It would be the easiest thing to simply dismiss this film as yet another sleazy erotic melodrama (which it undoubtedly is), but the result is too intriguing, and too offbeat, to be ignored. Although this film will disappoint those who are expecting a well-made thriller or even an explicitly erotic movie because it's tame and practically suspenseless, it has an air of weirdness and morbidity that places it slightly above most of the run-of-the-mill entries in this genre. The performances are mostly one-note but convincing enough. Visually, it's a grim, underproduced film, but it does have a "special" atmosphere.
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gridoon11 December 1999
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michaelRokeefe27 April 2004Drew Barrymore plays Ivy a Lolita-like teen that gradually moves in with a shy reclusive classmate Sylvie(Sara Gilbert)and the presence of the streetwise Ivy starts a chain reaction of mixed emotions. Sylvie's self destructive mother(Cheryl Ladd)is jealous of her husband's(Tom Skerritt) reaction to Ivy's seductive ways. Soon he is hooked and can't get enough of the perverse teen. Questions arise concerning the death of Sylvie's mother about the time Sylvie realizes what is going on between her father and Ivy.
My favorite scene is the sultry love making in the rain on the car hood. It is hard to tell who is seducing who. The 17 year old Barrymore is hypnotic. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Kudos to Katt Shea for directing this erotic thriller. Note: Look for a young Leonardo DiCaprio. -
moonspinner5529 June 2001Nabokov's Lolita used the affections of a fawning, elderly man (her stepfather) for her own purposes--which never amounted to much more than sex and cash. It only figures that today's Lolita would be dressed to kill, literally. As Drew Barrymore plays her here, she's a sexy homicidal figure with maternal delusions. "Poison Ivy" begins rather endearingly, with high school outcast Sara Gilbert (looking like the modern equivalent of a teen beatnik) befriended by a striking blonde student with lots o' leg and a fake tattoo. This wanton woman-child has no name; Gilbert calls her "Ivy" and Barrymore likes that ("It gives me the opportunity to start over," she says). The tone of the picture shifts however before the midway point, with Ivy infiltrating Gilbert's dysfunctional household and seducing dad Tom Skerritt (doing terrific work). Gilbert's narration--and the surreal jumble which becomes the hectic climax--is rather off-putting, but there's a great deal of worth in Barrymore's solid performance. The film is stylish on a low-budget and is actually steamier than "Nine 1/2 Weeks". Yet, it's really two different pictures struggling within the context of one. A stronger screenplay might've brought the two halves together, although, as the director, Katt Shea Ruben manages to come up with a commendable amount of incidents both amusing and titillating. ** from ****
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otter12 March 1999By all rights this should have been yet another R-rated sex and violence flick about a piece of immoral jailbait having her wicked way with everyone around her, but the directing and acting are good enough to make it more effective than most, even touching. The atmosphere is almost haunting, and the relationships between the characters (especially the two teenage girl leads) are well developed enough to hold your interest.
Sara Gilbert gives the film a sympathetic center, she's excellent as a bright, likeable high school girl who finds herself in far over her head when she befriends poor little bad girl Drew Barrymore. Her misery and frustration as Barrymore takes over her family, her life, even her dog are moving enough to make the flimsy story work. Barrymore wasn't much of an actress at that age (still isn't, in my opinion), but she's very effective nonetheless. She doesn't need to act, she needs to do what she does, look sexy. Really, really sexy, like it's all she ever thinks about. Cheryl Ladd also does surprisingly well as Gilbert's slowly dying mother.
The movie also has moments of an almost haunting quality. The score is lovely, alternately passionate and strangely moody, and gives the film enough emotional intensity to make me forgive its many flaws. Even Barrymore kissing Gilbert. Eeeew. -
gcd706 October 2007This film, claimed to be a "Basic Instinct" meets "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle", is a big disappointment. There is no real storyline evident, just an idea that seems to have been given about fifteen minutes work. This is a Virginia Andrews style plot, but it just does not work. Not only is it incoherent, it jumps from one episode to the next and never pieces itself together or finds direction. And the characters are poorly developed, leaving the viewer caring less about what happens to them.
Barrymore is watchable, but the film is a tease as it doesn't deliver the promised sensuality.
