The Rules of Attraction

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The Rules of Attraction-360P

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This is one of the ugliest films to come out in quite a while. It's not the sex, the drugs, the drinking, or even the palpable sense of immorality. It's the nihilism that ultimately renders the film unwatchable. How can people of this age, of these backgrounds, and of these obviously high level of intelligence be so goddamn jaded? I'm sure I'll be accused of making base generalizations, but these people have everything going for them, not a care in the world, and yet they still find reasons to be moody at best and downright reprehensible at worst. The main focal point of every characters' lives is sex, but none seem to enjoy it. They're not even keeping track of who they screw and when, so that rules out the trophy-seeking motive. At least one character (James Van Der Beek) is pursuing these carnal relations in a predatory sense. That explains the why, but doesn't excuse it. Another character (Shannyn Sossamyn) claims to be seeking love and saving her virginity, and seems to be fairly sharp, but still she associates with scum-of-the-earth frat boys who she knows will screw her and forget her name the following day. There's a void in logic that these characters seem to exist in, so the film is ultimately an excuse to watch despicable people doing despicable things to other despicable people. It's an endless chain of nihilism, narcissism and just plain bad taste.

Every character in this film has the same personality. They are all vacant automatons living empty lives with empty brains knee jerking their way to their next abuse of sex, drugs, music etc. The characters are neither believable, likable, sympathetic nor developed. I suppose 12 year old teenage boys might think this film reveals what "cool" people are actually like, but any adult should be able to see that in real life one rarely encounters such demented assholes and a whole town full of them is just a childish fantasy. Both the author and director of this junk are way overpaid, over-hyped, and over convinced of their own brilliance which the discerning viewer will find no evidence of here. I've seen half hour TV cartoons that contain more believable and developed characters, that resonate more deeply with our shared human condition than anything in this film. Technically the acting isn't bad, the photography is good and the sound is horrible - indecipherable mumbled dialog that even the highest volume on my TV couldn't rescue, then cut to blasting loud music. I'm as sad as any of the unreal dummies in this flick when I think that crap like this gets made, applauded and the culprits become millionaires. It seems that quality these days is neither produced nor admired, very disheartening.

I just saw this movie this weekend and I have had to take a week to digest it. You will leave this movie not knowing how to think, except that you hate each and every character (except the girl who sent Van Der Beek love letters). Many people have had a problem with the fact that you dont really care about what happens to the characters. What most people have failed to see, in my humble opinon, is that you are not supposed to care. That is somewhat the point of the film. This is a very nihilistic movie. Avery uses some very interesting tools in this movie, including split screen and reverse motion. The reverse motion is a very original and unique way to introduce the characters and Avery is very smart about knowing when to stop using certain camera tricks. About half way through the movie it goes into a sup plot about Sossamon's "boyfriend" (Kip Pardue) backpacking drug induced trip through Europe. It goes through about three months in Europe with out missing any event of any importance and it does it in about ten minutes. If you like strange and disturbing you will probably like this movie. While not as good, it is as weird and nihilistic as Clockwork Orange or Fight Club. 8/10

The rules of attraction is by far one of the most original films this decade. It is worth watching alone for the corridor scene, the beginning and the journey through victors travels. The actors in the film portray their roles perfectly. James van der beek really matures since his days from Dawson's creek to show how versatile he can be using a range of different emotions to show Sean as a sensitive yet sinister character. The script is quite Phenomenal especially the humor that is present throughout. Each character explains what they are feeling so the audience can understand their motives easier. The plot has twists and turns that are thrown to the viewer and can leave you questioning how the writer can be that intelligent. Finally the other characters performances are flawless especially Clifton Collins Jr. who really shows the effect of sniffing too much coke. Buy it Watch it tell your friends.

How can anyone like this film? It's so horrible. The only redeeming quality is James Van Der Beek. And even his performance couldn't stop this movie from being crappy. Characters had little to no character development. Many characters were introduced with no real explanation or reason as to why we had to be introduced to them. Eric Stoltz's cameo was the worst cameo I have ever seen. What was the point? I'll tell ya. There was none. This movie tried so hard not to be another teen-angst movie about kids trying to find themselves and where they fit in in their generation and crap like that. But guess what? It turned out to be exactly that. I felt robbed of 2 hours of my life and the $6.00 I had to pay to see this garbage. If your looking to waste 2 hours of your life, then go ahead and watch this horrible film. But I'd rather watch a Paulie Shore movie than to see this film again. Nuff Said.

I personally rather enjoyed this sleeper film. It recently aired on one of the premium cable networks and I sat riveted as I watched. Avary certainly uses a very stylized approach and yet manages to capture the flavor of Bret Easton Ellis' novel, which originally was set in 1985 in Bennington, VT. I thought, as I watched, how cleverly Avary brought the film up-to-date and still kept the basic flavor of the novel's plot and kept true to the central characters. I was rather surprised at some of the other comments that the film was trashy, vulgar and boring. I found none of that to be true. Avary certainly didn't sugarcoat anything which I found to be a refreshing change from many of today's films out of Hollywood. He didn't stick to trite formula, but rather he displayed an art-house kind of feel in presenting the story. I thought the actors were all well cast and convincing. I laughed, cried and cringed during the film and I believe it is going to end up a cult classic.

I saw the TV spot for this movie last year and i said to myself that i was going to avoid it at all costs, just another dumb teenage geared movie with one demintional charecters, not to mention the fact that i was afraid i was going to hear that god awfull "She F*cking Hates Me" song if i was going to see it. So, I completly avoided the damn thing until today, when a friend of mind who i greatly respect the oppions of said he heard that it was really good and that we should rent, i decided "what the hell, I'll give the thing a chance" and I am so glad that i did. This film is a work of art, plain and simple. It is NOT making sex and drugs seem cool or fun or anything of the sort. This movie is a complete send off of the idea that young adults can have carefree sex with no side effects. People who say this movie is just a typical teen movie need to look a little closer at what is really going on: every sex scene in this film is shot to make sex as unapealing as possible, in fact, the only time i was less turned on by sex scenes was watching "A Clockwork Orange", it shows sex as being something that when you make it a big deal in your life, it will consume you and draw out any humanity you may have. People who were like me that haven't seen this film yet, people who think "It's just going to be another waste of time" should see this film, and i have a feeling that if you really pay attention, you will see this disturbing masterpiece for what it really is.