Review of The Rules of Attraction (2002) by Steven C — 31 Mar 2012

It's wrong in so many ways.

I sat down to watch this thinking that it was going to a great comedy full of wit and humor...Instead I find a character study with a lot of sex, and not a lot of laughs.

The Story: You know the routine, movies like this are best described in the character section...The main idea of the story is this though...Four people, one college, a lot of drugs, a lot of sex, and a hefty sum of violence...It's stylish, and there's a lot of cool things done with the camera but over all it's just too long, too melodramatic, and not funny enough to be claimed as a comedy...Not even a dark comedy. Some people will find it funny, others just boring...Take a guess on which side of the fence I landed.

The Cast: James Van Der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon, Jessica Biel, Ian Somerhalder... James Van Der Beek is Sean Bateman, a drug dealer looking for love. Shannyn Sossamon is Lauren Hynde, a shy virgin looking for love and waiting for the love of her life to return to her. Jessica Biel is Lara Holleran, the easy chick out to get sex. Ian Somerhalder is Paul Denton, the gay man who wants the heterosexual. Each character is chasing another, Sean is after Lauren, Lauren is after Victor (and Sean), Lara is after Sean (and anyone else that she can get), and Paul is chasing after Sean...When you look at it like that, it really sends a terrible message, "you can be as immoral as possible so long as you look good doing it", and "if you look good than everyone will want you". Seriously, some of these characters are just plane generic, the hot drug dealer, the sexually repressed dorky girl, the evil slut, and the poetic gay man...Decent performances all around but not good enough.

One to Five Scale: 2.

I didn't laugh, I didn't cry, I just didn't care...I can see why some people would like this film, it offers something that most generic sex comedies lack, enough substance and style to be considered "artistic", but at the same time appeals to stoners and college kids, but in the end it just comes off as sounding pretentious...It's got a definite target audience, I just don't fall into the demographic.

Tyler.