Drew Barrymore has never looked more mesmerizing before or after this. Drew plays the teenage femme fatale Ivy who befriends the introvert but intelligent Sylvie Cooper (Sara Gilbert). Ivy comes from a broken home and that is what leads her to drill through the rich and dysfunctional family of her best friend in high school. Sylvie is reclusive and does not have any friends at school. She also does not have a warm relationship with her ailing mother Georgie (Cheryl Ladd). Tom Skeritt who plays her father Darryl Cooper is a TV presenter who soon finds that he is going to be replaced by a younger counterpart. His wife who still loves him has drifted far away from him due to her illness which tends to be more nostalgia and neurotic inclinations.
The intelligent Ivy who goes to the posh public school on a scholarship immediately senses what is lacking in the family. She gives Sylvie her companionship, Georgie, her strength to sustain life and the frustrated Darryl, a reason to feel young again. Themes like these have been beautifully revisited in the movie ‘American Beauty’. But Ivy is not the angel, in fact she hides deep insecurities and schemes behind her cherubic face. You have to watch the movie to know. The movie is full of intricate details which impresses.
Director Katt Shea has worked pretty hard to achieve it. Ivy’s character is etched out in so much detail and also the other characters. There is some good music and aesthetically superior scenes in the movie. Watch out Drew when she dances in the kitchen or on the car in the rain. This story is also about obsessions. Drew’s character is so obsessed about this rich Cooper family she moves in with, that she almost destroys it.
She was already getting what she wanted so what actually made her overstep the limit. Another element is the enduring friendship between the two girls, which actually is one sided. Not only Darryl but Sylvie is also enchanted by her beauty.
There are some memorable dialogues in the movie and I don’t want to kill the fun by mentioning them except one: [explaining why she drives her convertible with the top down during a rainstorm] Ivy: One day with the top down is better than a lifetime in a box.I can’t help seeing a likeliness of Drew in this movie with a lesser known actress Madchen Amick.
Madchen looked wonderful in red just like Drew in ‘I am Dangerous Tonight’. She also had negative roles to play in this movie and ‘Dreamlover’.
There’s one small lesson in this movie. Contrary to Sylvie her mother Georgie does not like Ivy at first. Actually she was right, so listen to your mother sometimes for your choice of friends. Who knows she may be right.