The Rules Of Attraction Review
Posted by Ashish on 10.14.2002
Roger Avary presents an amazing look at college life in this surprisingly honest and fascinating film.
The Rules of Attraction
Release Date: October 11th, 2002
The Rules of Attraction is one of the most interesting, bizarre, innovative, and surprising movies you will see this year, if not ever. Director Roger Avary (who has Pulp Fiction to his credits) presents a mind-boggling look at college life and what goes on outside of class. And what you will see may shock you.
This film centers around three characters, Sean Bateman (James Van Der Beek), Lauren Hynde (Shannyn Sossamon), and Paul Denton (Ian Somerhalder). Bateman is a drug dealer who has a hard time containing his sexual urges. Hynde is a rare college virgin who is waiting for her boyfriend to return from Europe. Denton is a gay man who has a thing for straight guys. This film takes us on a chaotic trip through the lives of these three people who interact with each other, and try to make sense of their often meaningless life. They encounter love, lust (plenty of lust), and lies.
The film is directed in an innovative manner by Roger Avary who puts together one of the most memorable introductions in recent memory by filming a college party but using reverse back cueing to capture intersecting storylines involving the three main characters. This movie, at its heart, is about the often clueless attitude of college students who push all aside in the pursuit of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll. The three main characters come across countless other people whose lives are as dead end as their own.
The movie is a fascinating look at the hopelessness that many young people feel, highlighted by failed attempts at love, connection, growth, and even suicide. When all goes wrong, the answer is usually drugs and sex.
The story, written by the mind that brought us American Psycho (by the way, Sean Bateman in this movie is actually supposed to be the brother of Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, cool huh?), is one that is downright hilarious at times, but insanely dark and somewhat depressing at others. These students live their lives in a lie, constantly partying the night away, covering their pain with drugs and alcohol, but ultimately not able to find happiness.
The real highlight of this movie is just how real it is. Parents may not want to believe it, but anyone who has been to college in the last 20 years will identify with this movie and how real a portrayal it is. Drugs and alcohol flow like water. Sex is hardly a precious thing, exemplified by the “Dress To Fuck” parties which are just dressed up orgies. This film takes a cold hard look at the often sad and pathetic world of “higher eduction.”
Avary films this movie in a magnificent, innovative style that features countless editing techniques such as playing scenes in reverse, filming a European trip in Real World low-key camera style (which is one of the best scenes from any movie this year), using split screen in a unique way (another scene that will impress), and even rolling the credits backwards. Avary also seems to have learned well from Quentin Tarantino, and displays an amazing skill for connecting scenes with perfect music which enhances the experience. The cinematography is beautiful at times, harsh at others, which is how it should be. Scenes range from a close up of Van Der Beek going to the bathroom to a beautiful close up of a snowflake dwindling down, landing on Van Der Beek’s cheek, and melting in his tear.
James Van Der Beek gives the best performance of his movie career here, convincingly portraying a character very unlike the “stereotype” that many people think of when they think of him. He ranges from funny, lonely, sad, innocent, and crazy. Sossamon also does an amazing job of capturing the many ranges of her character, who is by far the “purest” character of the film. Jessica Biel (of 7th Heaven) also shines in a supporting role. She really epitomizes the drug and sex hungry college female with little recourse about her actions. She does an amazing job of shedding her vanilla image created by 7th Heaven.
The ending is absolutely perfect and I give Avery a lot of credit for sticking by his guns with this film and not watering it down (as, after watching it, I’m sure he was asked to do). This movie is being promoted more as a comedy than a dark drama, but be warned, this movie is very dark. While it doesn't get as dark as, say, Requiem For A Dream, it definitely has a sharp edge to it.
The 411: This film is an eclectic mix of comedy, dark humor, drama, and romance and, in the end, scores big. It is not your typical movie and does not feature a defined plotline. It is more or less a “slice out of life” picture that guides you through the lives of college students. Actual college students will likely drove to this movie and while it will likely bomb at the box office, the realness of it will likely lead it to a cult following. The amazingly creative and innovative film style, coupled with a great use of the soundtrack, gets it high marks on technical aspects, and the brutally honest film that features engaging characters finishes the job. This one won’t get much attention, but is a simply great film.
