Devious, sexual, and brooding— An uncommon adaption of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782).
Regan Humphrey
Diabolical step-siblings Sebastian (Ryan Phillipe) and Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar) are bored, rich, and cruel. Hungry for scandal and skilled at orchestrating it, they spend the summer before senior year in their Manhattan mansion finding ways to punish their enemies, prank their playthings, and please themselves above all else. Tired of ruining debutant reputations with psychologically-damaging sexual trysts, Sebastian is ready for a new challenge. He finds one in the reserved and upstanding character of Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon), the new headmaster’s daughter. Sebastian is so sure his manipulations will best Annette’s morality that he and Kathryn bet on it.
REF SCORE: 60%
Soundtrack: 100%
Story: 90%
Writing: 95%
Diversity: 50%
Daring: 100%
Racism: PRESENT — 50%
Gender Bias: ADDRESSED — 50%
Homophobia: COMBATTED — 60%
—————————-PRESENT — 20%
SUMMARY
A cruel-hearted chess game of revenge and conquest, cut through by the troubled mentalities of two unsupervised, emotionally stunted teenagers, each drowning in their deceits and dying for love.
ref score 