Cruel Intentions Could Use a More Endearing Lead But It’s Watchable

Cruel Intentions (Amazon Prime)-Adapted from the 18th-century novel “Dangerous Liaisons” in which a ladykiller and his ex-lover make a wager over whether he can seduce a recent widower, this was first adapted into the 1988 Oscar Best Picture nominee “Dangerous Liaisons”, and then adapated into the 1999 film “Cruel Intentions.” The 1999 film was updated to modern times and starred Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillipe as morally depraved stepsiblings. It came out during a wave of popular teenage films such as “10 Things I Hate About You”, “She’s All That”, and “American Pie” but presented a significantly edgier version of adolescent amorality.

Slight tangent: I’m opposed to the use of the term “incels.” Sexual opportunities are distributed unequally, and I’ve never seen “incels” talked about with any level of empathy. It’s as if the discussion around this demographic suggests a causality that losing the sexual lottery in life, also has the added label that you’re infected with a particularly brand of misogyny. The reality is likely closer to jerks are jerks in whatever form they take (including those using the “incel” term as a blanket label).

That being said, the Sebastian/Lucien character seems like an incel fantasy: He gets way more sex than he deserves and gets away scot-free with being not just misogynistic but psychopathic during the act.

In one of the opening scenes of the film, Sebastian comes onto his therapist and then serves a…