User Reviews

I find it incredibly peculiar how the same novel (Choderlos de Laclos' "Les liaisons dangereuses", but that won't be on the test) can spawn two separate interpretations that are absolutely nothing alike. "Dangerous Liaisons" was a very stylish, classy, hyper-professional and (maybe as a result) also somewhat slow costume drama, while "Cruel Intentions" shamelessly takes the sleazy road and ends up being really entertaining. It's primarily aimed at teens and piles up Hollywood clichés like it's a contest or something, but despite those hurdles it manages to strike exactly the right dark tone. Sarah Michelle Gellar is really good in the Glenn Close role, technically she only gives her villain one dimension but it's a dimension you love to hate. She has acid running through her veins, in fact the whole movie seems a lot more harsh and direct than "Dangerous Liaisons" was. Do I actually prefer this high schooler remake over the original "Dangerous Liaisons"? Well, secretly yes, but to avoid being burned on a pyre I'll just say they're both excellent movies in their own right. "Cruel Intentions" is just a great watch though.

This came out at the movies when I was 14 and let me tell you, it was the hottest thing to ever be shown at the movies in our lifetime! You could either sneak in or wait for the VHS. What a time. Watching it 23 years later I feel it really holds up. The precursor to Gossip Girl and the like, this really set a tone and I'm all for it.

I have recently been seeing a psychiatrist about a few troubles. In one of his sessions, he bought up about the movie Cruel Intentions, which I absolutely loved. He said he loved the start of the movie where the evil Sebastian says to the Psychologist `You have beautiful legs, I would love to photograph them'. This then sets the tone for one of the best teen films that the world has seen. Based on the movie Dangerous Liaisons, Cruel Intentions goes down as one of my top five favourite films of all-time.

A sex-obsessed rich boy Sebastian sets out to win his greatest "conquest" - a girl who has proclaimed in a Teen magazine that she will wait until marriage to lose her virginity. The teen is egged on by his sister, Catherine, an evil scheming girl in her own right. The two have a wager on whether Sebastian can achieve his conquest. If he wins, he gets a night of bliss with his stepsister, if she wins, she keeps his most prided possession, his Jaguar convertible!

Well this is a brilliant backstabbing, bitchy, love and hate war movie. I cannot remember a movie like it in my time. The theme of the movie was priceless. Having two rich hobnob kids toying with various people's emotions in their neighborhood was just great. In fact it is not at all silly to think that this does not happen in real life, because if you don't believe that then you are very naïve.

There are many people who need to be praised for this classic movie. Director Roger Kumble did a great job in bringing this movie to our screens. He added so many little `steamy' pieces to this movie that it was never going to fail. Then you have the producer Neal H. Moritz who also allowed this film to shine. He gave this film all the right production touches, which I can only praise.

Then you have the wonderful cast that was assembled for Cruel Intentions. The main star for this film would have to be the gorgeous Sarah Michelle Gellar. She was outstanding as the horrible Catherine. Her character while at times was extremely hard to like, she was almost too hard to not want to like. I mean she was every guy's fantasy. Sexually liberated (and not afraid to admit it), then all she wanted to do is screw up all her enemies at the same time. Then you have the patronising and ‘stud man' Sebastian, played by Hollywood hunk Ryan Philippe. His performance in this film was also first class. I thought his character was a lot more likable then Catherine's, but you could sometimes want to strangle him for the way he screws with people, just like his stepsister does, and then still seemingly gets more women dying to be with him.

Other cast members just help to make this film an extraordinary viewing experience. Reese Witherspoon is fantastic as the pure and innocent, Annette. She helps to balance the sour bitchy side of the cast, with her friendly almost sickening goody goody side. I am looking forward to seeing Witherspoon in the comedy, Legally Blonde, directed by new Australian director Robert Luketic. Selma Blair was also very good in her role as the dumb and very naïve Cecil. The kissing scene that she has with Gellar was one of the highlights of the film, with the kiss being voted the best onscreen kiss a few years ago.

Then this film has another great side to it, that of the soundtrack. It has so many great songs on it. Placebos tune `Every me, Every you' helps start this movie off, then you get songs such as Colorblind by Counting Crows and the classy, Bitter Sweet Symphony, by the Verve. This would have to be one of the world's most popular soundtracks from where I view it.

In conclusion, Cruel Intentions is a film I can say I love and that I can learn from. People in real life do use people and do hurt them. I know this because I was involved in such a scenario not so long ago. Nothing was ever happy until it was a fight and scrag. I will go as far to admit that I was confronted with a real life Catherine, a person who was such a goody goody on the outside, but the real person on the inside is a person that loves to cause trouble and will go out of her way to do it. Anyone who is like that is a real low-life in my view. Get swept up in the nasty love triangle, ‘Cruel Intentions'!

