Cruel Intentions
1999 · Directed by Roger Kumble
Original language: English
- drama
- romance
The story
Slaking a thirst for dangerous games, Kathryn challenges her stepbrother, Sebastian, to deflower their headmaster's daughter before the summer ends. If he succeeds, the prize is the chance to bed Kathryn. But if he loses, Kathryn will claim his most prized possession.
What it’s like
Glossy late-nineties teen-drama polish: warm amber interiors, sun-flushed Upper East Side mansions, pale Hamptons lawns and sheeny satin slips, all shot in a smooth, mid-range digital style with swooping camera moves and a pop-rock soundtrack that snaps from sweet to sly. Its vibe is sleek, decadent and knowingly cynical, a bitchy, sexy game of manipulation in sumptuous rooms, best for a late-night watch with a glass of something expensive or a campy comfort rewatch with friends. The pacing is brisk and talky, with scheming voiceovers, sharp barbs and deliberate reversals, and the emotional register swings between wicked glee and sudden, uncomfortable tenderness as its privileged characters test one another's limits and slowly reveal the cracks beneath the gloss. Intensity is moderate and mostly verbal: heavy sexual innuendo and several explicit sexual situations, drug use and drinking, and some cruelty and emotional manipulation, with little on-screen gore and no real gratuitous violence. It suits viewers who enjoy wicked, morally slippery romance and sophisticated teen melodrama, not anyone wanting something gentle.
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