The Rules of Attraction

[swanflake]

What did you think of this movie? I became so interested by it, that I actually bothered to read the book by Bret Easton Ellis. But too bad they edited out a lot of the homo love scene between Ian Somerhalder and James van der Beek.

I think this movie has some great quotes, and I loved the soundtrack. Thoughts?

[bakaney]

I watched it once and found it interesting as well. I liked the fragmented storytelling and there was some hella cool music in it. However, every single time I pass the DVD, I always have this inner deate as to whether I should buy it. Pros : Ian Somehalder dancing to George Michael's "Faith" on a bed with some other guy. Cons : Ian Somhalader's supposedly incredibly homophobic banter on the commentary.

The commentary tends to be the last thing I think of, so I always pass on buying it.

SwanFlake, is the book really good? I'm mulling over getting it.

[Deleted]

I found it utterly forgettable. I didn't like any of the characters and kept checking the clock to see if it was over yet.

I wanted to like it, but ended up hating it.

[swanflake]

bakaney said:

SwanFlake, is the book really good? I'm mulling over getting it.

I'm by no means a literary critic, but I liked the book well enough. I read it my Junior year of high school, so I was really intrigued to see what kind of insight it could offer into college life for me. A reader who's actually been to college might be more incredulous, or get turned off or something, and might not get into it as much.

The book was pretty confusing too, though. Each different chapter is a first-person soliloqy (sp?)/monologue type thing, and the characters perceptions of situations seriously contradict each other--I'm sure Bret Easton Ellis had a point to make with that, but I wasn't exactly sharp enough to realize what it was. I don't want to elaborate much further at the risk of spoiling it, though.

[Deleted]

This movie got such terrible reviews that I skipped seeing it in the theater (even though the trailer was pretty cool and I was interested to see if The Beek could escape from The Creek). I caught it a while ago on cable and was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't a great film by any means, but it was pretty much what I expected from an adaptation of a Bret Easton Ellis novel (unlikeable characters doing unlikeable things). The acting was pretty decent (for a bunch of teen stars/pretty things desperately trying to shed their goody-goody images) and the "trip to Europe" montage is almost good enough to justify unconditionally recommending the movie.

[swanflake]

thursdaynext said:

This movie got such terrible reviews that I skipped seeing it in the theater

Yeah, Leonard Maltin gave it a BOMB, but I don't think it was that meritless. I think it deserved a Star-and-a-Half for these quotes alone:

"I like Sean because he looked, well, slutty. A boy who'd been around. A boy who couldn't remember if he was Catholic or not." (I think that one was taken directly from the book.)

"It's amazing how much weight you lose when you go off The Pill."
-"Which is nothing compared to the fifty pounds you gain when you get knocked up."
"Yeah but the condom is 98% effective, and he wears two, so that's like 196% effective"
-"I don't think it works like that, but abstinence is 100% safe, which is less of a percentage than..."
"Whatever, I don't care, I didn't major in math!"

-"How do I look?"
"You look kind of skinny, actually."
-"Skinny, really? Bulimic skinny or anorexic skinny?"
"What's the difference?"
-"Bulimic skinny passes for healthy, except your teeth rot. But my teeth aren't rotting, so..."

the "trip to Europe" montage is almost good enough to justify unconditionally recommending the movie.

While shooting the material for that montage in Europe, director Roger Avery decided to try to make all of that stuff into a movie of its own. He has 70 hours of footage he shot Europe, which supposedly will/might be made into a movie called "Glitterati". But it's not definite if that movie will be made/be released, just like for the longest time it wasn't definite if "Glamorama" would be filmed. I stopped keeping up with the news for both of these projects, so I really don't know what their statuses are.

[bakaney]

While shooting the material for that montage in Europe, director Roger Avery decided to try to make all of that stuff into a movie of its own. He has 70 hours of footage he shot Europe, which supposedly will/might be made into a movie called "Glitterati". But it's not definite if that movie will be made/be released, just like for the longest time it wasn't definite if "Glamorama" would be filmed. I stopped keeping up with the news for both of these projects, so I really don't know what their statuses are.

I remember hearing that "Glitterati" was going to included as an extra or something on the Rules Of Attraction DVD a long long time ago. But i don't think it ever took off at all.

And thanks for the book opinion SwanFlake, I have a long ass trip to Australia coming up, so I might try to kill all those hours by defiling my mind with tales of college debauchery.