Friday, August 14, 1992 - Village Centre Melbourne -
patriciogl1031 October 2019First, I have to say that I seriously enjoyed this film. These 90s dark twisted thrillers are extremely appealing to me. I was mesmerized by Drew Barrymore's character. From the minute she appears you sort of intuit that she has ulterior motives for every little thing she does until it becomes obvious what her intentions really are. I was fascinated by her performance, because you don't usually get to see her play these type of characters and she does it incredibly well. I kept thinking about her character in Never Been Kissed, reflecting on her abilities to interpret such polar opposites. She completely steals the film with her intoxicating and sensual presence, spreading her poison all across the other characters, who at first are clearly charmed by her bewitching personality.
I was rather surprised by some of the sex scenes involved, I was not expecting them to have such an explicit tone, but I assume that is to shock viewers and to show how far Ivy was willing to go to get what she wanted. Sara Gilbert and Tom Skerritt played their parts really well, adding even more depth to Barrymore's own performance.
I loved the ending, it was a satisfying conclusion and it made me want to watch the other Poison Ivy entries, but somehow I doubt they will match the rather morbid intensity and sinister atmosphere of this one. -
isabelmutswairo4 June 2023She was 16 when this movie was made. That reason is enough to make me question the angles of this movie. The close up shots of her legs, the side view of her breasts, her being naked, her seductive attitude.
Is Drew Barrymore okay after making a film like this?
In an interview, it's said that she had a body double for the sex scene in the rain with Tom, but I don't believe that for a second.
You can tell she's super young in this movie.
What gets me is the amount of men reviewing this calling Drew Barrymore an undeniable sex symbol. SHE WAS 16. This movie is only great if you're a grown man who's into teenagers.
That's why I'm giving it a one star. This movie is not great. -
The_Void2 August 2009I didn't go into this film with any high hopes; all I wanted was an enjoyable thriller, but unfortunately this film falls just short of that mark. The film takes obvious influence from any number of films revolving around a callous interloper gaining a family's trust before showing their true colours - but this one doesn't work well, principally because the characters are not believable and most of the action is boring. Most of the film feels like a soap opera anyway and is more tiresome than thrilling. The story focuses on Ivy; a 'free spirit' scholarship student living with her aunt. She meets Sylvie Cooper; a weird friendless kid with rich parents and a big house. Ivy and Sylvie become friends and eventually this leads to Ivy staying in Sylvie's house with her parents - her dad, a wealthy TV presenter and her mother who is sick. However, it soon becomes apparent that Ivy has alternative motives and begins scheming her way into each family member's lives.
The film somehow manages to be predictable and pointless. It's generally obvious what is going to happen way before it does, and yet the film doesn't really seem to have anywhere to go. The central character is far too ambiguous also and her motives don't have any grounding, which makes the film difficult to get on with. Drew Barrymore gives a sketchy performance in the lead role; at times she is effective, but at others she looks embarrassed with the clunky script that does the film no favours. She stars opposite Sara Gilbert; who is weird enough to make her role believable and Tom Skeritt, who gives a decent performance. The film uses a narrator for much of the duration and that plot device really just sums the lazy writing of this film up. The final nail in the coffin for me was the way that most of the focus is put on Ivy and the father character as this results in lots of tedium. The only time the film ever really approaches some interest is when it focuses on the relationship between the girls, and that is not exactly fascinating. There are plenty of films like this one that are much better than this one; meaning bothering with Poison Ivy is pointless. -
DennisLittrell19 April 2000This is primarily a vehicle to exploit the generalized sensuality of Miss Drew Barrymore, an excellent actress and heir of a great acting family. Drew, who was so cuddily in E.T. when she was six years old or so, is now oh so cuddily and then some to a more varied audience. Here, as a scheming little poor girl, she seduces dad, mom and daughter (to varying degrees) before slipping into murder. She is sexy, trashy and very pretty.
Sara Gilbert (from TV's 'Rosanne') plays the dweeby poor little rich girl daughter with veracity and some wit. Tom Skerrit is the father without a clue; and Cheryl Ladd, looking rather fetching despite the role, is the dreary mother. Yes, old TV stars can find work! Best scene is when Sara and Drew go to the tattoo parlor. Drew makes a few ugly remarks causing Sara to get up to leave, but Drew draws her back tenderly (to pay the tab), pulls her close, and kisses her. When the beer-bellied tattoo guy tries to join in, the girls give him an 'ugh!' and split.
