Cruel Intentions had won me over from the start with "Every Me, Every You" by Placebo as the opening track. We meet Sebastian Valmont a young man who is extremely wealthy and arrogant. He seduces women for fun and then discards them as a sort of game and even uses seduction as a weapon as we see when we meet him first he's leaving the office of an angry psychiatrist who has been over charging.
His step-sister, Kathryn, is not dissimilar. When we first meet her she is in a meeting with a mother of a girl who is just entering the school Kathryn is head-girl of. They are all clearly of New York's upper class of the Upper-East. Kathryn agrees to take on the girl Cecile but despite the innocent performance Kathryn puts up for the mother her true intentions aren't so honourable. Kathryn's ex-boyfriend dumped her for Cecile and Kathryn being the spoilt brat didn't like this so intends on get revenge on her ex by getting the young, innocent Cecile to sleep with as many men as possible. Of course she first turns to her infamous step-brother but Sebastian is on another mission. A new girl is coming to school, the daughter of the new
head master. This girl is to be Sebastian's greatest conquest to date as she has recently written an article for a magazine on the benefits of virginity and her pledge of abstinence. Kathryn doesn't believe he'll manage such a fete so makes a wager. If Sebastian doesn't manage to seduce Annette, he has to give up his fancy car (that looks like the monopoly car and a bit stupid in my opinion) but if Sebastian wins he gets what he has always wanted, to have sex with Kathryn.
The film then follows Sebastian's ploys and endeavours to win over the chaste Annette and Kathryn's manipulative scheming to also deflower Cecile by as many men as she can. However, of course, things don't go to plan what-so-ever.
I liked this film. I mainly watched it as being a Buffy fan Sarah Michelle Geller hooked me in. Now in my opinion which no-one seems to agree with, Willow was sort of hotter than Buffy. But in this film Sarah Michelle Geller was very sexy a lot more so than she is in a lot of other stuff, she was constantly toying with her step-brother who was infatuated with her and best of all we had the kiss with Cecile played by Selma Blair, which won the MTV award for best kiss, I'll have you know. Despite how much you drool over her she is also the villain of the film and you really wanted her to get her comeuppance and Geller done a great job of playing this two-faced vindictive character. Sebastian was played by Ryan Philippe who also starred as Geller's boyfriend in I Know What You Did Last Summer. I didn't think he was too great in that film and I haven't seen him in much else but I he was very good in this film. Sebastian is the most complex character in the film, he is the most likable oddly and also the funniest. Now Reese Witherspoon I hate. I don't like the look of her, I don't like her annoying accent and I don't think she is a good actress in the slightest. Thankfully she doesn't have a massive part in this film and I concede she served her purpose adequately but I would have been happier with anyone else. I'd love to punch her in that annoying chin. Ryan Philippe and Reese Witherspoon actually got married after this film was made. Selma Blair's character was a bit odd and maybe unrealistically naïve but she made the film a bit more comic, she's been in things like HellBoy etc. Joshua Jackson of Dawson's Creek played Sebastian's gay friend and the guy who played Sidney's boyfriend in Scream 2 has a small part.
The film was written and directed by Roger Kumble. He has made only a few other lesser teen films since, including a direct-to-video sequel to Cruel Intentions and Cruel Intentions appears to be by far his best work. He adapted it from a famous French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses which has been directly adapted into films set during the period of the novel (18th century). I have neither read the book nor seen any of these films so I can not compare. However, the end of this film was a bit of a disappointment, it became a little too soppy and romantic. Too predictable and began to loose a lot of its originality but the strength of the majority sort of gave this a pass.
As already said the soundtrack was a great addition to this film
1 Every You Every Me (single mix) - Placebo 2 Praise You (radio edit) - Fatboy Slim 3 Coffee And TV - Blur 4 Bedroom Dancing (first recording) - Day One 5 Colourblind - Counting Crows 6 Ordinary Life - Barry, Kristen 7 Comin' Up From Behind - Marcy's Playground 8 Secretly - Skunk Anansie 9 This Love - Armstrong, Craig 10 You Could Make A Killing - Mann, Aimee 11 Addictive - Faithless 12 Trip On Love - Moore, Abra 13 You Blew Me Off - Bare Junior 14 Bittersweet Symphony (original) - Verve
Drama - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Shelagh Fraser, Barbara Flynn, Keith Drinkel, Felicity Kendal, Pam Ferris, Colin Douglas
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
This modern-day teen update ofLes Liaisons Dangereusessuffered at the hands of both ... more
critics and moviegoers thanks to its sumptuous ad campaign, which hyped the film as an arch, highly sexual, faux-serious drama (not unlike the successful, Oscar-nominat...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
This modern-day teen update ofLes Liaisons Dangereusessuffered at the hands of both ... more
critics and moviegoers thanks to its sumptuous ad campaign, which hyped the film as an arch, highly sexual, faux-serious drama (not unlike the successful, Oscar-nominat...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar - Scooby Doo, The Grudge) and Sebastian Valmont ... more
(Ryan Phillippe - Gosford Park) are two gorgeous, filthy rich, manipulative stepsiblings from Manhattan's upper east side.Bored of the girls he has so easily seduce...
![Cruel Intentions [DVD] [1999]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78551185.jpg "Cruel Intentions [DVD] [1999]")
Nov 22nd, 2008
(Jun 4th, 2009)
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