Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Let's be realistic.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Like most teenagers in the early/mid 90's it was pretty hard to dislike (or at least ignore) Alicia Silverstone. This movie in particular was advertised on TV for weeks on end in the summer of 93, often enough to remember it nearly 25 years after. I never watched 'The Crush' as a teenager though, which might have been a good thing. When I finally did last week, I couldn't quite understand the fuss it generated upon its release (other than being Alicia's first major role), nor can I explain the amount of criticism it has gathered since. For the most part the main characters (especially the journalist) are somewhat implausible, and the story focuses on depicting her increasingly violent outbursts rather than motivation or inner conflicts. But make no mistake, Alicia is more than convincing as a 14 years old Lolita from hell, being at various times sweet, fragile, manipulative, precocious, overtly sexual, and creepy. The story might not be the most unpredictable you've come across, but it's engaging enough to keep you interested. A significant number of reviews seem to focus on the difference between certain attitudes and production values between early 90's and now rather than the movie itself. Some even go as far as accusing Alan Shapiro of featuring soft core child pornography. I'm curious if the same criticism is leveled against Zeffirelli's 'Romeo and Juliet', for depicting a 14-year old Olivia Hussey (not an older body double) in an even more revealing scene. I guess the weakest point of the movie is the implausibility of the story and of the male character. We know how Adrian and Nick end up being neighbors, but no explanation is given for Adrian being left alone with an adult so frequently. The early 90's might have been more innocent and relaxed times, but not that innocent! As for Nick, he crosses the line so many times we can't decently view him as a victim in the end. It's unclear if he refuses Adrian's advances because he's intimidated/overwhelmed or because they are inappropriate. Indeed, if it wasn't for Amy raising the alarm early on, one wonders how far would Nick have pursued the 'frienship' with Adrian (some scenes which didn't make the DVD cut show Adrian & Nick enjoying a night swim, going for a ride in Nick's car, etc). Take this movie for what it is: not the best erotic thriller of the 90's, perhaps not even Oscar material, but definitely not a trashy, laughable, and exploitative flick either.

The Crush (1993) ** (out of 4) Nick Eliot (Cary Elwes) is a journalist who rents out a guest house and soon becomes friends with the owner's fourteen-year-old daughter Darian (Alicia Silverstone). It doesn't take long for Nick to realize that the young's girls ideas of a friendship are a lot more than what he is willing to give and soon her crush turns into something more dangerous.After the success of FATAL ATTRACTION we were getting all sorts of psycho thrillers. Films like SINGLE WHITE FEMALE and THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE were finding audiences so obviously another step was to make on dealing with a LOLITA type of character. THE CRUSH isn't a very original movie and for a thriller it contains no thrills so on that level it's really not that successful, which is too bad because there are a few good things sprinkled throughout the picture.The main reason to watch the movie are for the performances. The actors at least keep you glued into what's going on even though everything is pretty predictable unless you've never seen this type of film before. Elwes is very believable in his role as the writer who finds himself getting too much attention. You've got Silverstone in his screen debut doing a nice job as the troubled woman but there's no question that the screenplay really didn't give her too much to work with. She pulls off the sexy Lolita just fine but the mental issues of the character are never really explored. Jennifer Rubin is good as Elwes' love interest and Kurtwood Smith gets some good scenes as the girl's father.The biggest issue with this movie is that we've seen it countless times before and there's not a single original idea on display here. Even the sexual undertones are kept pretty minimum and instead we're basically seeing a watered down version of LOLITA. The fact that there's not any suspense and hell, there's not even a body count shows that this movie would have been better off on Lifetime instead of in theaters.

Nick Eliot (Cary Elwes) is a new writer at Pique magazine. He rents the guest house of the Forresters (Kurtwood Smith, Gwynyth Walsh). Darian (Alicia Silverstone) is their flirtatious daughter. Cheyenne (Amber Benson) is her best friend. Nick starts dating coworker Amy Maddik (Jennifer Rubin) but Darian's crush also intensifies. Darian continues to hound him and even sabotages his big interview.The Lolita aspect of this performance from a younger Silverstone can be awkwardly uncomfortable. This doesn't have any pretension of being a literary touchstone. The movie manipulates the tension and pushes it beyond logic. It walks the line of camp and doesn't always succeed.

***SPOILERS*** Magazine writer Nick Eliot, Cary Elwer, should have know better in what he was up against as soon as he almost ran down with his car the hot to trot, for older men, Adrian Forrester, Alicia Silverstone, as he was searching for an affordable apartment in the big city: Vancouver BC.It's when Adrian saw the shy and quite as well as cute Nick she started to get ideas about getting him into the shack together with her. Nick didn't help himself from getting Adrian out of his hair and him into her fantasy world by renting an apartment from her parents Cliff & Liv Forrester, Kurtwood Smith & Gwynwth Walsh, that he thought would give him all the peace & quite that he needed to do his work. What in fact Nick got was a hell on earth with the oversexed Adrian turning his life upside down as well as anyone else she thought was getting in the way of her attempted planned and calculated seduction of Nick! Which included his co-worker at the trendy Pique Magazine that he worked for photographer Amy Maddik, Jennifer Rubin.You just couldn't help feeling for the poor guy in how far Adrian would go to get him sexually involved with her. Knowing that it's not right as well as sinful for him to have anything to do with the very sexually aggressive Adrian, Nick was 28 and she 14, he still gave into her advances by taking Adrian out late at night to a local lovers lane and planting a harmless kiss on her cheek. This started her engine going in Adrian going all he way to get Nick to become her secret lover or if not destroy is life which in fact, up until the last few minutes of the movie, she did!It was in fact Adrian's girlfriend Cheyenne, Amber Benson, who tried to warn Nick to stay away from her in what she did the year before to a camp counselor whom she forced, by exposing herself to him, to get involved with her at summer camp. This not only cost the guy his job but reputation, in him being left alone with young girls, by being declared a sexual predator by the court! Now Adrian is working on Nick to get him to either go to bed with her or make it, which she later did, as if he forced himself on her and viciously raped her!***SPOILERS*** There was a bittersweet ending to this whole sleazy affair, on Adrian's part, with her being exposed for what she was only after she almost ended up killing the entire cast, including her dad, in the movie. A by now an all that he can take Nick finally put an end to Adrian's reign of terror, on older men, by taking her out not on a date but with a solid straight left to the jaw before she could do any more damage!In the end Adrian is put into a mental institution for the juvenile criminally insane where instead of her getting cured from her fixation on getting it on, sexually, with older men was only intensified by her secretly planning to get it on with her court appointed kind and understanding psychiatrist Dr. Pollard, Andrew Airlie!