Dir: Roger Avery. Starring: James Van Der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon, Jessica Biel, Ian Somerhalder, Fred Savage.
Adapting the fierce if stark lives portrayed in the work of Bret Easton Ellis has had mixed results so far - Less Then Zero felt too gimmicky, a chance for eighties brat pack stars to prove that they could do fucked up as well as cute and romantic, whilst American Psycho was rather fine, though as it was unable to portray much of Ellis' graphic violence and sexuality and the satirical elements were toned down a little, lacking some of the bite of the original novel.
So how does The Rules of Attraction fair? Well it's a mix of both, with a normally squeaky clean cast best known for teen tv drama's or tepid romantic comedies showing that they too can snort drugs, indulge in meaningless sex and generally carry off a darker role well, but it does manage to maintain some of the bleakness of the original novel. It has a refreshingly nihilistic world view, as the rich kids of an unnamed US university party, get fucked up as much as they can and rarely attend classes. None of the characters are particularly likeable, but this doesn’t hinder any interest you'll have in proceedings, and like most of Ellis' fiction it doesn’t end in any particularly conventional manner, it has a satisfying denouement.
Avery's direction is pretty stylish, and there's some really effective moments, the most startling of these being Victor's travelogue around Europe, a speeded up montage of two weeks of pure hedonism, and one moment where two
Those who have long hated James Van Der Beek for his squeaky clean, morally upright and over analysing role in Dawson's Creek are in for a surprise here too, as he is actually damn fine. Avery captures a certain dark emptyness in his eyes, but it's more than this, there's an honesty in his performance, in a role which takes his character from fucking girls he doesn’t care for to masturbating over porn and taking drugs. The rest of the cast are pretty fine too, though fail to make as much of an impression as Van Der Beek has managed too.
It doesn’t quite work though – at times they film feels a little pointless – yes, these kids don’t give a fuck and generally find themselves lost and confused in a pointless world, but, well, so? Don’t we all suffer from this? As the film offers no answer to the problems the characters suffer from, what is the point of the film existing other than to show that such things take place? As if we didnt know this already. And a couple of moments are unneeded too - Eric Stoltz turns in a rather irrelevant cameo as a teacher who gets students to give him oral sex in exchange for higher grades, as does Faye Dunaway's performance, though I guess it does highlight that such moral decay is present throughout all ages, and not just in the young.
Ultimately Rules of Attraction is a little frustrating as it could have been better, it's not as fierce or a shocking as Ellis' prose tends to be, but as it is it's a fairly enjoyable slice of hedonistic life and well worth viewing - just don't expect too much from it.
Alex Finch.
Click here to discuss The Rules of Attraction on our film forum.
GC(uk) Email Advanced Site Search
 |
| Let Spyonit.com notify you when this page changes! |