| Front Cover |
Actor |
|
| Christine Baranski |
Bunny Caldwell
|
| Selma Blair |
Cecile Caldwell
|
| Louise Fletcher |
Helen Rosemond
|
| Sarah Michelle Gellar |
Kathryn Merteuil
|
| Joshua Jackson |
Blaine Tuttle
|
| Swoosie Kurtz |
Dr. Regina Greenbaum
|
| Eric Mabius |
Greg McConnell
|
| Ryan Phillippe |
Sebastian Valmont
|
| Sean Patrick Thomas |
Ronald Clifford
|
| Reese Witherspoon |
Annette Hargrove
|
|
|
| Movie Details |
| Genre |
Drama |
| Director |
Roger Kumble |
| Writer |
Choderlos de Laclos; Roger Kumble |
| Studio |
Columbia TriStar |
|
| Language |
English |
| Audience Rating |
R (Restricted) |
| Running Time |
97 mins |
| Country |
USA |
| Color |
Color |
| IMDb Rating |
6.5 |
|
| Plot |
| This modern-day teen update of Les Liaisons Dangereuses suffered 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, this intermittently successful sudser plays 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's 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 |
| Personal Details |
| Seen It |
Yes |
| Index |
1445 |
| Collection Status |
In Collection |
| Links |
Amazon US
IMDB
|
|
| Product Details |
| Edition |
Special Edition |
| Format |
DVD |
| Region |
Region 1 |
| Screen Ratio |
1.85:1 |
| Layers |
Single side, Single layer |
|
043396048270 |
| Release Date |
8/3/1999 |
| Subtitles |
English |
| Packaging |
Keep Case |
| Audio Tracks |
Dolby Digital 5.1 [English] |
| Nr of Disks/Tapes |
1 |
|
|