The Crush (1993 film)

The Crush is a 1993 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Alan Shapiro, which stars Cary Elwes as Nick Eliot and Alicia Silverstone as Adrian Forrester, in her feature film debut. When writer Nick Eliot moves to a new city for a magazine job, Adrian Forrester, the teenage daughter of the landlords whose guesthouse he rents, instantly makes her attraction to Nick clear. Nick has trouble fending off Adrian's advances, and as her obsession grows, the situation becomes increasingly dangerous.

The Crush received mostly negative reviews from critics on release, and wasn't a big box office success, although it became especially popular through the video rental market, and showings on cable television. In subsequent years it has become a cult film.

Plot
Twenty-eight-year-old writer Nick Eliot secures a job at Pique magazine and lodging in a guest house belonging to Cliff and Liv Forrester. The handsome Nick soon becomes acquainted with and frequently visited by the couple's fourteen-year-old daughter Adrian, a precocious girl who becomes intensely infatuated with him. She drops by the guest house one afternoon with a gift for Nick while he’s taking a shower, and after he tells her he needs to get dressed, she sneaks a peek of his bare backside, and grins mischievously.

Adrian invites Nick to a party that her parents are throwing at their house. Without confirming that he will attend, Nick decides to stop in. As he enters the house, Nick is taken by Adrian's impressive piano performance. Nick follows Adrian to her parents' outdoor balcony afterwards. He muses that if she were just ten years older, as she flirtatiously interrupts him, questioning what he'd do. Redirecting the conversation, Adrian suddenly encourages Nick to take her for a ride in his convertible. Nick agrees to drive Adrian to a place of her choosing; a romantic secluded area where she kisses him. Though initially receptive to the kiss, Nick stops when he realizes he is being seduced. Without leading her on, Nick takes Adrian home. Adrian's crush on Nick intensifies, but he quickly wises up and attempts to put her off. He begins a budding romance with coworker Amy. Adrian becomes jealous and meets Amy in the woods while she is gathering sticks for a marshmallow roast and corrects her when she spots a bee's nest in a tree, identifying them as wasps in the form of a subtle warning. Adrian continues to boldly pursue Nick, sneaking into his room to rewrite his article (which impresses his boss, Michael) and even going so far as to undress in front of him when he accidentally hides in her closet.

When Nick continues to rebuff her advances, Adrian's actions become destructive; she steals his favorite childhood photo, defaces a car he has restored, and erases his computer discs, yet he's unable to convince Adrian's parents of her guilt. Cheyenne, a friend of Adrian's, tries to warn Nick about her, but she has an "accident" at the riding school she and Adrian attend together when Adrian sabotages the saddle on her horse. After Adrian spies on Nick in bed with Amy, she locks Amy in her darkroom and empties a wasp's nest into the vents, severely stinging her.

Amy survives, and Nick, now convinced that Adrian is big trouble, attempts to find new lodging. However, Adrian accuses him of sexually assaulting her with "evidence" obtained from a used condom from Nick's trash; he is subsequently arrested. After Michael bails him out (and suspends him until trial), Cheyenne tells Nick that she knows he is innocent and that Adrian has an extensive history of obsessive behavior, citing a previous crush on a camp counselor named Rick who "accidentally" died from eating something poisonous. Cheyenne also informs Nick of a diary Adrian kept that can exonerate him.

After Cheyenne departs, Nick hears strange noises coming from the Forresters' house. He investigates and finds Cheyenne bound and gagged on the carousel in the attic. Adrian confronts and attacks him, leading Cliff to attack Nick after he mistakes him for the aggressor. Adrian then knocks Cliff unconscious in defense of Nick, enabling the latter to subdue her with one punch. Acquitted, Nick goes to live with Amy in Seattle while Adrian is confined to a psychiatric hospital. Though she laments that Nick refuses to speak to her, respond to the multiple letters she has written, or accept her apologies, her doctor comments that she is making good progress, unaware that she is now developing a crush on him. In the final scene, Adrian returns to her room in the hospital, where she glares at a photo of the doctor and his wife before her mouth slowly curves into a devious smile.

Cast

 * Cary Elwes as Nicholas "Nick" Eliot
 * Alicia Silverstone as Adrian/Darian Forrester
 * Jennifer Rubin as Amy Maddik
 * Kurtwood Smith as Cliff Forrester
 * Gwynyth Walsh as Liv Forrester
 * Amber Benson as Cheyenne
 * Matthew Walker as Michael

Lawsuit and character name change
Writer and director Alan Shapiro based the film on events from his own life. The girl on whom he based Adrian sued him for using her real name, Darian, for Alicia Silverstone's character. As a result, when the film was re-edited for television, the character's name was changed from Darian to Adrian. Silverstone is still credited as having played Darian Forrester on IMDb. The VHS and laser disc releases retained the original spoken dialogue that called the character Darian. The original theatrical trailer also refers to the character as Darian.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 27% rating based on reviews from 30 critics. On Metacritic it has a score of 34% based on reviews from 16 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.

Brian Lowry of Variety compared the film to Poison Ivy (1992) and called it "another by-the-numbers thriller" and was critical of lack of gore or nudity, suggesting the R rating must stand for "ridiculous." Hal Hinson of the Washington Post wrote: "There's something scuzzy about the whole exercise." Janet Maslin of The New York Times said it "Never succeeds in becoming either torrid or scary" and that it "is for the most part grindingly predictable and mechanically played."