The film is stylish on a low-budget and is actually steamier than "Nine 1/2 Weeks". 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 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). 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). "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. As Drew Barrymore plays her here, she's a sexy homicidal figure with maternal delusions. It only figures that today's Lolita would be dressed to kill, literally. Nabokov'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. Reviewed by moonspinner55 5 / 10 "Lolita" in the '90s
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