Cruel Intentions (Blu-ray) (1999)

"50% wicked! 50% fun! 100% entertaining!  George Pennachhio, KABC-TV
"Gellar's character is played with cool confidence, and Phillippe is engaging. Blair is a delicious scene-stealer.  Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
"Foxy, snotty, enjoyably trashy...calculatedly, wantonly naughty.  Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
"...the film at least has style and wit, and a lot of devious fun with its plot.  Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"Deliciously evil, wickedly sexy. A wild, daring new spin on the classic tale of love and betrayal.  Sara Edwards, NBC News

Editor's Note Director Roger Kumble transfers the DANGEROUS LIASONS tale to Manhattan, where wealthy prep school student Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar) bets her stepbrother Sebastian (Ryan Phillipe) that he can't deflower the virginal Annette (Reese Witherspoon) before the school year begins. If he fails to accomplish this task, Kathryn gets his Jaguar Roadster; if he succeeds, he gets an evening of pleasure with Kathryn.

	Reese Witherspoon
	Ryan Phillippe
	Sarah Michelle Gellar
	Selma Blair
	Choderlos De Laclos - Based On Novel By
	David Lazan - Art Director
	Ed Shearmur - Original Music By
	Jeff Freeman - Editor
	Jon Gary Steele - Production Designer
	Michael Fottrell - Executive Producer
	Neal H. Moritz - Producer
	Roger Kimble - Director
	Roger Kimble - Screenplay
	Theo van de Sande - Cinematographer

Sight and Sound
"...A clever reworking of a literary classic..." 06/??/1999 p.42-3

Entertainment Weekly
"...Enjoyably trashy..." 04/16/1999 p.42

Chicago Sun-Times
"...It's smart and merciless in the tradition of the original story....The movie's at its best in the scenes between Gellar and Phillippe, who develop a convincing emotional charge....[The film] has style and wit, and a lot of devious fun..." 03/05/1999 p.32

Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "CRUEL INTENTIONS has perfectly pitched performances by its young cast..." 08/01/2007 p.84

Reel.com 6 of 10
Written and directed by Roger Kumble, Cruel Intentions re-imagines Les Liaisons Dangereuses as a teenage black comedy. Upper-crust Manhattanite step-siblings Sebastian (Ryan Phillippe) and Kathryn (Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Sarah Michelle Gellar) embark on a game of a sexual chess when high school stud Sebastian bets Kathryn that he will be able to seduce the virginal Annette (Reese Witherspoon). If he wins, he gets to bed the stepsister he lusts after, while Kathryn will get his classic car if he loses...Witherspoon acquits herself well as the fair Annette, but Gellar in the role of vicious Kathryn really seems like a high school girl -- play acting and way out of her league. As for Philippe, his performance does recall John Malkovich's Valmont in Stephen Frears' 1978 Dangerous Liaisons. It is a lovely homage that is likely to send the viewer scurrying to watch Frears' superior adaptation. - Pam Grady

Rolling Stone 8 of 10
Cruel Intentions would be an Oscar contender...Check out Sarah Michelle Gellar as Kathryn Merteuil, a Manhattan rich kid whose public smile of virtue masks the vile heart of a vixen. Tottering around her parents' elegant town house in high heels and debutante drag, she screams for revenge against the guys who screwed her over. The sight conjures up delicious camp memories of performances that the critics have flambed, such as Patty Duke's in Valley of the Dolls and Barbra (fingernails!) Streisand's in The Prince of Tides...Witherspoon fares best among the actors as the virgin who writes a manifesto for Seventeen magazine titled "Why I Plan to Wait" - a challenge that Kathryn and Sebastian can't resist. She adds much-needed warmth to this igloo of a movie. Otherwise, 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. Lust, betrayal, revenge and death reduce audiences for these dangerous liaisons to something Laclos never figured on: fits of giggles. - Peter Travers