Product Description

Columbia Pictures Cruel Intentions (Blu-ray)
Sarah Michelle Gellar ("I Know What You Did Last Summer", "Scream 2",TV's "Buffy The Vampire Slayer") and Ryan Phillippe ("I Know What You Did Last Summer", "54") sizzle as a pair of unscrupulous siblings in a deliciously sexy tale of seduction, revenge and conquest. After cleverly seducing and ruining the reputationof an unsuspecting classmate (Selma Blair, "Can'tHardly Wait", "Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane"), the sparks fly when Kathryn (Gellar) poses the ultimate challenge to her insatiable stepbrother Sebastian (Phillippe): deflower the Headmaster's beautiful, virgin daughter Annette (Reese Witherspoon, "Pleasantville", "The Man In The Moon"). If he fails, Kathryn gets his most prized possession, but if he succeeds, Sebastian gets to possess and bed Kathryn. The stakes are high, but for Sebastian, the payoff is feverishly irresistible and before the summer's over, no one will escape their relentless gameof cat and mouse until one of them is bitten by the most unlikely sensation of all ...love.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23777 in DVD
• Brand: Columbia Pictures
• Released on: 2007-06-12
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 3.00 pounds
• Running time: 97 minutes

Amazon.com
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

From The New Yorker
Yet another version of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," Choderlos de Laclos's stunning 1782 novel about sexual gamesmanship and betrayal. This one is set in contemporary Manhattan, among the spoiled youth of an Upper East Side private school. It's not boring (given the subject, how could it be?), but almost nothing in it works. The elaborate apparatus of sex-seductions, lies, strategic refusals-seems merely peculiar without the eighteenth-century social conventions to support it, and most of the dialogue comes off as arch. Sarah Michelle Gellar looks too old to play a scheming high-school senior, and Ryan Phillippe, as her irresistibly handsome half brother, pouts his way through his role. Only Selma Blair, as a big, goofy girl who keeps falling out of bed, shows a zest for comedy. Reese Witherspoon plays the virgin on whom Phillippe works his charms. Written and directed by Roger Kumble, who has the actors emphasize certain phrases unnaturally so as to appear knowing and vicious. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

umd movie
i was very pleased with the quick delivery and the condition of the merchandise.

A Favorite From My Teen Years
"Cruel Intentions" fascinated me as a teenager. It was the first time I saw such a sexualized yet still passionately romantic story with such moral ambiguity on film. It was also the first time I saw a story of redemption aimed at my age group, and found myself really sympathizing with Sebastian's character. And even then, I recognized that the soundtrack was fantastic.

However, now looking at this movie as an adult with vastly more film-watching experience, I can't help but think I gave the movie a bit more credit than it deserved. Stylistically it's still stunning, but the writing and acting wasn't as good as I remembered. Many of the scenes from the beginning, all the way to the middle, of the movie fall flat. The infamous Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blaire kissing scene really feels contrived and gratuitous, and a lot of it just doesn't feel like it flows naturally. For the most part, Selma Blaire gives a really weak performance, but that is likely as much a fault of the script as it is her acting.

At this point, in watching the movie, I was scared that I was about to realize that one of my favorite movies from my teen years, in reality, sucks. However, something happened about half way through. The writing caught its stride, the story blossomed and, driven by the beautiful soundtrack, the main character of Sebastian goes through huge character moments that really, really worked well. And the climax and ending scene of the movie simply couldn't be better. Is it as good as I remembered? Certainly not. But it also really is still a strong movie that had a bit of an unbalanced and weak beginning through middle. The second half of the movie and the soundtrack (which is literally the best use of music I've seen in a film) totally make up for that. It's no longer one of my favorites, but I'd still watch it again.

7/10

Impressive! Feels like Gossip Girl the Movie.
I didn't expect much from this film. I just picked it out of curiosity, and to my surprise, I enjoyed this movie. It was better than I thought. I felt watching a movie version of Gossip Girl. I am always fascinated by high society, and with all that power, how it can affect one's life.

The movie does have subtle message, but for me, it was jut about learning the art of seduction. :)

Pretty cool.