A not-quite dazzling array of cinematic tricks (split screens, freeze-frames, running the film backwards, rapid editing, etc.) are used to depict college students floundering in the pursuit of love and meaning. Drugs, blow jobs, pornography, booze, rape, masturbation, '80s pop tunes, beatings, suicide, attempted suicide, faked suicide, loss of bladder control, and trite pseudo-philosophy are on display as pretty young actors with squeaky-clean images (like James Van Der Beek and Jessica Biel) attempt to dirty themselves up. The Rules of Attraction comes to life for about five minutes when an actor named Russell Sams appears for an outrageous restaurant scene, then slumps back into terminal disaffection when he departs. Also featuring Shannyn Sossamon, Faye Dunaway, Swoozie Kurtz, Ian Somerhalder, Kate Bosworth, Eric Stolz, Fred Savage, and many strikingly good-looking young people. The filmmakers are attempting to depict the vacuousness of today's youth but only succeed in portraying the void in their own hearts. --Bret Fetzer
(30 votes)
2.
This, then, is the domain of Camden College, a small, affluent liberal arts college somewhere in New England, and its human satellites.
We offer, for your consideration, three members of Camden's student body:
Sean Bateman (JAMES VAN DER BEEK), a striking young man with only a passing association with his emotions. Having cut an unhealthy swath through the female population of Camden he is over his ears in debt and just an occasional visitor to his classes…
...Paul Denton (IAN SOMERHALDER), a cynical if highly intelligent young libertine whose proclivities lean very much toward the most beautiful face in the room--whether male or female--especially those with no interest whatsoever in sexual or emotional congress with him. Once upon a time, Paul dated...
...Lauren Hynde (SHANNYN SOSSAMON), a beautiful if increasingly befuddled young woman seeking connections where few seem to exist, riding her skateboard into the ether of Camden's social universe, which always seems to be perched on the precipice of the apocalypse.
Sean, Paul and Lauren are surrounded at Camden by their very good "friends": Lauren's roommate Lara (JESSICA BIEL), whose carnal instincts far outweigh the bonds of camaraderie; the much sought-after Victor (KIP PARDUE), a chronic object of Lauren's desire whose European sojourn has kept him out of her reach; Sean's friend Mitchell (THOMAS IAN NICHOLAS), about to fall into the abyss of Bateman's world; Paul's posse (JAY BARUCHEL, JOEL MICHAELY and COLIN BAIN), always at the ready with a brittle quip; Kelly (KATE BOSWORTH), one of Sean's innumerable and quickly forgotten conquests; and Marc (FRED SAVAGE), who mistakenly believes himself to be considerably more coherent than he actually is.
There are distinguished members of the Camden faculty, such as Mr. Lance Lawson (ERIC STOLTZ), who views himself as being young and cool enough to attend campus parties, and to occasionally suggest raising an attractive student's grade point average in exchange for "extracurricular activity."
Outside of the rarified world of Camden is the "townie" Rupert (CLIFTON COLLINS, JR.), a dealer who supplies Sean and plenty of other Camden students with their recreational pharmaceuticals...for a very good price.
And then there's family: Mrs. Denton (FAYE DUNAWAY), Paul's elegant mother, the victim of too much money and too little love, as well as family friend Mrs. Jared (SWOOSIE KURTZ). Together they enjoy their cocktails and prescription drugs over lunch with their sons who are just as high as their mothers.
And so it goes, with endless rounds of drug-alcohol-and-sex-drenched campus fetes--such as The End of the World Party, The Dress to Get Screwed Party, and The Pre-Saturday Night Party --inconveniently punctuated by sparsely-attended Camden classes.
But human nature determines that in a highly imperfect world, the rules of attraction always apply...and among the co-eds at Camden College, the first rule is: There are no rules.
Lions Gate Entertainment's The Rules of Attraction is Academy Award winning director/writer ROGER AVARY's scathingly insightful film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' scabrously funny social satire of life and love among the young and the privileged. Avary, who won his Oscar as co-writer of Pulp Fiction, previously directed cult classic Killing Zoe, which also starred Eric Stoltz.
For The Rules of Attraction, Avary has assembled a remarkable group of actors, all of whom were drawn to become participants in Avary's ambitious, incisive and highly contemporary comedy of very bad manners.
For many of these talents, The Rules of Attraction represents a distinct and courageous change of pace from their previous work.
JAMES VAN DER BEEK has found stardom portraying title character Dawson Leery of the WB Network's smash hit series Dawson's Creek, as well as the highly successful feature Varsity Blues. IAN SOMERHALDER starred in the WB's coming-of-age drama series Young Americans, and most recently appeared alongside Kevin Kline, Hayden Christensen and Kristin Scott Thomas in Irwin Winkler's feature, Life As A House. SHANNYN SOSSAMON starred as the romantic lead opposite Heath Ledger in A Knight's Tale and with Josh Hartnett in 40 Days and 40 Nights. JESSICA BIEL stars as Mary Camden in the WB's popular series 7th Heaven and had the lead opposite Freddie Prinze, Jr. in the Warner Bros. feature Summer Catch.