The slow-motion seduction of Skerrit seems a little drawn out. Even after Drew kisses and licks his cut hand, Skerrit just looks off into space in befuddlement. Later things heat up though, and then take a kinky turn when Mom, through a drug and alcohol haze, dimly notices Drew wearing her sexy dress and doing some love numbers on her husband.
Second best scene is after the funeral with Drew sleeping in Cheryl Ladd's bed where she is discovered by Sara. Drew urges her friend, the distraught daughter, to join her. Sara does. 'Pretend I'm your mother,' Drew says. Sara confides to her that what she couldn't say to her mother was 'I love you.' Drew kisses her head and holds her close.
What was intended here was a psychological study of a teenaged girl without much of a home or much of a family who is drawn to adopt her own family among those of her friends, and in doing so assumes the role of the mother, in toto. What we get is a semi-pornographic focus on a very sexy screen darling, a ridiculous murder, and an even more ridiculous finale, the details of which I will skip.
(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!) -
DigitalRevenantX710 August 2015Rich student Sylvie Cooper makes friends with the enigmatic girl she calls "Ivy" in the principal's office after phoning in a bomb threat to her television presenter father's station. Ivy quickly makes her move by moving in with the Coopers (she lived with her aunt in relative squalor) where she becomes friends with Sylvie's parents – the TV presenter Darryl & dying mother Georgie. But friendship is not enough for the young woman – she covers up Darryl's lust for her & kills Georgie by pushing her off the balcony. As the family's grief over Georgie's death pushes them to the mental limit, Ivy attempts to replace Georgie in Darryl's eyes by seducing him.
Poison Ivy was probably one of the most important B-grade thrillers in the early 1990s. It was one of the very first erotic thrillers of that decade, coming out around the same time as SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, which dealt with something similar, as well as the more sensationalistic likes of Fatal Attraction & Basic Instinct. It also made a name for actress Drew Barrymore, who would later go on to high acclaim in many other comedies.
Poison Ivy is something of a prototype for the B-grade erotic thriller, a genre that would be one of the 1990s' most prolific genres. The film did not make too much money in the theatrical release but picked up most of its audience on video & cable TV – something that would be fitting for a film such as this. Of course, the sex scenes in the film are so tame that the film will be something of a disappointment for those who like harder softcore fare.
Poison Ivy is, from a psychological point of view, a story about how a family that lives on extremes in the wealthy community can collapse when a free-spirited agent moves into their home. Sara Gilbert is the daughter who is prone to rebelling against the system by embracing the marginal – phoning in bomb threats to her father's workplace, smoking & so on. The father is as conservative as they come but is so tightly-wound up that his mental state is beginning to deteriorate – as evident in his drinking, while the mother is suffering from lung disease & is drugged up on painkillers & sedatives. Ivy has some inherent flaws in her character as well – she seems to be extremely lonely & only goes on her mission of seduction for personal benefit & her desire to have a family she can belong to, even if the family she is building up around her is falling apart from an old one. The character also has a clear lack of motivation for her actions.
Drew Barrymore is a great actress in her own right, but I was somewhat less than enthused about her role here. For one thing, the role was supposed to be for an adult & Barrymore was just barely underage, something that necessitated a body double for her love scenes. Sara Gilbert seems just as miscast – her passive neurotic nature should have been handled by a much more rigid actress but she does a decent job anyway. Tom Skerritt is perfect in his role as the stuffy, opinionated & formerly hard-drinking TV presenter whose forbidden lust ends up putting him in a tough position. Some of the plot twists don't seem natural – Skerritt's wound-up nature shouldn't have let him cheat on his wife with a teenager who is literally young enough to be his daughter & get so twisted around her little pinkie, so to speak. But this is a minor contrivance that doesn't go too far in ruining the picture. Whilst not a masterpiece in any way, Poison Ivy is still a pretty decent film, making the proto-softcore erotica work in a passable way. -
Falconeer15 January 2007Drew 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.
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jamiecostelo5829 November 2006Poison 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.
