Sight unseen, it's tempting to dismiss Poison Ivy as a teen variation on your standard trashy erotic thriller, a genre born with such promise in Body Heat that has since been in steady devolution. But while Ivy is no Heat, it's better than virtually any of those movies that star someone named Shannon. Crisp directing is supported by a script that takes a smart look at dysfunctional family dynamics, but most of all, it's the performances. Much has been made of Drew Barrymore's perfect casting as the title character, but she also does a sneaky and subtle job of straddling the fence: is Ivy a desperate, lonely young woman, an evil barracuda, or both? Tom Skerritt matches her step for step, playing the fallen husband as both hopelessly vain boob and genuinely lost soul. Cheryl Ladd delivers a sharp, minimalist performance as his Beverly Hills trophy wife dying of emphysema--becoming the still-life center of everyone else's life. And Sara Gilbert does a fine job in a role that gives her all the heavy lifting, playing tortured straight man to this pathetic and compelling tree full of coconuts. This DVD features both R-rated and unrated versions. The latter shows a bit more skin, although it's still fairly tame compared to the average skin flick. It also leaves Ivy a bit more ambiguous, and is thus a bit more fun. --Geof Miller
2.
Lonely teen Sylvie Cooper befriends sexy schoolmate Ivy and watches as Ivy moves into her home and slowly takes over the Cooper family. A little girl gone bad, she seduces Sylvie's father and betrays the bedridden mother. Ripping the family apart, Ivy situates herself as the new mother. Only Sylvie can save her family.
3.
Ivy (Drew Barrymore, Ever After, The Wedding singer) the sexy streetwise new girl in a posh private school will do anything to fit in. Sylvie (Sara Gilbert, TV's Roseanne) rich, smart, but misunderstood – needs a friend.
When Ivy is invited into Sylvie's privileged world, she is instantly intrigued. Sylvie's father (Tom Skerritt, The Other Contact) is handsome TV newscaster; her mother Cheryl Ladd, Permanent Midnight TV's Charlie's Angels) is beautiful Beverly Hills Wife. Yet tensions in the home run deep- providing a license for malice that Ivy is quick to seize.
With one slick seduction Ivy sets off a chain reaction that makes Poison Ivy one of the most provocative and erotic thriller filmed.
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