In an adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe) are step-brother and step-sister living in Manhattan. With their absent parents travelling in Europe, the wealthy pair have the family penthouse to themselves as they while away their summer break before beginning senior year at a private high school. Sebastian, bad-boy lothario, has apparently slept with all the girls in town and appears numb to it all. Kathryn, who appears to be the good girl class president, is actually far more amoral and malicious than Sebastian, but maintains appearances to the contrary. When she is dumped by her boyfriend, Court Reynolds (Charlie O'Connell), for the innocent Cecile Caldwell (Selma Blair), she schemes revenge by destroying Cecile's reputation. She challenges Sebastian to deflower Cecile and transform her into a tramp to humiliate Court. Sebastian isn't as interested as Cecile -- she's spent her whole life in a Catholic girl's school and presents no challenge. The girl who has caught his attention is Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon), the new headmaster's daughter. Annette had written an article for Seventeen Magazine on her plans to stay a virgin until she finds her one true love. Kathryn makes a wager. If Sebastian fails to lure Annette into bed before the summer is over, Kathryn gets his car. If he succeeds, Sebastian gets Kathryn, whom he wants anyway. Sebastian accepts the bet, but Annette turns out to be more than either of them bargained for. ~ Ron Wells, Rovi
Review
A profane, wicked, barely believable but also oddly enjoyable teen variation on Dangerous Liaisons, Cruel Intentions is a truly guilty pleasure until it begins to take itself far too seriously. Writer/director Roger Kumble's take on this tale of decadence is light on subtlety, but takes the proceedings to a giddy limit, and adapts the story with more panache than it probably deserves in a setting so inherently shallow. The young cast is well-appointed, especially Sarah Michelle Gellar, who relishes the opportunity to play a bitch-goddess manipulator, though the drippy romantic angle of the story is far too melodramatic for a movie that delights in being so biting. The movie doesn't score many points for originality, but at least offers a bit more than the standard teenage picture, especially in its flagrant vulgarity, some of which is quite funny. A mid-size hit in theaters, the film has the dubious distinction of spawning a television series that never aired, the doomed-from-the-start Manchester Prep. ~ Jason Clark, Rovi
David S. Lazan - Art Director, Mary Vernieu - Casting, Anne McCarthy - Casting, Heather Zeegen - Co-producer, Denise Wingate - Costume Designer, Sam Hill - First Assistant Director, Roger Kumble - Director, Jeff Freeman - Editor, Michael Fottrell - Executive Producer, Chris J. Ball - Executive Producer, William Tyrer - Executive Producer, Bruce Mellon - Executive Producer, Ed Shearmur - Composer (Music Score), Brad Wilder - Makeup, Jon Gary Steele - Production Designer, Theo Van de Sande - Cinematographer, Neal H. Moritz - Producer, Tessa Posnansky - Set Designer, Kim Ornitz - Sound/Sound Designer, Roger Kumble - Screenwriter, Choderlos de Laclos - Book Author
The wealthy and popular Kathryn Merteuil (Gellar) takes the sheltered and naïve Cecile Caldwell (Blair) under her wing, promising to turn Cecile into a model student. Kathryn's real intention, however, is to take revenge on her ex-lover, who dumped her for Cecile. Kathryn asks her step-brother, Sebastian Valmont (Phillippe) to seduce Cecile; he refuses. He is planning to seduce dedicated virgin Annette Hargrove (Witherspoon). Doubting Sebastian's chance of success, they make a wager: If Kathryn wins, she gets Sebastian's vintage Jaguar; if Sebastian wins, Kathryn will have sex with him. Sebastian agrees.
Ronald Clifford, Cecile's music teacher, is in love with Cecile. Sebastian's seduction of Annette fails. Cecile's mother, Mrs. Caldwell, who met Annette at her school, warned Annette of Sebastian's reputation. Wanting revenge on the Caldwells, he tells Kathryn he will seduce Cecile. Kathryn tells Cecile's mother about Ronald and Cecile's romance. Mrs. Caldwell intervenes. Sebastian, in turn, calls Cecile to his house, ostensibly to give her a letter from Ronald. Sebastian blackmails Cecile and performs oral sex on her. The next day, Cecile confides in Kathryn, who advises her to learn the art of sex from Sebastian so that she can make Ronald happy in bed.
Sebastian falls in love with Annette, who returns his feelings but resists him. Sebastian calls her a hypocrite, so she relents, but Sebastian, in turn, refuses her. Annette flees to her friend's parents' estate. Sebastian tracks her down and professes his love, and they become lovers. As he has won the bet, Kathryn offers herself to Sebastian the next day, but he refuses; he now wants Annette only. Kathryn taunts him and threatens to ruin Annette's reputation, so Sebastian pretends indifference to Annette and coldly breaks up with her.
After Sebastian tells Kathryn that he has broken with Annette and arranged for Cecile and Ronald to be together, Kathryn reveals that she has known all along that he was truly in love with Annette and manipulated him into giving her up. She then rejects him. Sebastian sends Annette his journal, in which he has detailed all of Kathryn's maneuvers and written his true feelings for Annette. Ronald confronts Sebastian in the middle of the street and a fight ensues. Annette tries to stop it. She is thrown into the way of an oncoming cab. Sebastian pushes her to safety and is hit by the speeding cab himself. Before he dies, they profess their love for each other.
At Sebastian's funeral Cecile distributes copies of Sebastian's journal, made into a book by Annette, titled "Cruel Intentions". Kathryn is humiliated and rejected by her former friends. Annette drives away in Sebastian's Jaguar.
Cruel Intentions received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 48% based on reviews from 77 critics, or an average score of 5.3/10, with the site's consensus stating; "Even in a slick package and an attractive cast, the movie succumbs to bad acting and a bad script."[2]Metacritic gave the film an average score of 56% based on reviews from 24 critics.[3] However, the film has gained somewhat of a cult following. Charles Taylor of Salon.com described the film as "The Dirtiest-minded American movie in recent memory - and an honestly corrupt entertaining picture is never anything to sneeze at."[4] Stephen Holden The New York Times stated, "You have the queasy sense that the whole thing is just an elaborate stunt, and in this case an exploitative one."[5]
Cruel Intentions was a commercial success. The film grossed $13,020,565 in its opening weekend, ranking #2 behind Analyze This; released in 2,312 theaters, the movie raked in $75,902,208 worldwide.[1]
Awards
The film received the following awards and nominations:
The Cruel Intentions soundtrack is a compilation soundtrack released on March 9, 1999 by Arista/Virgin Records. It reached number 60 on Billboard chart.[citation needed]
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