Rating: 5 Stars or 10/10

If you want to introduce classic literature to a teen audience, movies like this are a great way, a good adaptation of a classic, not up there with '10 things I hate about you' or 'Romeo + Juliet' but still good enough to elicit interest in the classics from the audience.

Once upon a time there were three young actresses named Sarah Michelle, Selma and Laura Jean, who for reasons best known to herself preferred to be called Reese. They acted together in a film called "Cruel Intentions", after which fate had different things in store for our three friends. Sarah Michelle went on to star in the two "Scooby-Doo" films which achieved the difficult feat of making even the original cartoon series look intelligent by comparison. Selma may one day become the greatest Lady Macbeth of the twenty-first century, but even if she does she will have difficulty living down the "I can't believe I'm making love to a big purple elephant" scene from the awesomely tasteless "The Sweetest Thing". (Yes, I know she didn't say "making love" but decency forbids a verbatim quotation). And Reese? Reese went on to give a cracking performance in one of the best films of 2005 and won a well-deserved Oscar. It just goes to show you never can tell.

"Cruel Intentions" transfers the basic plot of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" to a modern-day American school, thus doing for Choderlos de Laclos what "Clueless" did for Jane Austen. (Whether either Monsieur de Laclos or Miss Austen actually needed this service is a matter open to debate). The main characters become teenage step-siblings, Kathryn Merteuil and Sebastian Valmont, both pupils at an exclusive boarding school. Most of the action takes place during the summer holidays and, like most teenagers with too much time on their hands, Kathryn and Sebastian are bored. In order to combat the monotony of their daily lives, they make a bet with one another that Sebastian can seduce Annette, the headmaster's daughter who has publicly proclaimed that she intends to save her virginity until marriage. If Sebastian fails, he will have to give Kathryn his most prized possession, a vintage sports car. If he succeeds, Kathryn will sleep with him. (Kinky, I know, but as they're not actually related by blood no criminal statutes will be violated). In addition, there is a sub-plot involving the evil pair's attempts to corrupt the morals of Cecile, a terminally naive girl who has somehow managed to snare Kathryn's boyfriend.

As is normal in Hollywood films about teenagers, the lead parts are all played by actors several years older than the characters they represent. This convention seems to be motivated by censorship considerations; the American film censors seem to operate a curious double standard whereby plot lines about underage sex are acceptable provided the actors involved are all in their twenties (or, in some cases, their thirties).

The film has been compared unfavourably with "Dangerous Liaisons", the "straight" version of the story from 1988. I have never, however, been a great admirer of Stephen Frears's film. Certainly, it is beautifully acted (much more so than "Cruel Intentions"), but it always seemed to me to be claustrophobic and airless, set in its own highly artificial world. Its atmosphere of world-weariness and heartless cruelty never seems real, except perhaps to those who take at face value all those History Made Simple textbooks that tell us that the eighteenth century French aristocracy were all creepily decadent sadists who thoroughly deserved their fate at the hands of Madame Guillotine. "Cruel Intentions", by contrast, is not played straight, but transforms the story into a black comedy. Certainly, I doubt if real life teenagers would be quite as skilfully manipulative as Sebastian and Katherine, but this is not a realistic drama and has no ambitions to be one, so the question is not really relevant.

Sarah Michelle Gellar has never struck me as a great actress. She was cute and sexy in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", but her character was never more than a cute and sexy version of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. About her role in "Scooby-Doo" the less said the better. In "Cruel Intentions", however, her rather mannered, knowing style of acting serves her well. Kathryn is an upper-class version of Cordelia, the character played by Charisma Carpenter in "Buffy"- the attractive, seemingly popular girl who, underneath the surface, is a prize bitch. The difference is that whereas Cordelia was merely shallow and thoughtless, Kathryn is hard, brittle and positively malevolent. Sebastian is equally amoral- a hardened seducer without a though in his head for the rights or feelings of others. There is a hint in Ryan Philippe's portrayal that, like many hardened seducers, his seductions are undertaken in order to feed his ego as much as his libido.

