I have to be honest; the main thing that attracted me to Cruel Intentions was Sarah Michelle Gellar and a few friends recommending it. Amy wanted to see it cause of Ryan Philippe, so we got it off the shelf, made our way home and put it into the video not expecting much………………
The story is based around Kathryn Merteuil and step brother Sebastian Valmont, two enormously rich and attractive socialites, who like nothing better than to mess with other peoples lives, using whatever means possible……
Kathryn, in front of adults seems to be the perfect example, she is student body president at their lavish boarding school Manchester Prep, has saved her virginity until marriage, is never in trouble and against drugs, bullying, swearing and just about everything else wrong. But out of the disapproving glares, she is a super seductive cow, who is not only happy with making her way through all of New York’s men but also is determined to snort her way through tons of coke. She is irresistible to men and her step brother wants a piece of her to………….
That man is Sebastian, a young rebel, who uses sex as a competition and his conquests as scum. The only woman that he wants but can’t have is the irresistible Kathryn, who dangles her sexy body all over him. He is sophisticated, intelligent and rich also he has a hot car. Which Kathryn wants………..
As Sebastian gloats about his conquest, An article in a glossy magazine attracts his attention, it is about Annette Hargrove a beautiful blonde, who has vowed to not have sex until marriage, no matter now big the temptation…………
Sebastian is convinced that he could bed this saint, Kathryn however is not so sure and the two ring leaders make a wager. If he does not get into Annette’s arms, within two weeks, she will get his hot vintage car.
If he does succeed in his task, then he will get the ultimate prize, her……………..
Annette just happens to be staying at Sebastian’s aunts. And she is as angelic as she seems, completely blanking all his sexual advances………..
But after time will Sebastian’s feelings for her become deeper? Will Kathryn, get her car? Will Sebastian get his prize? Watch and see!
The acting in Cruel Intentions is sometimes remarkable, sometimes above average.
I am very glad to say that Sarah Michelle Gellar comes out of the proceedings best. She perfectly captures the seduction role. She is brilliant as both her friendly and bitchy alter egos. She is easily relatable. I think that when you are brought up with the power to get whatever you want, you expect that through your whole life. She is super sexy, but also manages to bring a human quality, to what could be a very unrealistic character. She is devastatingly sexy, wonderfully bitchy, fantastically beautiful, and undoubtedly irresistible. A brilliant performance a highlight of her career.
Selma Blair is sometimes a wonderfully light and fluffy actress, and she doesn’t disappoint as the naive and trusting Cecile, who Kathryn befriends to get an old abusive boyfriend in a lot of trouble. Selma, understands the character awkward persona and inexperience. It is funny to see how she reacts towards Kathryn and Sebastian. At first Kathryn is beautifully behaved, but gradually reveals her true colours. Selma is brilliant in this role, she is quirky and funny.
Reese Witherspoon isn’t really given much to do, but with the material that she does have, she is brilliant. I love Reese; she is luminous and instantly likeable. In this role she is angelic, but can also stand up for herself against nasty people. Her chemistry with the rather wooden Ryan is noticeable and she plays her slightly uninteresting role with flair and style. A very well cast member of the project.
Joshua Jackson is fairly amusing as the overly camp, acquaintance of Sebastian’s. He is a vital weapon in his role against Annette, as someone has been emailing her warning about his saucy antics. He is comfortable in the role and funny.
I left Ryan Philippe until last because he puts in the worst performance of the film. Not that it’s his worst ever performance. He isn’t capable of being not wooden. The only times were he is anything other than bad, is his scenes with the fantastic Sarah, and they only consist of looking good and flirting outrageously. As Sebastian he is fairly well suited, he has the whole cocky thing going for him. I suppose it’s not an awful performance, but it isn’t brilliant, everybody else out perform his noticeably.
The characters themselves really vary from quality I will attempt to go into the mind of them and tell you what I think they are going through (I enjoy doing this)
Kathryn is I think inside hurting; she has had to deal with having a maybe bad childhood as her mother is labelled a gold digging whore. People often use their appearance to cover up feelings of inadequacy, and I think that this is her problem, (this is explored in the greatly inferior sequel.) I think she is well developed and an interesting character, who could have been explored more, in the movie.
Sebastian is an unoriginal character who’s cocky, sophisticated and intelligent. I don’t think at the beginning of the movie he has any emotions at all, but as the movie progresses he becomes a more human character, who doesn’t know weither to be fuel by sex as before or love.
The script is full of sexual innuendos which are sometimes fairly outrageous. I don’t think that this should alienate older people as; they are done with class and are fairly crucial in portraying the different characters personalities.
As for the scripts quality, Roger Kumble is in touch with the teens, he writes a very enjoyable script that although containing many faults is at times touching, outrageous and sexy. It has good pace, the dialogue is easy to relate to as the characters are actually saying things that people of their age range would say. I think he hits on something, which is that if we all look inside ourselves we have a bit of all of the characters, according to some people I am like Sebastian (which is pure lies) When you hear about them you may think no way, but watch it and you will see. The script allows the actors to do their jobs well, and it slightly lifts the bars for many other ‘teen flicks’
Roger Kumble also directs this sexy look into the world of the young socialites. The movie is eye catching, well paced and simple. He gives the performers time to do their jobs and gets good performances.
I do have to say one more thing; the ending is really not very good. It comes out of nowhere and at the times makes for a fulfilling and emotional end, on second looks though, you realize that it doesn’t ring true to the characters. Kathryn does something way out of character and after the initial big shock; it kind of gets rid of all the wicked sexy high jinx.
I enjoyed watching this interesting and sexy look into the lives of these puppet masters, who think they have the right to ruin other people’s lives for their own enjoyment. It is mainly well acted, the direction is fluid and the production values are good. The ending is the only disappointing bit.
The prices I have seen vary from 5.99 from Tesco’s website to 11.00 at Amazon.
Thanx for reading and rating as always Jay
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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
Advantages: How good the actors are and how class they make this movie to be.And how no special effects are needed to make this movie how good it is. Disadvantages: wasnt long enough lol
crazygeordie 28.06.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Cruel Intentions
Advantages: How good the actors are and how class they make this movie to be.And how no special effects are needed to make this movie how good it is. Disadvantages: wasnt long enough lol
crazygeordie 28.06.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Cruel Intentions
Advantages: it was watchable in a funny sort of way Disadvantages: The quality of acting didn't compare to the original, Repeated quotes from the first film
jenni_a 29.04.2003 (29.04.2003)
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Review of CruelIntentions 2 (DVD)
Nov 30th, 2004
exceptional by (9%):
very helpful by (91%):