Overall, Poison Ivy is a dark and brooding provocative thriller that literally seduces the viewer in and makes them actually want to see what happens. -
movieman_kev12 April 2006Drew Barrymore plays a nameless teenage seductress given the nickname of 'Ivy' who moves in with lonely, sexually confused adopted Sylvie Cooper (Sara Gilbert of "Roseanne" fame) and her family. It isn't long before she's seducing Sylvie's father (Tom Skerritt), much to the chagrin of Sylvie. Barrymore is pretty good in this, and it was nice seeing her pre-coke stroke when her face was still symmetrical. Plus the film was competently, if VERY far from expertly by Katt Shea (only notable otherwise for being topless in few B-movies). Cheryl Ladd is woefully underused as the put-upon mother and Sara Gilbert is tad too melodramatic in many of her scenes, but it's an alright movie, if you happen to be in the right mood whenever it plays on cable.
My Grade: C-
Where I saw it: @ Max -
famousgir19 December 2001Poison Ivy is a good teenage drama movie, starring Sara Gilbert and Drew Barrymore, who both give great performances here. Barrymore plays Ivy a young and wild teen, who lives with her aunt. When she ends up moving in with her friend, Sylvie played by Gilbert, Ivy slowly and seductively works her way into the lives of her 'new' family. The movie has some weird moments, but most of the time it's good and keeps you interested in the plot and the characters.
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jazz-4528 February 2001The FINE ACTRESSES does NOT matter when the plot/ ie: Storyline was lacking in originality and any meaningful content.
PLUS CHERYL LADD IS SO VIBRANT an Actress, she should never be cast as a sickly woman.
Teenager and older man and in his own house and, and, and Is Not something that I want to watch.
IF THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN A MORAL to this, like the thought of teen seducing Georgie's husband, SO THAT GEORGIE, did all in her power AND SUCCEEDED IN GETTING WELL and patching even the betrayal aspects of this WOULD HAVE BEEN a Ending worth waiting for.... (maybe). -
lime_juice3022 October 2019Although Poison Ivy does not maintain much tension before approaching its last scenes and sacrifices some of its runtime for awkward erotic scenes between Drew Barrymore and Tom Skerrit, this movie is still pleasant to watch. It just has a mysterious atmosphere and makes the viewer feel surrounded by a certain calmness and nostalgia (even when you see the movie for the first time). The soundtrack also helps set this mood. Barrymore's personality at this time is very well reflected in her role as Ivy and the same could probably be said about Sara Gilbert in her role as Sylvie. This makes it feel as if it is two real friends with different personalities interacting, instead of just actors.
The audience is confronted with the question of whether rooting for Ivy to get through with her plans is the right thing to do or not, and in the end, there is no definite answer. Sure, Ivy is highly manipulative and does not seem to really care about Sylvie unless it is for personal gain but she also seems misunderstood, fundamentally lonely and merely looking for a place to belong to. -
itamarscomix6 March 2012Here's something Drew Barrymore might not want to put on her résumé. Poison Ivy was made just before her career started to take off, but unfortunately her performance here is so childish and clumsy that the first impression I got was not "hey, here's young Drew Barrymore" but more "hey, it's that kid from E.T making out with that kid from Roseanne", which gave the whole thing an awkward feel.
At its core Poison Ivy is a run-of-the-mill erotic thriller of the kind that was all over in the early 90's, it's filled with clichés that have been explored in dozens of better movies from Single White Female to Swimming Pool; but Barrymore is unconvincing in the role of the seductive femme fatale, and as it is the scenes of awkward teen Barrymore seducing older Tom Skerritt just made me uncomfortable and felt like Skerritt is the real villain. Terrible acting from some at least somewhat talented people (Barrymore, Skerritt and Sara Gilbert are all awful - Cheryl Ladd is the only one who gives a passable performance) can almost be overlooked thanks to very solid cinematography, but as the movie progresses it's impossible to not realize how silly the whole thing is. Poison Ivy recycles every trope from every movie in its genre, but it feels like a high-school production. As it is it might be memorable as a meeting between two generations of Charlie's Angels, and little else. -
Wuchakk15 November 2013...that's the basic plot of 1992's "Poison Ivy" starring Drew Barrymore in the titular role. The movie comes from a long tradition of films about an alluring babysitter (or nanny or friend) taking control of the family by winning the hearts of the kids and seducing the husband. "The Babysitter" (1980) and "Summer Girl" (1983) are two examples, both TV flicks (available on youtube). In "Poison Ivy" Drew, as Ivy, plays a friend of the awkward misfit Sylvie (Sara Gilbert). Tom Skerritt plays the aloof husband and Cheryl Ladd the withering (but still beautiful) mother.
