cruel intentions (1999) Review
There is a scene in 1999’s Cruel Intentions that stood out as odd 20+ years ago and is glaringly cringe in 2021. Said scene involves an act of casual sexual assault from Ryan Phillipe’s Sebastian Valmont on Selma Blair’s Lolita-like Celine Caldwell. It’s a brazen moment in a film that largely succeeds on the shock value of seeing actresses (and actors, looking at you Joshua Jackson) behaving very against type. The aforementioned Valmont/young Caldwell scene should’ve been omitted or altered. It doesn’t work in this adaptation of an 18th-century French novel with wealthy, randy teenagers subbing in for adults. Sarah Michelle-Gellar gives a deliciously wicked performance as Kathryn Merteuil even if the strength of the performance is inarguably bolstered by her saying and doing things we never expected to hear from SMG in 1999. Buffy the Vampire Slayer this is not. It’s interesting that Gellar subsequently avoided any roles nearly as risqué, largely retiring from acting outside of those Scooby Doo movies I never watched. Cruel Intentions occupies a special place in our collective memories because for all of its flaws, it has an excellent ensemble cast, soundtrack and heart-wrenching ending. The relationship between Sebastian and Reese Witherspoon’s Annette Hargrove is the heart of the film, fairly complex in terms of where it begins and ends, and represents one of the only truly likable characters (Hargrove) convincing the most terrible character (Sebastian) to renounce his womanizing ways. That Sebastian is ultimately redeemed douses the flame of the story-arc of coke-sniffing Kathryn and her refusal to treat anyone she meets as anything other than a plaything. The last 10 minutes of this film is supremely satisfying. I’d personally love to take a peek into Sebastian’s journal.
Cruel Intentions receives a score of 7.5/10 for general audiences and a 8.5/10 for any Gen X adult who grew up with Buffy Summers and Pacey Witter (it’s ok, I also never knew his last name until now).