THE IN CROWD

This badly acted, written and directed B-thriller set among rich twentysomethings at a fancy beach club doesn’t even deliver on the sleaze front. Starring Lori Heuring and Susan Ward. Directed by Mary Lambert. Written by Mark Gibson and Philip Halprin.Rated PG. Running time: 108 minutes. At AMC Empire, Loews 84th Street, others.

A laughably bad B-thriller aimed at the teenage market, “The In Crowd” promised to be a sexed-up sleaze fest in the enjoyably shameless tradition of “Wild Things.”

But that film had the advantage of star power in the form of Kevin Bacon and Matt Dillon, as well as several nastily noir-ish plot twists that weren’t obvious from the start.

This movie, on the other hand, features a lot of weak unknowns, speaking increasingly ridiculous dialogue in the laborious service of a by-the-numbers plot that becomes sillier and lamer as it goes on.

It lacks even the conviction of its own sleaziness: Director Mary Lambert fails to make the most of her nubile, scantily clad cast, and the climactic cat fight is so badly shot and lit, it’s actually boring.

And because the film is so poorly paced, you start noticing irritating details like continuity errors, the illogic of the ending, and the perfect hair and make-up worn by various characters even in the mental hospital.

Adrien (Lori Heuring), a nice blond girl who’s just been released from the institution, gets a job (through her shrink) at an ultrafancy beach club. There she meets and has to serve a crowd of absurdly spoiled twentysomethings. The leader of this “in crowd” is the powerfully seductive Brittany (Susan Ward).

For no apparent reason, she takes Adrien under her wing, inviting her to parties, buying her dresses and lending her golf clubs. Brittany’s former best friend, Kelly (Laurie Fortier), gets jealous and says catty things about partying with the help, but because Adrien is good-looking and athletic, she fits in pretty quick.

But when Matt (Matthew Settle), one of the many indistinguishably good-looking guys at the club, takes an interest in Adrien, Brittany – who has a quasi-supernatural ability to be anywhere people are talking about her – starts showing her sinister side. And it’s very sinister indeed.

The most interesting thing about “The In Crowd” turns out to be the way it’s cast with look-alikes: Lori Heuring looks like a seventh-generation Xerox of Sarah Jessica Parker with straight hair, and Ward is an amazing dead ringer for Denise Richards.

Unfortunately, while Ward can play sexy and devious with the same facility as Richards, Heuring is unable to make her increasingly absurd lines sound anything but unintentionally funny.