Of the pair's two victims, Selma Blair's Cecile is too much of a booby ever to attract our sympathy, the sort of girl who reminds us that not only did the word "silly" originally mean "innocent" but also that there is sometimes a close connection between innocence and silliness in the modern sense. Reese Witherspoon's Annette is a different matter. She resists the temptation to play her character either as another silly innocent or as a Bible-thumping born-again hypocrite. She makes Annette not only morally principled but also smart, shrewd and likable. At first she seems to have Sebastian's measure, but eventually neither her principles nor her shrewdness are proof against his lies and blandishments. She finds herself falling in love with him and allows him to seduce her.

More surprisingly, Sebastian finds himself falling in love with Annette, so much so that he even refuses to claim his promised reward from Kathryn. It is at this point that the film abruptly changes tack. What started out as a cynical, amoral and sometimes witty black comedy becomes a sentimentally moralising conventional teen-film. The ending (which I will not reveal) is particularly tear-jerking. It is as though the film-makers lacked the courage of their convictions. Or perhaps I should say they lacked the courage of their lack of convictions. 6/10

Cruel Intentions was my favorite movie when I was 14, to me it was everything I just wanted to be as a teen, despite how cruel and manipulative Katheryn was, I thought she was the coolest and strongest female character I'd ever seen on film. Now a couple years afterwards I read the book and saw the original Dangerous Liasons with John Malkovich and Glenn Close, I still very much enjoy Cruel Intentions. Like I said, this was just a terrific updated version of the ultimate story of love and betrayal, it was a little Dawson's Creek at times, but from what angle they went at, it was understandable. It had the biggest stars: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillipe, Reese Withersppon, Tara Reid, Joshua Jackson, and Selma Blair. May I say they gave extremely impressive performances, but the best without a doubt goes to Sarah Michelle Gellar, she was just ultimately brilliant as Kathryn Muertiel, the cruelist girl in school who's goal isn't to be the most popular, but to dominate everyone's innocence.

Kathryn and Sebastion are step brother and sister, they have a partnership together to work the school into a total wave of turning the most innocent into the most corrupted. They also have a love for each other, but Kathryn is the only girl Sebastian can't have, it kills him and she teases him constantly over it. Kathryn asks Sebastian if he could help her corrupt the girl that took her boyfriend, Cecil, a naive young girl who is under Kathryn's wing, but isn't aware of her intentions. But the plot thickens when Kathryn finds out that Cecil is in love with her black music teacher which her mother wouldn't like very much. Then Sebastian finds a girl, Annette, who believes that people shouldn't experience the act of love until they are in love. He and Kathryn make a bet while he seduces Cecil, that if he can corrupt Annette, he gets to bed Kathryn. But there's one problem, he might be in over his head when he starts to fall in love with Annette.

Cruel Intentions is a great movie with good, strong performances. For what might have been a typical teen movie, this was just a good idea on where the director made decisions on how to make the story real. It's very romantic, heart breaking, and even has it's dark comedic moments for a little breath of air. I will always recommend this film to anyone, it's a great story. I would also highly recommend to watch Dangerous Liasons along with Cruel Intentions, so you have a little bit of a different variety. You'll find yourself a bit seduced with these movies.

9/10

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.

This movie gives a sexy, sensual twist to the stereotypical "teen flick." It communicates a new idea of sexuality amongst present-day teenagers, rather than the "bang her and leave her" mentality that is most commonly portrayed. I think the cast was very well chosen, and the dynamics of the cast were amazing. There weren't too many "no names" or "B list" actors, but on the other hand there weren't too many "A listers," which would have thrown the focus off the plot. The music used in the movie was perfect because it accentuated the tone of the movie.

I give "Cruel intentions" a "10" because it is a saucy love story without all the corniness of normal movies.

Have you ever laughed so hard that you thought that you'd burst a blood vessel? Well that's what I felt like after seeing this movie. I haven't found a movie this amusing in a long time (even if it was unintentional). I have a smirk on my face just thinking about this film.

Whether it is a rich exclusive private school student with a dope problem or teenagers in this film being more deceitful, manipulative and vicious than some of the world's most ruthless dictators, or other, even more unbelievably improbable circumstances, this movie is comical on most levels.

This is the most fun that you'll ever have laughing at a movie that is not a comedy.

Conniving, deceitful, twisted and cruel. well done movie for it's type and time. all the actors played their roles perfectly (about 3 viewings)

Well, one thing for sure is that the previous three versions of Dangerous Liaisons have nothing to fear from this latest remake. After leaving the theatre I was hard-pressed to decide what the worst part of the film was. The cast are barely passable to pathetic, especially Ryan (54) Phillippe. The writing and direction turn the first half into an attempt to shock with repeated double entendres and sexual innuendo. It wants to be soft-core porn. And the second half is simply teenage soap opera played out so cheesily that it almost seems like a satire of itself - but don't give the filmmaker that much credit. In the end it was stupifyingly bad, an insult even to the younger teen audience to which it is obviously targeted.