"Poison Ivy" is more stylized than the aforementioned examples and technically better due to a much bigger budget. One of its best highlights is its score, which is equal parts haunting, romantic, melancholic and beautiful. Speaking of melancholic, there's an element of sadness to the proceedings because the family is so wealthy -- living on a mansion on a hill in Los Angeles (shot on location) -- but they're so spiritually bereft. It just goes to show that all the financial success and material possessions in the world can't buy happiness and love.
Drew was almost 17 during filming and plays the sultry little tamale well, which brings up why people tend to look down on the film -- it's nothing more than a lethal Lolita tale with a slick garnishment and they write it off as trash exploitation. Regardless, it works for what it is; and, after all, does every film have to be "Ghandi"? Besides, "Poison Ivy" and similar films are more than just "trash exploitation." They're commentaries on the power of a woman or, more specifically, the power of a young beautiful female. In the story, Ivy comes from a troubled past but, as a blossoming woman, she realizes the power she wields and seems to bask in it.
I was involved with a church for a number of years and the granddaughter of the pastor was aged 17-22 at the time. She wasn't in Drew's league, as far as beauty goes yet she still had power. She would lie about people and spread rumors and, because she was the pastor's granddaughter, some morons would believe her. She started dating a naive relative of mine, who was 19 years her senior, and it was clear that she was just interested in his money. At some point she was able to get his credit card info and bought over $17,000 worth of merchandise without him knowing it until it was too late. She did everything in her power to move into his house, but his aging mother blocked the last attempt at the last minute. His mom said that she could just see the vixen pushing her down the stairs or whatever to get her out of the picture. It was even discovered that the lil' tart tried to buy life insurance on the guy, which was very odd. You can draw your own conclusions.
My point is that these lethal Lolitas exist -- young vixens who use their beauty to take control, cause havoc and ruin lives. Trash exploitation or not, it's good fodder for a movie, particularly if it's done stylishly, like "Poison Ivy".
The film is short and sweet at 88 minutes with the unrated version running 93 minutes.
GRADE: B+ -
poolandrews19 November 2010Poison 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). -
PredragReviews7 May 2016Poison Ivy has a TV film feel about it and having just watched it recently for the first time in several years I feel that she could have had more credibility if she had continued on the serious side of acting, rather than frivolous rom-coms that became her staple. Drew Barrymore never looked better than she did in this film and it's easy to see why Tom Skerritt is tempted by the teenage temptress. Sara Gilbert, who older readers may remember from Roseanne and younger readers as an occasional actress in The Big Bang Theory, plays a very good supporting role in this tight, memorable, and erotic thriller.
There is a little too much on the music playing in the background but all in all, this is a good film to kill an hour-and-a-half with, particularly as it involves Ms Barrymore at her sexy looking best in a role that she excelled in. With one quick seduction, Ivy sets off a chain reaction that makes 'Poison Ivy' one of the most provocative and erotic films, of the erotic thriller genre, filmed to date. If you somehow missed this gem, give it a look soon. It is one of those very rare films you can enjoy again and again..
Overall rating: 7 out of 10. -
nycritic16 June 2006I'll never understand the big deal with sex-crazed, insecure Lolitas bringing havoc wherever they go to older, quiet men who have settled into a life of complacency and predictability. This time, however, the focus is not only the father figure but the daughter in a plot that has "lesbian overtones" written all over it like a crazy person's lipstick-smeared face. The Lolita of the piece is Ivy, played by Drew Barrymore like she was practising for the part in an audition to find the next Marilyn Monroe with a modern, late-Eighties feel. The fact that she's blonde in a year where being blonde meant being ultra-bad (just check in on the two menacing blonds in BASIC INSTINCT) makes her apparently more attractive to the Daria-like Sylvie, here played as drab as possible by Sara Gilbert of "Roseanne" fame. Anyway, Ivy walks into Sylvie's life, seduces her with that mane of blond hair and well-practised confidence, walks into her house, does a couple of nasty things, and winds up in a predicament. Nothing new, but the movie in itself has a cheap, C-movie feel, like something that should have gone straight to video with lesser known actors under its cast but that inexplicably made it into the theatres and did nothing to advance Drew Barrymore's career. It incidentally gave way to sequels: the kind that does make it to the DTV category.
