The Rules of Attraction jumps from dark comedy to bleak drama to college romp so fast, your head will spin. But that's probably what writer-director Roger Avary wants to happen.
The plot, as thin as it is, focuses on three college students on a Massachusetts campus: Sean (James Van Der Beek), the resident drug dealer, Lauren (Shannyn Sossamon), a virgin waiting for her knight in shining armor, and Paul (Ian Somerhalder), a bisexual who used to go out with Lauren and has the bad luck to hit on every straight guy around.
The movie jumps from character to character while trying to connect the odd plot strands with relative ease and precision. The only way Avary can do this is to rewind entire scenes, making the audience feel like they're on an acid trip, split the screen in two, and every other possible technological trick in the book.
Sean is in trouble with Rupert (Clifton Collins, Jr.), a nutty drug kingpin who wants his money. While handling this, Sean is falling in love with Lauren, someone who represents, to him, purity and innocence. Paul is in love with Sean, but knows, deep down, it won't work. And then there are the purple love letters popping up in Sean's mailbox. Is the writer Lauren? Is it Paul? Or is it someone else?
Avary is best known for winning the Academy Award for Best Screenplay when he and Quentin Tarantino won for Pulp Fiction. Much like that film, The Rules of Attraction is connected by vignettes, some humorous, some dramatic.
One particularly hilarious sequence has Paul visiting his mother, one of her friends, and his old friend, who he experimented with a long time ago. Russell Sams, who plays Richard (but he'd rather be known as Dick), the old friend, steals the entire film with five minutes of screen time.
Another brilliant sequence has Lauren's knight in armor, Victor, taking a tour of Europe, which basically consists of him doing drugs, drinking, and having sex with many, many women. It's only five minutes, but after it's over, the viewer is left dazed, blindsided by such an unexpected, wild sequence of raunchiness.
But the underlying question throughout all of the depravity presented in The Rules of Attraction is, "So what?" None of the characters are particularly sympathetic. Once Sean falls in love with Lauren, we're supposed to feel sorry for him because he can't get her. The characters are just strange, unlikable and mean. For college students, these people have absolutely no feeling in their bodies; they were all washed away by drugs, most likely.
The Rules of Attraction is a technical marvel. Avary does his damnedest to cover up the fact that his characters are all quite disturbing by jump-cutting, flash-forwarding, using split-screen, etc. The eyes are dazzled by whatever is on the screen, but there is no substance. It's filled with stylish touches, but little else.
One scene that represents what could have been a truly brilliant film is a scene with a pivotal character committing suicide. For nearly three minutes, all the camera shows is the face of this character. We see every inch of pain on the person's face, and we feel it as well. This is probably the best scene in the film. It's the only scene that gives anyone a reason to be sympathetic.
The actors also try their hardest with the strange material. Van Der Beek, as Sean, is totally crazy; just look in his eyes, because they say everything about Van Der Beek's performance.
Sossamon is good as Lauren, a girl whose entire college life is based on her globe-trotting boyfriend; once things don't pan out correctly, her world is destroyed. Somerhalder plays Paul with the right amount of rage and horniness. His scenes of torment come when he is rejected by other men (and he is always rejected), and the expressions on Somerhalder's face are just pitch-perfect.
The supporting cast is just as good. Among the noteworthy are Jessica Biel as Lauren's incredibly randy roommate, who doesn't believe in the safety of abstinence because, as she says: "I don't major in math."
Clifton Collins, Jr. hams it up as Rupert, a total psycho. Kip Pardue (what the hell kind of name is Kip?) is as smarmy as possible as the sex-crazed Victor. Eric Stoltz has a bit part, played wonderfully, as a professor who still wants to be a student; he shows up at every party and has a girl on each arm. Kate Bosworth, of last summer's Blue Crush, is merely a blip on the radar; her only purpose is to have Sean realize he hasn't had...relations with anyone while sober.
The only two actors in the film who really don't belong happen to figure in the aforementioned funniest scene: Swoosie Kurtz and Faye Dunaway, as the bewildered, pill-popping parents of Paul and Dick. They're trying to parody the fact that some people think of them as dignified, but the people who think of them that way won't be seeing The Rules of Attraction.
Something else that's worth mentioning: The Rules of Attraction is based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel of the same name. The Sean of this story is Sean Bateman, younger brother of Patrick, who was the main character of American Psycho, which was a film that starred Christian Bale a few years ago. There's not a single mention of Patrick, but fans of Ellis should plant down a few bucks to see if Avary did The Rules of Attraction its proper justice.
If you want to be a filmmaker, there is no reason why you shouldn't see The Rules of Attraction. The tips on directing are more than substantial in the college film. If you like any of the actors in this movie, especially Biel and Van Der Beek, be warned; this movie is meant to change their personas.
This is not the Jessica Biel and James Van Der Beek you know. If you aren't one of these people, you shouldn't go see this movie. As with The Rules of Attraction itself, what would be the point?
Contact the reporter at joshua.spiegel@asu.edu
