Review of The Rules of Attraction (2002) by Alyssharose J — 08 Mar 2008

This movie should have sucked, but didnâ??t. It had all the things needed for a sucky movie: 1. a cast made up of the WB All Stars (James Van Der Beek, Jessica Biel, Kate Bosworth, and ECT). 2. It was marketed to a teen crowd, and therefore all advertising for the film made it look like another raunchy movie featuring hot teens getting it on. Believe me; the promos for this film are deceiving. The Rules of Attraction is based on the book by Brett Easton Ellis, and is a dark, twisted film displaying the ugliness of entitled young adults. It is not a pleasant film to watch, but that doesnâ??t mean that itâ??s bad.

The characters are self destructive, selfish, nasty human beings who thrive on an excess of drugs, alcohol and sex. We have Van Der Beek as a drug dealing college student who is love with Lauren (Shannyn Sossoman, the only likeable character in the whole movie) but sleeps with her slutty roommate (Biel). He then defends his actions by saying he did it only because he love Lauren. .

Another unlikable character is Victor who is played by Kip Pardue . Heâ??s a narcissist who has recently returned from a trip to Europe. Lauren was dating him and awaited his return with glee. Imagine her surprise when he doesnâ??t even remember her. To add insult to injury he too hooks up with Biels character!

I watched this movie and felt nothing but disgust towards all of the characters. Director Rodger Avery does an amazing job giving a glimpse of the ugly side of human beings. Not only that, but he has a knack at showing disturbing images with out being overly graphic. This film features a suicide so unsettling that I felt nauseated watching it, yet the only thing we see is the actressâ??sâ?? face. There are also scenes of violence, rape, and drug overdoses that could have been filmed to be as explicit as possible, but instead are shown subtlety while still being shocking.

I admit this film is not for everyone. Itâ??s not even the type of movie that I myself would usually watch! However, it does deserve more acclaim than what it was given.