Click here to copy URL

Cruel Intentions

1999

Roger Kumble

Ryan Phillippe, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Reese Witherspoon, Selma Blair ...

5.9

15,886

Drama A thoroughly modern update of Dangerous Liaisons and Valmont, here we have Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar) making a bet with her step-brother, Sebastian (Ryan Phillippe) that he will not be able to break down the resolve of a virgin (Reese Witherspoon) who plans on remaining that way until marriage. If Sebastian wins, he gets to have the one girl he has never been able to have -- his step-sister. If his step-sister wins the bet, she ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Stephen Holden The New York Times	"By far the weakest film adaptation of Laclos's epistolary novel (...) The movie's tone veers uncertainly between comedy and soap opera."	NEG
United States	Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader	"Fairly sexy and amusing (...) It's less pretentious than the artier adaptations of the same novel (...) and in some ways comes at least as close as they did to the overall spirit of the original"	POS
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"It's smart and merciless in the tradition of the original story (...) Overall, the film at least has style and wit, and a lot of devious fun with its plot (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"Watching 'Cruel Intentions' is like sitting through a high school production of a classic play done in modern dress by actors who don’t have a clue what’s going on."	NEG
United States	Emanuel Levy Variety	"Nasty, profane and wickedly entertaining for the most part (...) Ryan Phillippe gives a star-making performance"	POS
United States	Paul Clinton CNN	"If you want to see this story done right, rent the 1988 film 'Dangerous Liaisons' starring Glenn Close and John Malkovich."	NEG
United States	Stephen Hunter The Washington Post	"The original was about social manipulation as blood sport. Amazing how easily it transports, themes intact, to our blighted decade, and to our children."	POS
United Kingdom	Caroline Westbrook Empire	"Not quite as clever as it thinks it is, but still oozing more dark wit than most teen movies can dream of (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United Kingdom	Lorien Haynes Radio Times	"The depth gone, this is simply an entertaining romp that's easily surpassed by Stephen Frears's earlier adaptation of the tale (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU

Return to movie

We encourage you to check the reviews' original sources. Intellectual property rights of these reviews belong to their authors and/or the correspondent media from which they have been extracted. If you'd like to help us to add more reviews to your favorite movies, just send us a message.