The Rules of Attraction (2002)

Director:

Roger Avary

Writers (WGA):

Bret Easton Ellis (novel)
Roger Avary (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 October 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

There Are No Rules

Plot:

The incredibly spoiled and overprivileged students of Camden College are a backdrop for an unusual love triangle between a drug dealer, a virgin and a bisexual classmate.

Plot Keywords:

College | Drugs | Bisexual | Drug Dealer | Love Triangle

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

James Van Der Beek	...	Sean Bateman
Shannyn Sossamon	...	Lauren Hynde
Jessica Biel	...	Lara
Kip Pardue	...	Victor
Kate Bosworth	...	Kelly
Ian Somerhalder	...	Paul Denton
Joel Michaely	...	Raymond
Jay Baruchel	...	Harry
Thomas Ian Nicholas	...	Mitchell
Clifton Collins Jr.	...	Rupert
Clare Kramer	...	Candice
Faye Dunaway	...	Mrs. Denton
Swoosie Kurtz	...	Mrs. Jared
Russell Sams	...	Richard
Colin Bain	...	Donald

Also Known As:

Die Regeln des Spiels (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong sexual content, drug use, language and violent images. (edited from original NC-17 version)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:18 (cut) | South Korea:18 | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Brazil:18 | Canada:18A | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | Iceland:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:R(A) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:NC-17 (original rating) | USA:R (edited for re-rating) (certificate #39352) | Mexico:C

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

Kingsgate Films

Trivia:

The film on mute in Fred Savage's room is Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. (1920).

Goofs:

Continuity: In the split screen sequence, when Sean meats Lauren in the corridor, she takes off his glasses, but when the screens join she's clearly standing too far away to have been able to reach them.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Lauren: It's a story that might bore you, but you don't have to listen, because I always knew it was going to be like that.

Movie Connections:

References Walking Tall (1973)

Soundtrack:

Lust to Love

You better bring back change; Daddy wants change…The Rules of Attraction

After viewing The Rules of Attraction, one can definitely see how Roger Avary and Quentin Tarantino were friends. Upon leaving their jobs as video store clerks, the two went out and did Reservoir Dogs together, before collaborating on Pulp Fiction. Tarantino took all the credit for those two movies, basically striking Avary out of Dogs completely and only giving him story credit for Pulp. With Rules of Attraction, one sees that there was probably more influence on both films. While this adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' novel contains many clichéd style maneuvers, they all work effectively in telling the tale. Multiple uses of rewind, spilt screen, and the re-showing of events could have been a drastic failure of cheap trickery with less able hands. Here, though, Avary shows some skill and uses everything to further advance a complicated tapestry of story lines and encounters from the stellar cast of young up-and-comers.

This is a story about a weekend of college partying at Camden. We have co-eds of all grades, races, and sexual orientation weaving in and out of each other's lives, going from party to party, having altercations, conversations, and a lot of casual sex. James Van Der Beek is actually really quite good breaking out of his good boy image from WB-fare casting. His performance really makes me wish his sanitized image didn't warrant Todd Solondz from cutting his arc from the disturbingly good Storytelling. Shannon Sossamon does admirably as the confused girl rooming with a slut, doing drugs, but wanting to stay pure for the man of her dreams. It is this conflicting nature that runs rampant throughout each character's existence. The dry, cynical humor prevalent in another Ellis adaptation, American Psycho, carries through here as well. Without so much satire from that film, Rules reaches an absurdity at times that makes you think back to your college days and the craziness and emotional stupidity you remember seeing from those surrounding you.

I give Avary a lot of credit for his sense of detail too. The soundtrack enhances each scene, where it is used, effectively, most noticeably with the hilarious juxtaposition of Ian Somerhalder and Russell Sams dancing and lip-synching to a George Michael song on a hotel bed with their mothers in the dining hall swapping prescription drugs between sips of vodka. Little scenes like seeing a suicide being lifted into an ambulance, students crying all around, with a girl hitting on one of the police officers in the foreground are brilliant. Avary makes the viewer never take a break as there is no telling what he/she might miss. Also, the casting choices are superb in every instance. Clifton Collins Jr. is menacingly funny as a drug supplier, Eric Stoltz creepily spot-on in a small role, Faye Dunnaway hamming it up in the aforementioned hotel dining scene, and Fred Savage in a gem of a cameo.

Even when you think the gimmicks are through, and we have linear storyline normality, we are treated to a fast-paced recap of Kip Pardue's character's trip to Europe. The matter-of- fact nature in which the sequence is narrated during its quick cut montage is great. Supposedly this footage was edited into a bridge film called Gliterrati, to connect Rules to a future film adaptation of Ellis' Glamorama. Unfortunately it has not been released in its full form and Glamorama has been removed from Avary's slate of upcoming films. Either way, The Rules of Attraction allows for the hope that we will see more Ellis-based films. If nothing else I can't wait to break into the collection of his works sitting unopened on my bookshelf, waiting to be read for the past year or so.