For exactly two-thirds of its 97 minute running time, "Cruel Intentions" scores as a nasty-minded, wryly satiric and even mildly courageous teen update of "Dangerous Liaisons." But, like so many movies with one eye cocked towards the boxoffice, "Cruel Intentions" loses its nerve and settles ultimately for comfortable, safe and hopelessly dull conventionality. Ryan Phillippe and Sarah Michelle Gellar portray a wicked pair of step siblings who operate together to prey sexually upon unsuspecting victims, manipulating others to achieve their goals of personal conquest and revenge. It's refreshing to encounter protagonists who make no excuses for their amorality and instead allow themselves to be completely guided by their own self-serving impulses, totally unmindful of the consequences to others. Their schemes are acted out with a callous gleefulness and self-absorbed relish that raises the film to a level of surprisingly sophisticated satire and audacity. But, when Sebastian encounters his ultimate challenge - a midwestern virgin played by Reese Witherspoon, who has publicly declared in a magazine her decision to wait for true love before offering herself to a man - he falls under her charms and suddenly transforms from coldhearted predator to mushheaded romantic. This is the major problem with the film. Sebastian is valid and interesting as a character as long as he stays within the realm of sly manipulator and acerbic scoundrel. When he is called upon to function as a dashing romantic figure, he loses both credibility and uniqueness - and the film itself goes into a freefall tailspin. For, as Sebastian undergoes his sudden conversion, all the sharply satiric wit simply drains out of the film. We're ultimately left with little more than unconvincing melodrama, inappropriately tragic overtures and a silly evildoers-do-not-prosper resolution. What a pity to see yet another in a long line of movies that start out with bright promise, but which finally end up renaging on their initial courageousness, leaving the audience in perpetual frustration.

I found this movie to be one of a kind, it was a lot better than I originally thought it would be, the name didn't make the movie sound too good, but after watching the movie I thought it was excellent. I found Reese Witherspoon's performance in this movie to be outstanding, I think SHE was the person who made the movie what it was.

The movie started off by showing what kind of a person Ryan was in the film, but as the movie commenced it showed how he fell in love and by the end of the movie he had done a complete 180 from how he had started. This movie was just so much better than most of the other films I watched in those days, and it got me into not judging a movie by its title or by what other people think. Some people had different views on it, but I thought it was brilliant and I don't think they could have done much more to improve on this movie.

CRUEL INTENTIONS / (1999) ***

Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Reese Witherspoon, Selma Blair, Louise Fletcher, Joshua Jackson, Christine Baranski, and Swoosie Kurtz. Written and Directed by Roger Kumble. Running time: 95 minutes. Rated R (for contorted sexual situations, sexually explicit dialogue including language, and some drug content).

"Cruel Intentions" is as fiendishly sleazy as movies now days come. The film begins introducing us to a lurid sex plot and gradually becomes more earthly. The main character is Sebastian Valmont, played accurately by Ryan Phillippe. His character is as close to being a gigolo as people otherwise come--without pay but earning more self respect for each girl he beds. Sebastian, rich and wicked, lives in a mansion in modern day Manhattan with his stepsister Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar). Together they run a prep school in their house.

The film's opening scene develops Sebastian in a relative and accurate manor. He has just seduced the daughter of his psychiatrist, Dr. Greenbaum (Swoosie Kurtz). As he calmly trots out of her office, he keenly picks up another bimbo who kindly greets him. As he returns to his house, the movie has even more fun developing Kathryn. She has a new student in her prep school named Cecile Caldwell (Selma Blair). This sheltered girl, daughter of the rich and snobbish Mrs. Caldwell (Christine Baranski), is the affection of Kathryn's ex-love interest. "Keep your friends close--but keep your enemies closer" states Kathryn in an enticing scene. Jealousy is the motive why Kathryn is in the midst of a cruel scandal to destroy Cecile's reputation. The proposition to seduce her is Sebastian's duty.

Sebastian agrees to Kathryn's scheme, but is tired of having sex with so many easy targets, and imagines bigger fish to fry. His ambition is Annette (Reese Witherspoon), the virginal daughter of the new headmaster at their school, who has a strong will and believes in abstinence before marriage. Sebastian reads about her in Seventeen magazine in which she wrote an article. He lusts for challenge and conquest, and is proposed an offer by his stepsister: If he can persuade Annette to engage in sexual activity with him, he will get his hands on Kathryn, the girl he has been lusting for ever since their parents became married. If he fails, his stepsister will receive his valuable classic automobile.

