Cruel Intentions

A MODERNISED, dumbed-down Dangerous Liaisons remake for the Clueless generation, Cruel Intentions may not have half of its predecessor’s style or verbal wit, but it’s still a rattling good yarn, and the prospect of erstwhile vampire-slayer Sarah Michelle Gellar in all-out ultraslut mode should be enough to sway any floating male voters.

The film faithfully retreads the plot from the original Liaisons, and while it could be accused of ditching all the original’s class, Cruel Intentions still holds enough malice, suspense and savagery to render it highly satisfying.

The protagonists are a gang of stinking-rich Upper East Side New York kids: Ryan Phillippe and the soon-to-be-huge Gellar play a pair of step-siblings who hatch a series of devious schemes at the expense of all those around them. The plot revolves around a twisted wager between the pair: Phillipe is required to successfully seduce a new arrival, the virginal Annette (Reese Witherspoon). If he fails, Sarah Michelle gets possession of his shiny Jaguar. If he succeeds, as she memorably promises him, "I . . . will fuck your brains out."

Phillippe sails through with flying colours in the John Malkovich role, giving a masterclass in smooth pretentiousness – but Cruel Intentions will definitely be remembered as Gellar’s gig. She infuses the role with as much manipulative malevolence as it’s possible to muster, and seems to enjoy the whole affair to the hilt. Her facial reactions throughout are close to genius, and the scene where she engages Selma Blair in a long, lingering snog is almost as good as it’s cracked up to be. Witherspoon is unexpectedly convincing as the pure-hearted prude who gets slowly sucked into a nightmare not of her own making, and Blair’s performance as an air-headed twit provides many moments of comic brlliance.

French-literature purists will almost certainly despise the film, but as glossy trash entertainment goes, it takes some beating. The dialogue obviously suffers by comparison with Liaisons, and you could argue that the melodramatic ending is more than a little overwrought – but any film which features a coke-snorting Sarah Michelle Gellar venomously shouting ‘I want a fuck!’ gets my vote. You must trust me on this one.