Rules of Attraction Review
by Homer Yen (homer_yen AT yahoo DOT com)October 15th, 2002
"The Rules of Attraction" Defies Logic by Homer Yen
(c) 2002
You won't like anything that you see in this off-center film. It focuses on shallow college students that attend a fictional college, which could easily provide the backdrop of a Girls Gone Wild video. The parties are so notorious that magazines like Playboy, FHM, and High Times could devote three consecutive issues each from front page to back. Consider the absurdity and the lewdness of a party called the Dress to Get [Noticed] Party. There are so many women prancing around topless that you'd think that they're all at a bordello.
If nothing else, the film may jolt college students-to-be into realizing that an academic dimension is what really enhances the college experience and not the self-serving vampires that exist on campus within this film. The story concentrates primarily on amoral Sean (James Van Der Beek), who possesses the appropriate amount of conceit as well as bad boy looks to make him the kind of boy that your parents warned you about. His daily thrills consist of scoring drugs, reneging on a loan to a dangerous criminal, and thinking about which girl he would like to bed. His skewed sense of right causes him to tell a love interest, after he has just slept with another, "I [slept] with her because you're the one that I love."
Granted, that is the point of the film. And there's nothing wrong with this premise of greed and selfishness. "The Rules of Attraction" is, however, a laborious exercise. All of the characters' goals are to satiate their own primal needs while disregarding the feelings of others. In addition to Sean, there's Lauren (Shannyn Sossamon), who starts off as a virgin who wants to save herself for her boyfriend. Of course, by the end of the film, she deletes that promise from her mind. Another prominent character is the odious Paul, who, with rosy cheeks and male-model-of-the-year looks, is looking for love in the arms of a woman or a man. He doesn’t' care. It's like a free-for-all hunt in which these sad souls pursue their quarry with cross-eyed abandon.
The greatest problem is that the film doesn't allow the audience to become invested in any of the characters. However, the one positive element of this film is the unique way in which each one is introduced. There is an interlocking timeline as seen from the vantage point of several of the characters. The introduction threads are very neat to watch. Yet, each character exists in their individual world. When interaction occurs, it feels more like a tug-of-war rather than character interplay. In the meantime, we do get a close-up view of their surroundings, which is filled with cocaine, profanity, and an overall preponderance of wonton recklessness.
One cannot complain about the acting. All of the characters do what they are supposed to do in order to convey an atmosphere of excessiveness and indulgence. But you'll leave the theatre feeling empty and indifferent about their lives, their struggles, and their goals. All of this is just masked beyond recognition in a place that it too anarchistic to be believed and too amoral for hope.
Like the pain that eventually befalls the main characters of this film, you'll also feel a similar amount of anguish. While The Rules of Attraction" is cleverly packaged, it seems as superficial as the characters that populate it.
Grade: C-
S: 3 out of 3
L: 3 out of 3
V: 1 out of 3
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