The Crush received mostly negative reviews from critics on release, and was not a big box office success,[3] although it became especially popular through the video rental market, and showings on cable television.

[6] 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.

She drops by the guest house one afternoon with a gift for Nick while he is taking a shower, and after he tells her he needs to get dressed, she sneaks a peek at his bare backside, and grins mischievously.

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.

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.

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.

[14] 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.