‘The Rules of Attraction’ Review – chaotic and enchanting
How do you imagine an university in the USA? An enormous campus with gardens, fraternity parties and young people getting wasted every weekend? You’re almost right. ‘The Rules of Attraction’ is a movie directed by Roger Avary (2002) where he portrays different facets of an American university through different protagonists.
SPOILER ALERT, beware I’ll mention specific scenes.
PLOT
They present us as main characters: Sean (James Van Der Beek), a rich kid and drug dealer; Lauren (Shannyn Sossamon,) a bohemian and romantic art student; and Paul (Ian Somerhalder), a rich and gay boy who’s looking for love.
The way they narrate this story is focused in the protagonist’s individual stories, in their essential background and with time jumps when they changed the character point of view.
I think they managed to intertwine perfectly every story they present. They developed every individual story very well, without forgetting about details or having raccord mistakes. Plus, near the end we can see a plot twist that I didn’t expect at all, and that somehow unites every individual story.
I also love the Quentin Tarantino-esque touch it has.
CAST
Every actor has done an amazing job showing and transmitting the roles and stereotypes they had to portray.
Sean has a very interesting development. Since we don’t know his full story or past from the beginning, every small thing that comes up about him is a surprise. It was only weird to me that he wasn’t the captain of some sport club, he would have fitted perfectly (rich kid who does drugs, who doesn’t attend his classes, his body type…).
Lauren isn’t a very special character. She’s introvert, a bit emo, bohemian and maybe too romantic. She doesn’t have a development per se, because she spends the entire movie revolving around one single thing. And it’s not until near the end of the movie when we can see an actual change in her.
And Paul Denton…What can I say. Ian Somerhalder had to play a rich and gay boy this time, and it’s curious to me how amazingly he did it without having to exaggerate the stereotypes people might have of gay people. He perfectly portrayed and transmitted the concerns and life of a gay person in an American campus -probably during a time where this topic wasn’t very accepted-. We can see small changes in Paul, but there’s not a huge development. Despite of this, I think this character is very charming and well constructed. I’m not very surprised, only very proud.
SET
They knew how to set and show the American campus’s spirit from every possible perspective. They showed this spirit through the experiences of a rich boy, a bohemian girl and a drug dealer. And it looked very realistic. They used a lot of stereotypes but they knew how to use them.
GENERAL OPINION
It’s not the kind of movies I’m used to watch. It’s not very cliché, and it might seem difficult to watch, but I loved it. The way the story and the characters developed enchanted me. I must add that the music choice was perfect!
Ian Somerhalder has some epic and unforgettable scenes here. In addition to doing a masterful job, he gives us very good quality content. (Yes, I confess, this epic scenes made me love the movie even more).
The scene from the photo above is one of them. We can see Paul Denton looking for the perfect outfit while he dances and test his clothes in front of a mirror. When I tell you it’s impossible to look away a single second in this sequence…It’s a delight to the eyes.
The other epic scene happens in a hotel room. He’s with a friend and they have to get ready to meet their mums, but they spend some time dancing and jumping on the bed, half naked, while George Michael and his epic ‘Faith‘ play top volume.
This scene had me shocked and with a high heart rate for some minutes after it finished. But I won’t complain.
I think The Rules of Attraction is a movie you’d watch on a Friday night with pizza and friends.
