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Cruel Intentions

Cruel Intentions

List Price: $14.94
Your Price: $11.21
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great film, great plot, great young actors, enough said!!!
Review: It is a well-known fact that actors who start off in television or start off young don't have a chance of making it (case in point, Macaulay Culkin). There are a few exceptions though, (George Clooney, Will Smith). With this film, you see the showcase of three great young actors, Ryan Phillippe, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Reese Witherspoon. Phillippe is the stand out, though. It would seem that this film should have established him as a super star but critics and fans were not buying it. Sarah Michelle Gellar, TV's Buffy, showed an evolution of her campy and teen savvy style- arrogance, seductiveness (not sure if that's even a word), manipulative, and the list goes on and on. Of course, this is not the type of person she is in real life but it is not everyday that an actress from a younger generation showcases her versatility. If people stop looking at her as Buffy and as an accomplished actress, then she would be successful. I have not read the book with which this film is based, nor have I seen the blockbuster Dangerous Liasons (there should be a law) but I can understand where the producers were going with this reimagining of the classic story. This film was made to introduce this story to a younger generation and I can understand that. The plot does not drag at all and it showcases the power of love and the power of the human conscience. Sebastian (Phillippe) loves to manipulate and seduce young girls with the help of his estranged and demonic stepsister Kathryn (Gellar). In the process of manipulating a young woman named Cecile (an excellent Selma Blair), Sebastian sets his sights on Annette Hargrove (Witherspoon) in hopes of manipulating and seducing her and boosting his ego and reputation as a womanizer. What he doesn't expect is to actually fall in love with her. The Hargrove character is a psychological case study. She sees right through Sebastian from the get-go but eventually falls in love with him. How is it that we tend to favor that which is seemingly bad for us? Love is a funny thing, isn't it? Think of Eleanor Roosevelt falling in love with Hitler. Anyway, the soundtrack to this film does not disappoint either. It's a colorful mix of alternative rock, love songs, and that feel good music that almost everyone listens to. This film is excellent in presenting teenage characters that are not the classical interpretation of a teenager. This isn't your run-of-the-mill "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" farce with heavy drug usage, crappy one-liners, dumb parties, and skipping class for a day or night on the town, and an underdog acquiring some kind of supernatural edge to win over his bullies and getting his dream girl. This film explores the dark side of the teenager, proving that you do not have to be a certain age to be evil and that evil wears many faces. Though it explores evil, this also isn't a good versus evil story either. It is a story of how the power of love can overcome our own self-loathing and how it can melt even the coldest heart. This magnificent case study in mainpulation and love's dominance in the most unusal circumstances was one of the most underrated films of 1999. I guess everybody was too excited about Star Wars Episode I to truly notice a good film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent serious teen movie!
Review: This is one of the best teen movies I've ever seen! It aboards very serious matter about sexuality and human relations between high-school students.

The perfomances of Sarah-Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillipe, Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair are astonishing! Not to mention the exceptional appearance of Joshua Jackson.

This movie has no sex scenes or nudity, but several adult situations; I guess it reflects the reality of a large group of late-90s teens.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A great Movie.
Review: From begining to end this movie will captivate you. The opening scene featuring the arogant therapist is a scream. I find Ryan Phillippe's character hard to belive but still fun to watch and well played. The scenes he plays with Sara Michelle Gellar are hot. And then there's "The Kiss" which if you don't know about by now need to see it. The ending was a little blah but still not bad enough to ruin the movie. Definatly something to buy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Job!
Review: This movie is awesome. Sarah Michelle Gellar is sexy, seductive, and a drug user who has her way with her step-brother Sebastion. She seduces her step-brother to make love to a teenager who has a boyfriend(Reese Witherspoon)and she finds her self falling in an untrusting love trap. When Sebastion trys desperately to make love with her, Kathryn(Sarah Michelle Gellar)makes a plan, one if he loses she gets his car. If he wins he gets to bed Kathryn. This movie was so good. I love watching it over and over, but it is not recommended for young youth. This movie contains quite confusing scenes of sexaul frustration and some crude words that you do hear often, but it is not used literally, just in an anger type way without showing the feelings.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Dangerous Liaisons lite
Review: It's probably better if you haven't seen Stephen Frears's Dangerous Liaisons (1989), starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer, or Milos Forman's Valmont (1988) with Annette Bening, Colin Firth and Meg Tilly. If you have, Roger Kumble's Cruel Intentions (1999), starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Reese Witherspoon, which is also based on the novel by the Frenchman Choderlos de Laclos, will seem to lack finesse. Kumble wrote his own screenplay as a kind of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in modern dress, whereas Frears and Forman relied more heavily upon the stage play by Christopher Hampton, depicting the aristocracy of 18th century France. While the two earlier movies sparkle with wit, insight and a cynicism to chill the fondest heart, Kumble's venture features a more prosaic brand of sexual humor adorned agreeably with young, nubile bodies.

