How and why writer-director Roger Kumble brought to the screen this modern version of Stephen Frears' classic "Dangerous Liasons" (itself derived from an 18th century French novel via a stage play) is an interesting question. He was never going to improve on it, perhaps he just wanted to bring a classic tale to a wider audience. The darkly comic edge to the sexual decadence and idle cruelty of the privileged and bored is well honed but the overall effect is at times awkward. Making the characters a generation younger leaves the impression of watching the cast of "The O.C." reciting Moliere. The tale may (theoretically) be timeless but the characters don't translate entirely believably in to the modern world. The most entertaining performance is by Ryan Phillipe and it may be significant that he's almost parodying John Malkovich's Comte de Valmont from Frears' 1989 film. At the other end of the scale is Selma Blair who, when told her character is "naive", seems to have heard "border-line retarded". Ultimately "Cruel Intentions" is glossy, beautiful, and mannered, but a little shallow. and the ending (not helped by Sarah Michelle Gellar lacking the necessary dramatic heft for such a grand villain as Merteuil) is botched and insubstantial. Make what you will of the fact it spawned two sequels.
Review of Cruel Intentions
