Must we accept that the film and television industries have run dry on ideas? Worse yet, they seem to have taken a page out of Disney's book and insist on putting their own twist on things.
The 1988 film was one of the first times I ever encountered a number of actors and actresses whom I would see frequently throughout my life; John Malkovich, Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman and Keanu Reeves. I loved it. It was deliciously fiendish, stylishly rendered, superbly performed and delightfully unpredictable. Of course, the book was even better, as in most cases, and in this case (as in several others like "Hannibal") I was glad I'd seen the film first, but in this instance less disappointed in the film after reading the book.
That said, this is another example of using character names for a plot that could be another story entirely - or in other words, they could completely rename the characters in this series, and you'd be hard pressed to figure out from what story this was derived, much like Amazon's recent "Without Remorse" travesty.
Teen-centric though it was, "Cruel Intentions" was a better adaptation than this.
The 1988 film was one of the first times I ever encountered a number of actors and actresses whom I would see frequently throughout my life; John Malkovich, Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman and Keanu Reeves. I loved it. It was deliciously fiendish, stylishly rendered, superbly performed and delightfully unpredictable. Of course, the book was even better, as in most cases, and in this case (as in several others like "Hannibal") I was glad I'd seen the film first, but in this instance less disappointed in the film after reading the book.
That said, this is another example of using character names for a plot that could be another story entirely - or in other words, they could completely rename the characters in this series, and you'd be hard pressed to figure out from what story this was derived, much like Amazon's recent "Without Remorse" travesty.
Teen-centric though it was, "Cruel Intentions" was a better adaptation than this.