Other cast members include KATE BOSWORTH who acted alongside Ian Somerhalder in Young Americans and stars this summer in the highly anticipated surf movie Blue Crush; THOMAS IAN NICHOLAS, one of the randy high school students in the phenomenally successful American Pie and American Pie 2; KIP PARDUE, who starred opposite Sylvester Stallone in Renny Harlin's Driven as well as the hit Jerry Bruckheimer production Remember the Titans; ERIC STOLTZ, one of the screen's most versatile talents, who starred in Avary's Killing Zoe and numbers among his many credits a wide range of mainstream and independent features, including Mask, Some Kind of Wonderful, Bodies, Rest & Motion and Sleep With Me, producing the latter two as well; CLIFTON COLLINS, JR., who made a dazzling impression on audiences as "Frankie Flowers" in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic and in Joel Schumacher's Tigerland; and FRED SAVAGE, who grew up before America's eyes on The Wonder Years and is now very much a young veteran of stage and screen. The cast also includes such fine young performers as JOEL MICHAELY (But I'm A Cheerleader) and newcomers COLIN BAIN (Long Shot with Britney Spears) and RUSSELL SAMS.
Also appearing in the film as Mrs. Denton, Paul's mother, is the legendary FAYE DUNAWAY, whose extraordinary career has included such classics as Bonnie and Clyde, The Thomas Crown Affair, Chinatown and Network (for which she received an Academy Award for Best Actress) to such independent efforts as Don Juan DeMarco, Albino Alligator and The Yards. Portraying Mrs. Jared, the similarly privileged mother of one of Paul's former paramours, is SWOOSIE KURTZ, the highly honored performer of stage and screen who was a series regular on the popular Sisters.
The behind-the-camera talent of The Rules of Attraction includes producer GREG SHAPIRO of the innovative production company Kingsgate (Affliction, Simpatico, Investigating Sex); executive producer JEREMIAH SAMUELS (love jones, That Championship Season, The Wash); director of photography ROBERT BRINKMANN (The Truth About Cats and Dogs, The Cable Guy); production designer SHARON SEYMOUR (Reality Bites, Don Juan DeMarco, The Truth About Cats and Dogs); and costume designer LOUISE FROGLEY (The Limey, Traffic, Spy Game).
(27 votes)
3.
This, then, is the domain of Camden College, a small, affluent liberal arts college somewhere in New England, and its human satellites.
Sean (JAMES VAN DER BEEK), Paul (IAN SOMERHALDER) and Lauren are surrounded at Camden by their very good "friends": Lauren's roommate Lara (JESSICA BIEL), whose carnal instincts far outweigh the bonds of camaraderie; the much sought-after Victor (KIP PARDUE), a chronic object of Lauren's desire whose European sojourn has kept him out of her reach; Sean's friend Mitchell (THOMAS IAN NICHOLAS), about to fall into the abyss of Bateman's world; Paul's posse (JAY BARUCHEL, JOEL MICHAELY and COLIN BAIN), always at the ready with a brittle quip; Kelly (KATE BOSWORTH), one of Sean's innumerable and quickly forgotten conquests; and Marc (FRED SAVAGE), who mistakenly believes himself to be considerably more coherent than he actually is.
There are distinguished members of the Camden faculty, such as Mr. Lance Lawson (ERIC STOLTZ), who views himself as being young and cool enough to attend campus parties, and to occasionally suggest raising an attractive student's grade point average in exchange for "extracurricular activity."
Outside of the rarified world of Camden is the "townie" Rupert (CLIFTON COLLINS, JR.), a dealer who supplies Sean and plenty of other Camden students with their recreational pharmaceuticals...for a very good price.
And then there's family: Mrs. Denton (FAYE DUNAWAY), Paul's elegant mother, the victim of too much money and too little love, as well as family friend Mrs. Jared (SWOOSIE KURTZ). Together they enjoy their cocktails and prescription drugs over lunch with their sons who are just as high as their mothers.
And so it goes, with endless rounds of drug-alcohol-and-sex-drenched campus fetes--such as The End of the World Party, The Dress to Get Screwed Party, and The Pre-Saturday Night Party --inconveniently punctuated by sparsely-attended Camden classes.
But human nature determines that in a highly imperfect world, the rules of attraction always apply...and among the co-eds at Camden College, the first rule is: There are no rules.
(28 votes)
4.
From the corrupt minds that brought you Pulp Fiction and American Psycho
Forget everything you thought you knew about higher education. Academy Award-winning writer/director Roger Avary masterfully takes you back to school and drops you in the middle of the drugged-out, sexed-up lives of some of Camden College's most disaffected students. Meet Sean Bateman (James Van Der Beek), a womanizing drug dealer whose quest for connection brings him face to face with Lauren (Shannyn Sossamon), a sensitive virgin looking for love but saving herself for the much sought-after Victor (Kip Pardue). All the while, Paul Denton (Ian Somerhalder) wants to make a connection of his own...with Sean. Based on the best-selling novel by Bret Easton Ellis' darkly funny satire of life, love and the pursuit of social debauchery.
(22 votes)
Mooviees.com is not the official site for this film.
All editorial views and opinions expressed here are for entertainment purposes only.
Movie Database
In Theaters
