, wit, character, writing or sex appeal.

If its on cable, and nothing else is on, I'd watch it again. Otherwise, its just not worth the time.

DULL!

[sTAn-69 · 1/10 · 7 May 2001]

Probably one of the worst movies I've seen recently. The plot is "well"-known, the actors are just incredibly unique performing and after all you wonder why this one never will make it into the Hall of Fame. Honestly, what the hell makes Warner Brothers to release such a film? is it money? I don't know, repeatedly, I just DO NOT know.

Nothing good.

[xeranax · 1/10 · 19 July 2000]

This is the worst movie I've seen in a long time, and I've recently watched "Manos:The Hands of Fate." That's how bad this is. I couldn't even sit through the whole thing. The acting was awful. Beyond Awful. It was putrid. There is no story line from what I could see. A girl gets out of an insane asylum and becomes popular. Of course she has great big breasts, so that's not much of a surprise, there. And she immediately becomes best friends with a quasi-lesbian rich girl who likes her because she knows Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt. Little clue to script writers everywhere: rich, snobby kids don't give a flying hoot about Greek Mythology! This movie was so wretched I didn't just fall asleep, I laid down and fell asleep. The only thing that woke me up was the hideous acting. My suggestion, stay home, poke yourself with toothpicks until you bleed or something. Don't go see this movie.

A fairly good suspense movie

[TheENDisONLYleft · 4/10 · 21 February 2007]

When watching this movie i wanted more Suspense!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ending was the only time when there was suspense. There was nothing in the movie to actually caught my eyes. There was unneeded nudity in it and it was pretty violent! I think the people who rated it rated bad, IT should be rated R not PG-13. It was also stupid towards the end when the Adrien was getting Britney mad, when Britney had a SHOVEL!!!!!!!! Great way to die, get a lady mad with a Shovel! Also when Adrien was escaping from jail Jeese that was pretty bad the security guard didn't Catch her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The movie Isn't that bad......... but it could of been better.

A fairly good, but not too complicated thriller

[Silver_Sword · 7/10 · 23 June 2001]

This review might contain SPOILERS, read at your own risk.

'The In Crowd' is about Adrien, who is released from a mental institution to work at a beach camp, where rich college students hang out during the summer. She is then befriended by Brittany, one of the popular girls. When Matt (Brittany's love interest) becomes interested in Adrien, Brittany begins to reveal her other side.

That's the plot. It's pretty simple and straight-forward, but it's there, so don't believe the people who say that there's no plot. It does lack the suspense you would normally find in this teen thriller genre, and some of the lines are cheesy, but all of that seems trivial. The acting was good, in my opinion, especially by Susan Ward. I also think that the characters were somewhat less one dimensional than in other movies of this genre. 'The In Crowd' also has a very nice erotic undertone, which definitely makes it more fun to watch.

Some reviewers were questioning the PG-13 rating; there is some nudity in the movie. I don't know what those ratings have to do with reviewing, so I'm not getting into that.

Many reviewers compared 'The in Crowd' to 'Wild Things'. I liked this movie more, because the sexual content wasn't as forced and the story was more down to Earth (as close to Earth as these kinds of movies get anyways...).

GOOD: A sexy and fairly interesting movie with an attractive cast, who did a good job making the characters look 'realistic'.

BAD: The movie had some cheesy lines and scenes, and a not too complicated (but engaging) plot, which is at times a bit too predictable for a thriller.

RATING: 7/10

How would I get in

[Quinoa1984 · 5/10 · 21 July 2000]

How would I get into the In Crowd. Well, I wouldn't be let in (I'm too young and I don't fit the requirements). That's the whole thing in this movie. The main character doesn't need to do anything to get in, she is welcomed because she has what the other girls have- Money, charm and big t***. But, thanks to the art of bitches in movies now, we have Susan Ward (who is probably the hottest thing to come around the bend) who is after the heroine because since she looks like her dead sister, she becomes obsessed. Too much plot and too cliched, but also intruiging to see the arrogant and eltist at work (especially when they are mental). Good teen movie, but not exactly for me. B-

Welcome to the life styles of the rich and the deadly...

[pain93 · 10/10 · 16 September 2007]

That is THE IN CROWD. The film follows a released mental patient Adrien Williams working at a country club only to be sucked in a world of sex, drinking and murder after becoming friends with the glamorous Britnay Foster. At first everything seems like a dream come true until Adrien begins to see that all that glitters isn't gold. The film was extremely entertaining and had a really great climax scene...with a traditional fun cat fight!

Lori Heauring and Susan Ward bring great performances. Nathan Bexton does good too. If your looking for Rippled hunks, Babes, sex and murder than this is the film for you! Its a fun teen thriller, with some sexy undertones.

Not Bad

[superfly_tnt1 · 7/10 · 10 June 2001]

This movie was not bad. I thought it was going to be a typical cheesy b-movie, but it turned out to be entertaining and decent. However, it is nothing special. It was a sexual thriller with a touch of psychological mystery. Watch it if ya got nothing else much to see. Pretty girls and half-way decent acting and story make this movie watchable. It is a touch predictable, but not anymore than the usual big blockbuster movie at the theatres. It does a good job with the suspense and isn't too cheesy, so it isn't a b-movie, but it isn't a great movie. It's good for a rainy day when nothing else is on or nothing special is in blockbuster. I gave it a 6 out of 10.

Don't ever see!!!! EVER!!!

[mmmtravis · 1/10 · 24 July 2000]

Okay, I'm not even going to waste too much breath on this. This is honestly the worst movie I have ever seen. No plot, horrible acting, not much sex! It sucked, people in the theaters were heckling, and for good reason. Don't say I didn't warn you.