Stars: Ryan Phillippe, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Reese Witherspoon, Selma Blair, Louise Fletcher, Swoosie Kurtz, Joshua Jackson, Eric Mabius, Tara Reid, Christine Baranski, Sean Patrick Thomas

Director: Roger Kumble

Summary: A sexy tale of seduction and betrayal which takes place between two filthy rich stepsiblings and a beautiful headmaster's daughter.

Kumble transfers the DANGEROUS LIASONS tale to Manhattan, where Kathryn bets her step-brother Sebastian that he can't deflower the virginal Annette before the school year begins. If he fails to accomplish this task, Kathryn gets his Jaguar Roadster; if he succeeds, he gets Kathryn.

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This modern-day teen update of Les Liaisons Dangereusessuffered at the hands of both critics and moviegoers thanks to its sumptuous ad campaign, which hyped the film as an arch, highly sexual, faux-serious drama (not unlike the successful, Oscar-nominated Dangerous Liaisons). In fact, Cruel Intentionsplays like high comedy for its first two-thirds, as its two evil heroes, rich stepsiblings Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Sebastian (Ryan Phillippe), blithely ruin lives and reputations with hearts as black as coal.

Kathryn wants revenge on a boyfriend who dumped her, so she befriends his new intended, the gawky Cecile (Selma Blair), and gets Sebastian to deflower the innocent virgin. The meat of the game, though, lies in Sebastian's seduction of good girl Annette (a down-to-earth Reese Witherspoon), who has written a nationally published essay entitled "Why I Choose to Wait." If he fails, Kathryn gets his precious vintage convertible; if he wins, he gets Kathryn--in the sack.

When the movie sticks to the merry ruination of Kathryn and Sebastian's pawns, it's highly enjoyable: Gellar in particular is a two-faced manipulator extraordinaire, and Phillippe, usually a black hole, manages some fun as a hipster Eurotrash stud. Most pleasantly surprising of all is Witherspoon, who puts a remarkably self-assured spin on a character usually considered vulnerable and tortured (see Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Liaisons). Unfortunately, writer-director Roger Kumble undermines everything he's built up with a false ending that's true to neither the reconceived characters nor the original story--revenge is a dish best served cold, not cooked up with unnecessary plot twists. --Mark Englehart, Amazon.com

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen, 16:9 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Commentaries, Deleted Scenes, Music Videos, Featurette, Trailer, Filmographies
Subtitles:	Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Year:	1999
Release Date:	May 2, 2005
Runtime:	93 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	C 823 433 6
Keywords:	General, Cruel, Intentions, Drama
Genre:	Drama