CRUEL INTENTIONS is about control, there are two rich kids that will do almost anything to control each other and everyone else. You have Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) whose mother married Sebastian Valmont's (Ryan Phillippe) dad. Kathryn and Sebastian are the rich kids out of control with life and reality.

Written and directed by Roger Kumble
Music written by Edward Shearmur
Running time: 97 minutes. Rated R

The Cast
Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as Kathryn Merteuil the intelligent stepsister of Sebastian who helps Sebastian to conquer his woman.

Ryan Phillippe stars as Sebastian Valmont the naughty guy on campus that has all rumors going around about his conquering of woman.

Reese Witherspoon stars as Annette Hargrove the conquest that Sebastian has to have.

Selma Blair stars as Cecile Caldwell she is the dumb innocent girl that gets an education on sex from Sebastian and Kathryn.

Louise Fletcher stars as Helen Rosemond the aunt of Sebastian who thinks he is an angel.

Joshua Jackson stars as Blaine Tuttle the gay friend of Sebastian.

Eric Mabius stars as Greg McConnell the big football star with a big secret.

Sean Patrick Thomas stars as Ronald Clifford the music teacher that falls in love with Cecile Caldwell.

The Movie
The movie is based on mainly Kathryn Merteuil and Sebastian Valmont and how they manipulate other people into getting what they want.

Sebastian has conquered about any woman that pleases him, to him it is just a game to get the women into bed.

Kathryn the stepsister willing to help Sebastian in his evil plots and in return he is willing to do the same for her.

The Bet, Sebastian has found the girl that claims to be saving herself until marriage no matter what, this is his newest challenge. Kathryn is also a very attractive woman who Sebastian has always wanted but couldn't get. Now to up the stakes and suspense they make a bet that Sebastian will have sex with Annette Hargrove before school starts in a few weeks. The bet is if Sebastian succeeds he can have his stepsister Kathryn anyway he wishes and if he loses his bet he will have to give up his most pride position a very old convertible Jaguar.

Kathryn's Quest, is to get even with an old boyfriend that dumped her for Cecile Caldwell. Cecile is a very dumb and innocent girl until they meet up with Kathryn and Sebastian. Kathryn's plot to get even with her old boyfriend is to get his new girlfriend (Cecile) to fall in love with Cecile's music teacher Ronald Clifford.

This movie has a lot of interesting twists and turn of events, I hate to think there are really some people out there like Kathryn and Sebastian.

I'm not going into any more details on the movie, this should be enough to get you into watching it. Before the movie is over things turn on both Kathryn and Sebastian. Also something happens to Sebastian that he thought was never possible, he falls in love.

Now when the movie is over, who is in control?

DVD Features
One great feature is you can watch this movie in Widescreen or normal TV format.

Subtitles are on English

Dolby 5.1 surround sound and you can listen to a commentary from the filmmakers while watching the movie.

Making of Featurette is a documentary on the visual style of making the movie.

Six Deleted Scenes with the Director's Introduction and why they were cut.

A theatrical trailer

Talent and Filmographies

Music Videos - two videos one by Marcy Playground (Coming Up From Behind) and one by Placebo. (Every You, Every Me)

28 scene selections to start the movie from.

Overall
This is a very interesting movie that is different from most.

On big plus I liked about the DVD was being able to pick from Widescreen or full screen. This is the first DVD I have that offers both versions on the same side of the DVD, most others you have to turn them over to watch the other version.

The video performance is excellent as well as the Digital Dolby 5.1 surround sound.

We have watched this movie a couple of times now and it was enjoyable both times, I give it about a B rating.



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day