Cruel Intentions

Choderlos de Laclos's Les liaisons dangereuses is an indestructible story, having been filmed four times, twice modernized, and now, in Cruel Intentions, given the Clueless treatment. Here, Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe) are jaded, amoral, rich, teenage Manhattan stepsiblings. Kathryn seeks revenge on an ex-boyfriend by transforming his naive new girlfriend, Cecile Caldwell (Selma Blair), into the school slut; Sebastian bets Kathryn he can seduce Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon), who has publicly vowed to remain chaste until she falls in love and gets married. All plans go tragically awry, of course, when love rears its ugly head.

Nobody in this cast is going to make viewers forget 1988's Dangerous Liaisons (though Phillippe's effete, detached delivery seems a creepy homage to John Malkovich). It's hard to buy kids mincing and clawing like old Bette Davis characters. The only ones who seem like real teens are Blair, who gives a comic performance full of incredulous, recognizably adolescent eye rolls and lip curls, and Witherspoon, who plays at a level above the material as well as the tawdry proceedings (and who shows some chemistry with real-life boyfriend Phillippe).

Adults will be appalled by the brazen drug use and explicit sex talk (rookie writer/director Roger Kumble underlines everything as if he were adapting the Cliff's Notes), but teens will love the voluptuously bleak atmosphere, appreciate the helpful sex tips, and maybe even enjoy a morality tale that doesn't rely on easy irony, pop-culture allusions, or hooded slashers. At the Holiday, Showcase, Tri-Boro, and Woonsocket cinemas.
-- Gary Susman