Cruel Intentions

Sarah plays Kathryn in this 1999 movie. The plot starts as Kathryn's brother Sebastian (Ryan Phillippe) is 'sick of sleeping with insipit Manhattan debutantes'. Until Kathryn comes up with a challenge for him. To introduce a virgin, Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon), into his world of sex and drugs, she bets he cannot, he bets he does. The prize? If he wins, he sleeps with his sister, if she wins, she gets herself a hot new car. This drama was formely named Cruel Inventions, to Cruel Intentions. This movie is now playing at a theater near you.

Rating: Restricted, no one under 17 without a parent/guardian.

Distributor: Columbia/Sony

Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon, Christine Baranski, Joshua Jackson, Swoosie Kurtz, Tara Reid, Sean Patrick Thomas, Selma Blair, Phil Hawn, Jim Jenkins.

Director: Roger Kumble (debut)

Screenwriter: Roger Kumble (National Lampoon's Senior Trip)

Based on: This is a 20th century modernization of Dangerous Liasons (which was itself based on the French novel by Choderlos de Laclos), which has also been remade as Valotte, both of which I thought were excellent movies.

Premise: As a modernization of Dangerous Liasons, set in an exclusive private school, this movie is about an odd game that the characters played by Gellar and Phillippe play upon a younger girl's (Witherspoon) heart. Gellar and Phillippe play a pair of duelling sexual competitors who both pride themselves on sleeping with many of their fellow students, and controlling their social lives all the while, in a sort of romantic Machiavellian scheme. The movie revolves around a twisted gamble that Phillippe can win the heart of the virginal daughter of the new headmaster.

Trailer Note: The song heard in the trailer is "How Soon is Now?" by Love Spit Love, which is a cover of the original song of the Smiths. This is the second time it's been used for a film (the first was for The Craft), and as a Smiths fan, I just want to say that I think the original is a much better version of the song, and if you want to hear some great 80's music, you'd be served well to pick up one of the Smiths albums with this song.

From Newsweekly
Buffy The Lesbian Seductress?
Tounges were wagging in New York's Central Park when onlookers spotted teen queen Sarah Michelle Gellar (TV's Buffy, the Vampire Slayer) liplocked with another gal. But sorry to burst your bubble, ladies, she was just acting. Gellar stars in Original Films' "Cruel Intentions" a story with a "Dangerous Liasons" spin set in the Big Apple's high school prep world. Unlike that movie, however, "Intentions" will have a strong dyke subplot, with Gellar's character not just manipulating the "competition" but seducing them as well.

Quotable Lines from Cruel Intentions:

Kathryn Valmont:
-"Happy hunting Sebastian."
-"Boldy go, where no man has gone before."
-"Are you in, or are you out?"
-"Quite the predicament you're in."

Sebastian Valmont:
-"I am sick of sleeping with these insipit Manhattan debutantes."
-"I'm completely infactuated with her."

Annette Hargrove:
-"People shouldn't practice the act of love until they are in love."

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