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I really enjoyed the two main characters in the movie - Cooper ( played by Sara Gilbert ) and Ivy ( Drew Barrymore is brilliant in this character ). The film focuses on there friendship and feeling alone as a teenager. I really liked the dialogue between the characters. Especially when Ivy meets Cooper's mother ( played by Cheryl Ladd ) and talks about her own mother and how she flinched every time she touched her and how she died long before she really did. It's just great. Ivy's loneliness soon starts to evaporate as she gains a mother in Chery Ladd, a friend in Sara Gilbert, but then she sets her eyes on Cooper's father ( played by Tom Skerrit ) and wants him in an intimate way. And this is where the movie starts to get erotic as she seduces her best friend's father. But Cooper is starting to see Ivy's evil intentions .....
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SnoopyStyle14 April 2016Sylvie Cooper (Sara Gilbert) is an introverted loner. Her mother Georgie (Cheryl Ladd) is sickly. Sylvie rebels against her conservative TV commentator father Darryl (Tom Skerritt). She is taken with the sexy trashy new girl (Drew Barrymore) who has a fake Ivy tattoo on her thigh. Sylvie befriends the new girl and gives her the name Ivy. Ivy starts insinuating into Sylvie's life causing trouble in her family and even seducing her father.
Drew was shedding her child star status at the time. This is overwrought and pulpy. It's Lolita being even trashier. Gilbert and Barrymore are great. There is a young Leonardo DiCaprio in a minor role. This is trashy art that teases an erotic thriller. I can certainly understand how this could be dismissed but it has some pulpy fun. -
filipemanuelneto20 September 2020I'm not a big fan of movies with strongly erotic scenes but I decided to see this movie because it seemed to me that it had a good story and not just scenes of gratuitous sex/nudity. I don't think I was wrong: it's not a work of art, but it entertains quite well and gives us what it promises.
The story is quite simple, although it's credibility and verisimilitude depend a lot on our level of tolerance for deeply unbelievable stories. It all starts with the strange fascination - almost a lesbian passion - of young Sylvie for a girl she saw at her school: the safe and sexy blonde with no name, who clearly lets herself be treated by Ivy but of whom we never know her name. Sylvie is a depressed young girl with serious psychological and social problems, who wants to be like Ivy and feels that has always lived in the shadow of her own mother, the beautiful Georgie Cooper, who is now ill (although she looks more like a chronic hypochondriac than a truly sick person). Sylvie also seems to have a strained relationship with her father, Darryl Cooper, a TV pivot with a deeply conservative mentality. As the friendship between Sylvie and Ivy turns into a relationship of absolute dominance of the strongest personality over the most fragile, Ivy introduces herself to her rich friend's house and begins to live at her expense and have everything she ever wanted... which includes seducing Darryl and taking Georgie's place in everyone's life.
Unfortunately, the world is full of attractive women who use their look to get everything they want, especially if the target is an older and richer man. This film takes this further. The story, as I said, is deeply unbelievable but it works very well and sets the tone for several scenes where sensuality is the strong point, in a film full of style and very solid, despite the clearly reduced budget.
The cast is led by Drew Barrymore... the blonde girl of the Eighties has grown up and now has a shapely body that will show almost entirely in this film, in a series of scenes that easily leave the male audience breathless. But those who think she's just showing her curves are wrong. She gives us a solid performance and knew how to give her character a high level of perversity, with touches of madness and narcissistic delirium. Sarah Gilbert gave life to the lonesome Sylvie and was very happy in her work and in the way she narrated the story. I also liked Tom Skerritt and the way he seems to gradually fall for the young sexy blonde. The worst of all was the poor performance of Cheryl Ladd.
Technically, it's an average film and it doesn't stand out particularly. Sometimes, it even seems to be done for the TV, with its warm and lazy cinematography and mediocre or absent effects. The sets and costumes are more or less what we could expect. For me, the most notable technical aspect was the great original soundtrack by David Michael Frank, with a melody for saxophone and orchestra that alternates between sexy and sinister. -
emailbajaj14 October 2003Drew Barrymore performs excellent in this movie, she plays the role of a seductress quite well, from the first scene with her friend's dad to the last seen. The most Important is the way the characters are portrayed, the direction is superb.