Movie of the Day: January 13, 2003

IMDb Movie of the Day
A heady mix of highbrow and lowbrow, Cruel Intentions combines the arch drama of Les Liaisons Dangereuses (its source material) with the titillating elements of a Bret Easton Ellis teen angst-fest, and tops it all off with three gorgeous leads who give their lines extra bite. Sultry Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is the queen of her elite prep school, ruling over her subjects with an iron fist ensconced in a Prada glove -- "Everybody loves me, and I intend to keep it that way," she purrs. Hipster stud Sebastian (Ryan Phillippe) is Kathryn's step-brother, the Don Juan of the Upper East Side, who beds and abandons with suave pleasure, but has grown increasingly bored -- "I'm sick of sleeping with these insipid Manhattan debutantes. Nothing shocks them anymore," he moans. Blasé and rich they may be, but things suddenly start to get interesting when Kathryn is unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend for the pristine Cecile (Selma Blair). Peeved and spiteful, she coerces Sebastian into seducing -- or rather, bespoiling -- the gawky Cecile as revenge. To make things really interesting, though, Kathryn also bets Sebastian he can't deflower the sensible school virgin, Annette (Reese Witherspoon), who's written a nationally published essay called "Why I Choose to Wait." If he loses, Kathryn gets his vintage convertible; if he wins, he gets Kathryn -- in the sack. Anyone familiar with Dangerous Liaisons and Valmont knows what happens next, but writer-director Roger Kumble livens up the proceedings with slick cinematography, blackly comic dialogue and a heavy-breathing mise-en-scene that elevates the movie above standard soap opera. It's high-art trash of the best kind, with Phillippe and Gellar as extraordinary two-faced manipulators, and Witherspoon providing the heart of the movie as the victimized Annette, laid low by love but still strong in her beliefs. It's the kind of fun movie that makes you feel so deliciously... dirty. (more)

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