'Rules of Attraction' shabbily depicts college life
By Forrest Hartman
The (Reno, Nev.) Gazette Journal
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| THE RULES OF ATTRACTION (Rated R for profanity, nudity, sex, drugs) Two and One-Half Stars (Fair-to-Good)
Fascinating yet disappointing picture focused on troubled students making their way through a semester at an upper-crust, New England college. The movie would have you believe that the university experience is nothing but an orgy of sex and drugs. The flaws of this proposition are worsened by the film's failure to make a coherent statement on the self-destructive nature of its characters. Stars James Van Der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon, Ian Somerhalder and Kip Pardue. Directed by Roger Avary, Lions Gate Films, 110 minutes. |
Based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel of the same name, "Rules" follows several students through a semester at uppity Camden College in New England. Each youth is tragically flawed and, thus, miserable.
For most viewers, the moral center will be Lauren Hynde, played with confidence by Shannyn Sossamon. Although Lauren frequently sniffs cocaine, she's basically a good girl, often opting for quiet evenings at home instead of the wild parties her roommate, Lara (Jessica Biel), frequents. To keep her carnal urges in check, Lauren spends her nights flipping through a venereal disease textbook, reinforcing the consequences of unsafe sex. It's the ultimate irony that the movie — presented in a fractured timeline — opens with a drunken Lauren losing her virginity to an unknown rapist.
"It's a story that might bore you," she intones in a deadpan overdub, "but you don't have to listen because I always knew it was going to be like that."
Life is equally bleak for the film's other denizens, none of whom are willing to make sacrifices to improve their lives. Sean Bateman (James Van Der Beek), the campus drug dealer, seldom attends class, opting instead for an emotion-free world of sex and pharmaceuticals. Paul Denton (Ian Somerhalder), an openly gay preppie waltzes around campus in an arrogant trance. And Victor, a handsome, much-sought-after drama major, changes women like underwear.
For parents with college-age children, "Rules" will probably play like a cautionary tale. Just as "Requiem for a Dream" is the ultimate anti-drug picture, "Rules" may become the film to show Mom and Dad if you REALLY don't want to go to school.
Of course, Ellis' depiction of university life — as adapted by writer-director Roger Avary — is so overblown and depraved one can't take it seriously. If, for Ellis (who also wrote "Less Than Zero"), this story represents reality, he lives on a different plane.
"Rules" plays like an earthy drama, even when the situations are ridiculously overblown. It's a strange dynamic that makes the film both fascinating and frustrating. When the credits roll, we're left without heroes, without villains and without a clear-cut message. Of course, life isn't always clear-cut, and movies don't have to be either. What we should ask, however, of a picture designed only to reflect life, is a realistic likeness. Most college students are nothing like those depicted.
"Rules" is often difficult to watch because it centers on distasteful people doing distasteful things, and none of them pay any real price for their mistakes and emotional neglect. Still, there are sections that really sing. In one scene — one of the most powerful to hit the screen this year — a minor character commits suicide. Avary, best known for co-writing "Pulp Fiction," allows his camera to linger on the act, making viewers squirm like bystanders too afraid to act.
If the entire movie had this type of emotional resonance, it would be among the finest efforts of the year.
Rated R for profanity, nudity, sex, drugs.
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