Do you want to see ‘Cruel Intentions’?

Cruel Intentions (1999)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 5.3/10
Reviews Counted: 77
Fresh: 37 | Rotten: 40

Even in a slick package and an attractive cast, the movie succumbs to bad acting and a bad script.

Average Rating: 4.7/10
Critic Reviews: 24
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 15

Even in a slick package and an attractive cast, the movie succumbs to bad acting and a bad script.

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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 411,710

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Movie Info

In an adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe) are step-brother and step-sister living in Manhattan. With their absent parents travelling in Europe, the wealthy pair have the family penthouse to themselves as they while away their summer break before beginning senior year at a private high school. Sebastian, bad-boy lothario, has apparently slept with all the girls in town and appears numb

R, 1 hr. 34 min.

Drama

Directed By: Roger Kumble

Written By: Roger Kumble

In Theaters: Mar 5, 1999 Wide

On DVD: Aug 3, 1999

Columbia Pictures

Cruel Intentions Trailer & Photos

Cast

Sarah Michelle Gellar
Kathryn Merteuil
Ryan Phillippe
Sebastian Valmont
Reese Witherspoon
Annette Hargrove
Selma Blair
Cecile Caldwell
Louise Fletcher
Helen Rosemond
Joshua Jackson
Blaine Tuttle
Eric Mabius
Greg McConnell
Sean Patrick Thomas
Ronald Clifford
Swoosie Kurtz
Dr. Greenbaum
Christine Baranski
Bunny Caldwell
Tara Reid
Marci Greenbaum
Bryan Brown

Critic Reviews for Cruel Intentions

All Critics (80) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (42) | DVD (16)

What's both depressing and impressive about Cruel Intentions is the profound misanthropy of its meaning.

February 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Washington Post

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Stephen Hunter

Washington Post

Top Critic

You won't be able to resist the film's ribaldry and cynicism. Kids these days!

February 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Newsweek

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B.J. Sigesmund

Newsweek

Top Critic

You sometimes have to giggle at this movie the way you do when you catch 4-year-olds playing dress-up in front of Mom's closet.

July 21, 2005 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle

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Jeff Millar

Houston Chronicle

Top Critic

It is maliciously entertaining, up to a point.

June 18, 2002 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle

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Bob Graham

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

This is the filmic answer to a pack of Spice Girl cards.

March 19, 2002 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail

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Rick Groen

Globe and Mail

Top Critic

Rarely has a film elicited more raucous unintended laughter.

May 11, 2001 Comment

Peter Travers

Rolling Stone

Top Critic

Dangerous Liaisons among rich NYC teens.

January 2, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media

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Sarah Wenk

Common Sense Media

The film's cheat ending aside, this arch, ridiculous movie heaves, sweats and steams, and for the most part, it delivers what its title promises.

August 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine)

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Christopher Smith

Bangor Daily News (Maine)

An earnest but overreaching kiddie version of Dangerous Liaisons.

July 26, 2007 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

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James Plath

Movie Metropolis

Every bit of the original's nastiness is retained but none of its wit or elegance.

January 9, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International

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David Noh

Film Journal International

Lascivious blackmailers and inveterate immoralists, these characters behave despicably, but the movie affects a tone of urbane detachment which puts sex in its proper perspective.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

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Time Out

In the end, the whole shebang comes off like a bunch of snotty, rich white kids screwing each other and screwing each other over.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Film Threat

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Ron Wells

Film Threat

First-time helmer/writer Roger Kumble starts off on the right foot, but stumbles along the way.

April 9, 2005 Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews

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Robin Clifford

Reeling Reviews

[This] 'guilty pleasure' ends guilty of not living up to its potential.

March 30, 2005 Full Review | Comment

Dragan Antulov

Draxblog Movie Reviews Source: Draxblog Movie Reviews

The movie's cinematography, set design, and costume design are all extremely elegant, and the beautiful young actors are shown off to maximum effect, like expensively bred horses.

June 24, 2003 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid

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Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Egads.

February 8, 2003 Full Review Source: Film Quips Online

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John R. McEwen

Film Quips Online

Cruel Intentions is vapid and mean -- in a good way.

November 7, 2002 Full Review Source: Netflix

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James Rocchi

Netflix

Kumble doesn't dumb down the themes of the novel too much, he just gives them a refreshing, flashy feel Dawson's Creek-style.

September 10, 2002 Full Review Source: Montreal Film Journal

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Kevin N. Laforest

Montreal Film Journal

Despite its highly descriptive dialogue, Cruel Intentions features no nudity ... I doubt teenage boys will be satisfied just to hear Buffy talk dirty.

September 6, 2002 Full Review | Comment

Jeffrey Westhoff

Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

The movie never gets past a crucial structural flaw: Behavior that would have scandalized pre-Revolutionary France would scarcely raise an eyebrow among today's drug-dazed and sex-crazed Upper East Side crowd.

June 23, 2002 Full Review Source: Kalamazoo Gazette

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James Sanford

Kalamazoo Gazette

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Audience Reviews for Cruel Intentions

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Cruel Intentions is a pretty interesting teen drama comedy. I wasn't sure about wanting to see it, however I finally did, and was surprised. The film has a good enough cast that keeps the material working, and the cast deliver some good performances. The film is both funny and demented and at times dramatic, and the

October 8, 2011