Lascivious blackmailers and inveterate immoralists, these characters behave despicably, but the movie affects a tone of urbane detachment which puts sex in its proper perspective.
Comment
06/24/06
Cruel Intentions (1999)
47
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:76
Fresh:36
Rotten:40
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: Even in a slick package and an attractive cast, the movie succumbs to bad acting and a bad script.
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Director Roger Kumble transfers the DANGEROUS LIASONS tale to Manhattan, where wealthy prep school student Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar) bets her stepbrother Sebastian (Ryan Phillipe) that he... [More]
Starring: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon, Selma Blair
Director: Roger Kumble
Reviews for Cruel Intentions
Top CriticA clever reworking of a literary classic.
03/05/02
Not quite as clever as it thinks it is, but still oozing more dark wit than most teen movies can dream of.
01/01/00
Top CriticDeliciously cunning.
01/01/00
Click to read the article
08/07/08
What's both depressing and impressive about Cruel Intentions is the profound misanthropy of its meaning.
02/08/08
You won't be able to resist the film's ribaldry and cynicism. Kids these days!
02/08/08
The film's cheat ending aside, this arch, ridiculous movie heaves, sweats and steams, and for the most part, it delivers what its title promises.
08/01/07
Every bit of the original's nastiness is retained but none of its wit or elegance.
01/09/07
In the end, the whole shebang comes off like a bunch of snotty, rich white kids screwing each other and screwing each other over.
12/06/05
You sometimes have to giggle at this movie the way you do when you catch 4-year-olds playing dress-up in front of Mom's closet.
07/21/05
First-time helmer/writer Roger Kumble starts off on the right foot, but stumbles along the way.
04/09/05
[This] 'guilty pleasure' ends guilty of not living up to its potential.
03/30/05
The movie's cinematography, set design, and costume design are all extremely elegant, and the beautiful young actors are shown off to maximum effect, like expensively bred horses.
06/24/03
Click to read the article
05/14/03
Egads.
02/08/03
Cruel Intentions is vapid and mean -- in a good way.
11/07/02
Kumble doesn't dumb down the themes of the novel too much, he just gives them a refreshing, flashy feel Dawson's Creek-style.
09/10/02
Despite its highly descriptive dialogue, Cruel Intentions features no nudity ... I doubt teenage boys will be satisfied just to hear Buffy talk dirty.
09/06/02
The movie never gets past a crucial structural flaw: Behavior that would have scandalized pre-Revolutionary France would scarcely raise an eyebrow among today's drug-dazed and sex-crazed Upper East Side crowd.
06/23/02
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