Cruel Intentions

Film #8

THE PLOT

Kathryn makes a bet that her step-brother, Sebastian, won’t be able to bed Annette (a virgin, who wants to wait until love). If he loses, Kathryn gets his Jaguar, if he wins, he gets Kathryn.

Year 1, Day 8

BEFORE: In the car ride home after seeing some fantastic fireworks, I posed to my friends my dilemma of picking films for this marathon. One of my friends suggested Cruel Intentions as it was unlike any of the other films I’ve watched so far. So without further ado, lets get week two started.

AFTER: There is so much I did not like about this movie. The writing was so cliché that I was reciting lines with the actors despite having never seen this movie before. And then there’s the acting. IMDb lists Cruel Intentions in the Drama, Romance, and Thriller categories. Wikipedia describes it as a drama film. One genre that I could not find describing this film: comedy. There were countless times throughout this movie I found myself laughing at what was supposed to be a very serious moment. The acting had no finesse or subtlety to it; it was either melodramatic or placid.

Despite all the negative things I said, it was still somewhat enjoyable. I classify it in the so-bad-it’s-good category. The acting and writing are at a level where it didn’t work the way it was intended. It was meant to be a drama, but instead it was a comedy. That’s better than when the acting and writing are so bad it doesn’t work on any level (see: The Last Airbender). And I must say the ending did come as a bit of a shocker for me. Melodramatic, but a shocker nonetheless.

It’s a movie that’s good to see once, but I don’t see myself watching it again in the future.

RATING: 2 out of 5