Since the arrival of “American Pie”, teenage sex comedies returned but in the process, so did many bad ones. By 2002, the sex comedies got sillier and lamer, and they even became cut for PG-13 for a wider audience that resulted in poor box office tallies. Some filmmakers even tried to tackle sex into more dramatic tones but they failed as well as they tried to make appealing for teens. In that same year, Roger Avary, who co-wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay to “Pulp Fiction” with Quentin Tarantino, decided to make an appealing teen sex film but on a more broader scale by tackling on Bret Easton Ellis’ novel “The Rules of Attraction” by adapting it into a film for his follow-up effort to the 1994 cult film “Killing Zoe”.

“The Rules of Attraction” is a look into the life of college students looking for love. The film’s gritty tone toward sex, innocence, and dating seems like a great concept from the start. Avary does stay true to Ellis’ novel but the end result is something abstract and messy. The premise of the film revolves on five college students looking for love in a strange atmosphere of when is when and what exactly is going on. With a cast that includes such young actors as James Van Der Beek, Shannyn Sossaman, Ian Somerhalder, Jessica Biel, Kip Pardue, and Kate Bosworth as well as veterans like “Killing Zoe” star Eric Stoltz, Faye Dunaway, Swoozie Kurtz, and Fred Savage, it seems like an excellent ensemble film. The end result is a sex film that tries too hard despite some great moments.

Fifteen minutes before the credits start, we look into the lives of three students looking for love but in all the wrong places. First, we meet up with the innocent Lauren Hynde (Shannyn Sossaman) who is trying to pursue her crush Victor (Kip Pardue) but he ends up sleeping with her roommate Lara (Jessica Biel). Crushed, Lauren ends up going with some NYU film student and loses her innocence with some drunk. Then we meet up with an ex-boyfriend of hers, a bisexual male named Paul Denton (Ian Somerhalder) who pursues a guy he assumed was gay but gets beaten up. Finally, we see Sean Bateman (James Van Der Beek who plays the younger brother of Paul Bateman, the “American Psycho” character written by Ellis) who has just been beaten up and sees Lauren going with the film student and he ends up having sex with a freshman named Kelly (Kate Bosworth) where everything goes wrong.

Then after the opening credits begin, we see Lauren trying to go a class where it got cancelled as her professor (Eric Stoltz) is sleeping and cancelled his class because his wife left him. We also see Paul trying to do yoga and other stuff while Sean is feeling angry and gets into a bad mood where he gives a dirty look to a food service girl (Theresa Wayman, who you should watch out for in the film). Sean’s mood gets better when he receives a secret letter from an admirer. Sean’s brief happiness is ruined when he is forced to meet a drug dealer he works for named Rupert (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Sean ends up making a deal with him by selling more drugs to rich freshman to pay off his debts. Lauren meanwhile, is waiting for Victor to return from his trip to Europe while contemplating to Lara about sex while Lara just simply doesn’t care.

Sean finally meets Lauren one day for a cancelled tutorial and the two hit it off while Sean is trying to convince a junkie named Marc (Fred Savage) to give him money he owes. Sean also meets up with Paul and Paul begins to develop an attraction for him. Paul decides to go on a date but is forced to cancel when a friend died of a drug overdose as he was forced to send him to the hospital where a doctor (musician Paul Williams) tell Paul’s friends that he is dead. Paul meets up with Sean again where he has some strange fantasy about kissing Sean. Paul unfortunately is supposed to cut their relationship to see his mother (Faye Dunaway) and a couple of relatives. Paul meets up with his psychotic, gay cousin Richard (Russell Sams) and his aunt (Swoozie Kurtz) where the cousins dance to George Michael’s “Faith” and Richard gets sh*t-faced during a meeting with the elder ladies during a drinking session.

Sean continues to receive mysterious letters as he thinks it’s from Lauren but during a party, he meets up with the sexually active Lara and the two ended up having a fling. Lauren is upset as Sean ends up feeling guilty what he did with Lara, who he ended up punching her in the face after their affair. Then, we see the European trip of Victor who ends up sleeping with a slew of women and having a lot of fun and hanging out with DJs including Paul Oakenfold and returns to America where he talks to Sean and a fellow friend named Mitchell Allen (Thomas Ian Nicholas). Lauren is happy to see Victor back but Victor had other interests in mind while Sean and Mitchell have a strange encounter with Rupert and things get back to the same party in the beginning of the film but with different consequences.

While the film looks visually appealing, especially with things going backward and the colorful tone of the film from its editors and cinematographer, Robert Brinkmann, the film overall is a mess. Despite some great scenes, Avary fails with bringing a straightforward answer to the film’s story and its abstract approach while emphasizing on a backwards-like/arty style rather focusing more on the film’s plot. At times, you’re not sure what’s going and when is when and things become very messy right towards the end and in the middle of the movie. While Avary did enough to make the film appealing and something to watch over and over again, he fails to make the film into something that could’ve been great. Another noted factor that made the movie enjoyable is its use of music. From such post-punk/new wave acts like the Cure, Love & Rockets, Blondie, and Yaz to 70s icon Harry Nilsson for the song “Without You” to the obscure French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg and supermodel/actress Milla Jovovich. The music does give depth to the movie although it wasn’t enough to make it a better film.

Then there are the performances from its group of actors. While the cameos from Swoozie Kurtz, Faye Dunaway, Paul Williams, Eric Stoltz, and Fred Savage are fun to watch, it really adds nothing to the film’s story. James Van Der Beek brings in an excellent performance as Sean Bateman who is filled with confusion and torment over what he wants in a relationship while dealing with his work as a drug dealer. Shannyn Sossaman also delivers an excellent and tormented performance as Lauren while Ian Somerhalder brings a slimy and seductive performance as Paul. Clifton Collins Jr. as Rupert the drug dealer brings in some great comic relief as well as Russell Sams as the drunk Richard. Jessica Biel though, doesn’t do much in the film except getting drunk or getting screwed and her character is so underdeveloped while Kate Bosworth’s brief time in the film was completely useless and wasted in comparison to her breakthrough role in “Blue Crush”. Thomas Ian Nicholas’ brief role was also a waste since drug dealers and stuff just scare him. Finally, there’s Kip Pardue who is nothing more than just a pretty face with no real abilities as an actor since all he does is party and look pretty in front of the cameras, still its better than the performance he did in “Driven”.

Despite its visually appealing tone, funny scenes, and performances from Van Der Beek, Somerhalder, Sossaman, and Collins, “The Rules of Attraction” is a film that fails to deliver in its promise as an unconventional, artsy sex film. Though some will enjoy the film’s abstract approach and Roger Avary’s quirky direction and script, the inconsistency of the film will turn off others. In comparison to “Killing Zoe”, it’s a disappointing sophomore effort from Avary while “The Rules of Attraction” might end up being his most successful film to date but not his best. Fans of strange sex films will enjoy this but more intelligent fans will rather stick to the grittiness of indie-sex films like “Secretary”, “sex, lies, & videotape”, “Crash”, “Exotica”, “The Center of the World”, and many others. For fans of teen actors, “The Rules of Attraction” is the film for them. In the end, it’s a decent film that just could’ve been better.

Related Review:

40 Days & 40 Nights:

http://www.epinions.com/content_104954957444



Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age