Released in 1993, "The Crush" is about a 28 year-old writer, Nick (Cary Elwes), who moves to Seattle to work for a magazine. After moving into the guest house of the well-to-do Forresters their only child, 14 year old Adrienne (Alicia Silverstone), develops an increasingly unhealthy crush on him. Jennifer Rubin and Matthew Walker play Nick's girlfriend & boss while Kurtwood Smith and Gwynyth Walsh play Adrienne's parents and Amber Benson her neighbor.
This belongs to the Lethal Lolita sub-genre of drama/romance/thrillers. These movies always involve a hot teenager who utilizes her freshly bestowed womanly powers to seduce an older man and create havoc. "The Crush" is actually better than Stanley Kubrick's revered "Lolita" (1962), which was the first of its kind (at least the first to popularize the topic anyway). In the early 90s these kinds of movies made a comeback with 1992's "Poison Ivy" starring Drew Barrymore. "The Crush" isn't haunting and artsy like "Poison Ivy," but it's just as good and arguably marginally better. "Poison Ivy" has better style while "The Crush" is more straight-forward, sort of like 1987's "Fatal Attraction," but with a teenage antagonist.
Speaking of which, Alicia shines here in her cinematic debut. She was only almost-16 during filming, but easily commands attention throughout. Elwes is great as the protagonist with solid support from Rubin.
These types of attractions happen all the time in real life (a teenage girl developing a crush on an older guy) and it's the responsibility of the adult to erect and maintain proper boundaries so the situation doesn't spin out of control, like it does here. If the adult lets things go too far the girl will either be so devastated she becomes nigh suicidal, like in 1976's "Lifeguard," or she turns malevolently psycho.
To me "The Crush" would've worked better as a bittersweet coming of age drama, like the subplot of "Lifeguard," rather than a drama that morphs into thriller bordering on horror, like "Fatal Attraction." The first half is strong as a coming-of-age drama before transforming into the latter in the second half with its contrived thriller/horror mechanics. But they didn't ask me to write the script so I accept the movie as is. As a matter of fact, I feel it breaks the threshold of greatness for what it is.
The movie runs 89 minutes and was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia.
GRADE: A-
