Cruel Intentions (1999)

This is an impossible movie to do with teenage characters. There's a sophisticated (albeit perverse) edge to all these sexual hijinks, and high school and college students just don't seem to fit in. Sebastian and Kathryn are too grown-up, too coolly aware of the damage they are causing. There are no simmering hormonal emotions. This was a nice attempt at translating a very adult story into a high school flick, but it fails to be convincing, especially in its awkward ending, which tries to fit this movie into a very different genre. Sarah MIchelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe do their best with this material and ALMOST pull it off, but they're trapped having to play a character that simply shouldn't be the age they're supposed to play. I'm interested now in seeing Dangerous Liaisons - with an adult cast, this could be rather intriguing. With this younger cast, it comes off as just a series of sex scenes with some dramatic music in between. Nice try, but not nearly good enough. 2 stars.