The story is introduced through dialogue, although in this context the film does not run into problems with this conduct. The first act is a bit short and to the point. Whereas the segment still accomplishes its duties appropriately, it could have easily been more progressive.

A lot of "Cruel Intentions" is short and to the point-and that is not always a positive variable. Some of the film's characters are a bit too obvious. Much of that is due to the movie's stunningly direct usage of explicit sex-related dialogue (even though I share considerable gratitude towards the smart and tempting colloquy). Take the scene in which Cecile frankly describes the feelings of sex, for instance. Her vulnerability and gullibility for relationships is as conspicuous as any poorly crafted, modern day teenage sex movie.

"Cruel Intentions" is one of the most stylish and visually lush movies of 1999. Each scene contains either snobbish characters, splendid costume and set design, a glamorous atmosphere, or solid substance. Contributing to the film's mood is the embellished soundtrack that consists of many tone settings and rhythmic melodies. My recommendation is mostly in part by the movie's elegance.

Although convincing and applicable, there is a large amount of characters present here, as well as numerous occurrences and subplots, all of which are not precisely focused on the two main possible outcomes. Either Kathryn will win Sebastian's prized car or Sebastian will win Kathryn's physical willingness. Since these are cruel intentions, we really have no one moral enough to root for except Annette. The Caldwells do not contribute much to the real story here, acting as a subplot that drifts further and further from focus as the movie progresses into the third act.

The production is effective in its storytelling with many shapely characters and a risqué theme. However, when the persuasive story follows the effects of cupid's arrow on Sebastian, it turns from a devilishly intriguing tale into a misguided love saga. "Cruel Intentions" does a complete 180 degrees turn from appetizing seduction and cruelty to formulaic passion--losing most of its sense of style. Perhaps this is the only method director and writer Roger Kumble could conclude with this trashy of a plot. Even if that was the case, however, what is this film's climatic sequence trying to prove? Without giving the ending away, I will state that it is unpredictable, but also unsuccessful. The film concludes with more positive areas than negative, but with a second half like this, Roger Kumble truly must have had Cruel Intentions for teasing us with so much unrestrained allure--then holding out on us for a modern morality tale.

Brought to you by Columbia Pictures.

Cruel Intentions is a crass, shocking, somehow delightful film that takes the teen movie of the late '90s and turns the sex, deceit, and offensiveness to 11.

One of the better films from the late 1990's aimed at teens. Starring Ryan Phillipe, Reese Witherspoon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Selma Blair and Joshua Jackson, this film boasts a great cast of young stars. The film follows the twisted manipulations of Kathryn and Sebastian, through their dealings with sex, drugs and relationships. It really is a great film, with solid performances. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair shine, with a nice quirky cameo role from Josh Jackson too. I wish he was in the film more. Miles ahead many of the other "teen films" of the time, I would highly recommend you check out Cruel Intentions.

Seeing this movie, I was extremely disappointed. It pretends to be this remake of "Dangerous Liaisons", but it introduces something that ruins it, extremely complex adult themes in the bodies of people who are not complex, nor adults. At one point Sebastian actually says... "I tire of sleeping with these Pedantic Manhattan debutantes" Yeah, I remember saying similar things at 17. I think when I had sex with young, really hot girls I said something like "yippee!". The fact is, no one could have played this script off with a straight face.

Two wealthy step-siblings of an elite Manhattan prep school make a wager: to de-flower the new headmaster's daughter (Reese Witherspoon) before the start of term.

Having gone to high school in the latter half of the 1990s, this was one of those films that really defined a generation. All the big stars of the day were in it, and at least one 9Witherspoon) has one on to bigger and better things. At the time I was not aware that this was a remake of a 1980s film. I found it to be brilliant and quite deviously original.

I now know that it is a remake, but think no less of it because of this. In many ways, this film is even more powerful. John Malkovich did a fine job capturing what spoiled aristocrats can do, but it is all the more troublesome what spoiled teenagers can do.

A few friends and I went to see "Cruel Intentions" when it first came out in the theatres. I had absolutely no idea what it was about, nor what to expect. Let's just say I left the theatre in a disappointed mood. The movie is shrouded with poor acting, a stupid plot, and nothing but cheap sex thrills for teenagers to swallow up. I myself am a teenager and found the movie to not only be disgusting, but a waste of time and money. I'm glad I'll never have to see this movie ever again.