Sadly Over-hyped

Awesome Movie

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

(Not meant as a review)(but not to be hidden on the Board Posts either)Interestingly, the plot featured Drew Barrymore as Ivy replacing Cheryl Ladd as Mrs Cooper. A few years later, same thing with that overblown movie CHARLIE'S ANGELS. Let me come right out and say that I'm not a Drew Barrymore fan. Too trashy for my taste. I do however despair when seeing my dreamgirls age, being an old boy like I am, that goes part and parcel with the business, but I have to say, Cheryl Ladd, my favorite Angel, still looked great more than a decade after the TV series. Hey, she was all elegance and grace and allure despite playing the part. Hell, the only thing wrong with Cheryl Ladd in this movie was that she was ENTIRELY UNCONVINCING as a sickly dying-of-emphysema patient. She would not have looked like that, moved like that, talked like that, had she been trying to act the part realistically? Surely not?As for the movie, the character of Ivy is too superficial. No feeling is generated for her. And I am not talking about the feelings of ahem, the little boys in the back row. Bit of a dumb choice, little boys. Hollywood has much better to offer. Then, and now.Then again, I'm not knocking this movie, or Drew Barrymore, completely. Sure, there are moments. As trailer trash goes, at least Ivy is good quality trailer trash lookswiseCheryl's an angel though! (And hey! You who dare to vote my review as being unhelpful! Stupid dolt! This is not a review!):)

Poison Ivy is set in Los Angeles where Sylvie Cooper (Sara Gilbert) has been summoned to the principal's office at school for phoning in a bomb threat to her father's television station, there she meets & talks to the mysterious & alluring Ivy (Drew Barrymore). Almost complete opposites the mild mannered & unadventurous Sylvie & the overt & sexually active Ivy strike up a firm relationship & quickly become best friends, Ivy practically moves into Sylvie's giant mansion where her suicidal mother Georgie (Cheryl Ladd) is very ill with emphysema. Ivy starts to take control of the Cooper's lives, Ivy starts to seduce Sylvie's rich father Daryl (Tom Skerritt) & begins to rip the Cooper family apart...Co-written & directed by Katt Shea I have to say that I thought Poison Ivy was a really limp thriller that offered no surprises or genuine tension, why exactly has it spawned three sequels & counting? I suppose the biggest problem with Poison Ivy is the lethargic & uninvolving script that has wafer thin character's you don't care about sleepwalk through the film. There's no passion here, no excitement, nothing to get the pulse racing, there are no big twists or turns & the entire thing is very predictable. It's never clear why Ivy targets the Cooper's, why she befriends Sylvie (before she finds out her dad's mega rich), nothing about Ivy's background is ever mentioned other than she lived with an Aunt & quite why Ivy wanted to ruin a good thing by wrecking the career of Daryl, killing Georgie & betraying Sylie is a complete mystery to me, I mean she had been all but adopted by the Cooper's as part of the family so why ruin it with no obvious benefit other than breaking a family up & making everyone hate her. With no background on Ivy & no apparent source of motivation it's hard to care to be quite honest. The sacking of Daryl from his job gets one short scene that feels like an afterthought & didn't seem to affect the story that much at all. Then there's the slow pace, things only start to pick up towards the end & it's not until past the hour mark when things turn really nasty & by then the films almost over. There's some poor attempts at psychology as Sylvie has to deal with her ill mother complete with ghostly hallucinations, there's the issue of peer pressure, betrayal, the idea that family is the most important thing in life & teenage rebellion but it's all just padding with little thought or effort going into it. I mean if the most extreme thing Ivy does to Sylvie for the first hour is pamper her dog too much then you know your in trouble.I must admit that I found Poison Ivy really tiresome to watch on a visual level as well, the opening scene of Ivy swinging through the air where she flicks her hair away from her face looks like it belongs in a cheap shampoo commercial. None of it is erotic or sexy & simply dressing Drew Barrymore up in a few tight outfits doesn't cut it, the sex scenes are tame & I am pretty sure Barrymore got a body double. There's one breast shot & one naked male butt & that's your lot. Personally I didn't find Barrymore attractive in this at all, her shallow pointless character & wooden acting combined to send me to sleep rather than send shivers down my spine. There's no violence to speak of & even the 'Unrated' version doing the rounds on DVD is very tame by todays standards as teen flicks such as American Pie (1999) & The Hangover (2009) are far more explicit.With a supposed budget of about $3,000,000 this flopped at the box-office & you can see why, there's nothing here other than for Drew Barrymore fans & considering this was one of her first films she probably didn't have many at the time. The acting is pretty poor, I thought Barrymore was very wooden with no menace or sexuality about her performance at all while Tom Skerritt looks bored.Poison Ivy is a terrible erotic thriller that is neither erotic or thrilling in any way as far as I am concerned, a real damp squib of a limp wristed film that delivers nothing. Followed by Poison Ivy II (1996), Poison Ivy: The New Seduction (1997) & Poison Ivy: The Secret Society (2008).

