Rules Of Attraction Details

Literary adaptations rarely match up to their source material, and director Roger Avary's follow-up to Killing Zoe is no exception. A superficial interpretation of Bret Easton Ellis's cult novel, this is an arrogant combination of social satire and 1980s teen comedy. The film centres on three New England college students: drug-dealing waster Sean (a menacing James Van Der Beek), bisexual party boy Paul (Ian Somerhalder) and the virginal Lauren (Shannyn Sossamon). Linked by love and lust, the stereotypical trio flounder through a devil's playground of sex, drugs and violence. For the most part, this is played for dark laughs, giving the film an endearingly impertinent edge. Unfortunately, like the vacuous scholars themselves, the movie eventually falls down by trying too hard to be hip. Tragic events, including date rape and suicide, are shot like trendy fashion magazine spreads, while the smart-mouthed dialogue and throwaway cultural references are a grating reminder of just how shallow the feature really is.

A story of callow students indulging in fleshly pleasures; tricked out with a narrative that goes backwards (as sometimes does the film) and other gimmicks, it's like experiencing the day after the night before in a hungover flashback.