But there is no need to make odious comparisons. Cruel Intentions can stand on its own, and there is plenty to admire, especially Gellar in a role to which she is perfectly suited, and Witherspoon as well. Phillippe is also good, especially when he's being funny, although his unconscious imitation of John Malkovich was a bit obsequious. He delivered some of his lines with the same deadpan expression and intonation. But being as pretty as he is, Phillippe's character is more like Colin Firth's. Selma Blair's narrow-eyed and dotty Cecile was pretty, sexy, and funnier than either Uma Thurman or Fairuza Balk, who played similar roles in the above mentioned movies, respectively.

The scene with the shrink to begin was very agreeable and should have been followed up somehow. We never see Sebastian quite so diabolical later on. Too bad. And seeing a little more of Swoosie Kurtz who played the self-centered, phony and hypocritical Dr. Regina Greenbaum would have enhanced the film.

The idea of making Sebastian and Kathryn step siblings was amusing and spicy, and the inclusion of a raunchy gay footballer was appropriate. Using a black guy as Cecile's harp teacher was kinky good. And being rather up-front about sex throughout without being overly juvenile was refreshing. The business with Sebastian Valmont's diary of conquests worked well both psychologically and as a plot device.

The main failing with Kumble's movie, aside from the general superficiality, was that Sebastian's "conquest" of Annette was a little too easy, especially with the goody-goody build-up she had been given. Consequently, her falling in love was more like a stumble. There was some physical passion, but nothing like the full-blown emotional passion required. Also I think the ending needed a little work. It seemed that a committee divined it, part of them wanting a "happy" love ending for Reese and Ryan, and the other half wanting to stay somewhat true to the spirit of the original, and so they came to a compromise, as committees will, and we got mishmash.

Incidentally, there is yet a fourth movie version of this tale, Dangerous Liaisons (1960), from French director Roger Vadim. I am looking forward to seeing it, if I can find a copy.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Bad acting, bad dialogue, bad film
Review: I found it difficult to sit through this film. The performances (apart from Reese Witherspoon) were uniformly abysmal. Sarah Michelle Gellar's dull performance was distinguishable from her Buffy character only by some cleavage and some colorful language. Ryan Phillippe was an irritating, whining child.

I don't normally object to movies on the grounds that they set bad examples for children, but when a movie this bad cynically attempts to exploit teen hormones in order to make a few bucks, I find it very depressing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cruel Reality
Review: As sad as it may be, the reality is that many of today's teens are portrayed very well if not exactly in Cruel Intentions. The movie does a wonderful job in displaying the crazy motives teens have today. Perhaps this is why we experience so many teens killing teens and highschool schooting. The reality is that teens of today have been currupted by society. Girls such as Kathryn are going out of their way to destroy the innocence of others, such as Cecile and Annette. The movie holds a dreadful truth, teens are vicious. They will do what it takes to get what they want. The movie was spectacular itself. Ryan Phllipe and Sara Michelle Gellar play their roles wonderfully. The evil seems to come out naturally. Cruel Intentions show that teens are not what they seem. Though you might think they are harmless and innocent, there are those who have evil intentions. However, some do change over time, such as Sebastion does. People may learn a lot about teens from this movie. Don't put too much trust in anyone!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cool movie!
Review: This is a very cool movie on how some teens are today. Very extreme actions. Teens in my generation are usually like this, doing anything to suceed just like Kathryn, but we wouldn't do half the things she did. Falling in love, losing loves, learning your lesson, thats what this movie is about. Also, it tells people can change with the right motivation.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Garbage, pure garbage...
Review: This movie is poorly acted and even more poorly written. What on earth motivates these evil cretins? Fact is, we never find out. Awful, awful, awful. I actually walked out on this when it was in the theaters and later rented it, wondering if I had made a mistake the first time. I hadn't. Absolutely rotten movie, no redeeming qualities about it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A CLASSIC TALE OF LOVE AND BETRAYAL
Review: This is my favorite movie because it's not your typical'teen' movie. I love Sarah Michelle Gellar's Kathryn and Reese Witherspoon's Annette. The movie was sexy without being trashy. The ending was rather sad, but added to the suspense. Because of this film, I watch "Buffy" all the time and Sarah Michelle is my utmost favorite actress. I honestly don't know any kids like these, but I'm sure they do exist and are in cahoots with destruction and seduction.


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