Drew Barrymore turns in the most memorable performance of her career, in this strange, beautifully filmed tale of betrayal and teenage alienation. The introverted Sylvie meets the mysterious Ivy at the posh private school they attend, and become fast friends. It seems Sylvie idolizes Ivy just a bit, for her beauty and fearless, outgoing style. And Ivy, coming from a broken home, begins to envy Sylvies life, as Sylvie lives in a gorgeous home, and has a mother and father who care deeply for her. The tale is more sad than suspenseful, and this is more of a teen drama than 'an erotic thriller. The friendship that develops between the two girls is done in a very believable way, and it is sad when things begin to go wrong, and it becomes clear that Ivy has some deep emotional problems. The plot here is not so original, but so many elements elevate 'Poison ivy' above other films of this type. The acting all around is impressive; Cheryl Ladd is beautifully fragile as the sick, bed-ridden mother, and the relationship that develops between her and her daughter's mysterious friend is touching, as the two look very similar. It is obvious that when 'Georgie' looks at 'Ivy' she is reminded of her own youth, and her own days of being wild. And this is how the connection develops between the mother and Ivy. The daughter unfortunately is unable to connect with her own mom, as the two are so different. 'Gerorgie,' like Ivy, is blond, pretty, and glamorous, while Sylvie is mousy-haired and wears glasses. This causes immediate, but subtle tension between the two girls from the outset. Tom Skeritt is perfect as the brooding, wounded husband, who feels abandoned by a wife who has given up on living. This fact makes him easy prey for Ivy as well, whose desire to become a part of this family soon escalates to a disturbing level. Sara Gilbert is likewise perfectly cast as the shy but intelligent Sylvie. So much attention is paid to small details, which is so important with films of this sort. Ivy's tattoo, which turns out to be fake, and the Egyptian eye that is shaved into Sylvie's scalp, gives these characters depth. The film possesses a strong, atmospheric tone, and Ivy's strange, childlike sexuality has an almost hypnotic quality about it. The background music as well, is lush, and darkly romantic. And many scenes are absolute eye candy, and truly erotic. Among them, the scene where Tom Skeritt's character 'takes' Ivy on the hood of his Mercedes in the forest, while the rain pours down and that haunting melody plays; classic. And the film succeeds in being erotic without being very graphic, and this is not easy to accomplish. I was lucky to see this in the theater, and was happy to find the DVD, which contains both versions of the movie, the theatrical, 'R' rated version, and a slightly more graphic unrated edition. There were some sequels to this, that were released straight to video, and are, not surprisingly, terrible exploitation trash that has nothing to do with this legitimate film. 'Poison Ivy" is an above average 'teen angst' film, and deals effectively with it's subject matter. Recommended, especially for fans of Drew Barrymore. Fans who are only familiar with her more recent films will be amazed at how great she is, and how amazing she looks, in this very special film.

Poison Ivy simply tells the story of a young girl who definitely gets what she wants and even resorts to murder if needs be. All four of the main characters you can develop some feeling for, and you could even feel sorry for Drew Barrymore's Ivy, although I did feel as if sometimes some characters were simply failing to believe what was pretty obvious to everyone else.An 18-year-old Barrymore shines in this role, and Cheryl Ladd is also very convincing.A young Leonardo Di Caprio makes an appearance in a perfectly watchable (but also rather short) film, with good direction from the relatively unknown Katt Shea.