Fortunate enough to ride the crest of the wave created by popular, cliché ridden, MTV dramas like 'My So Called Life' (good), 'Party of Five' (blah) and 'Dawson's Creek' (an embarrassingly indecisive love/hate relationship) Roger Kumble's 'Cruel Intentions', part of the late 90s zeitgeist, is an eminently watchable, if distinctly lightweight, re-imagining of 'Dangerous Liaisons' (Frears film, Hampton's play and Laclos's book). Fuelled by the music of Placebo (whose classic 'Every Me & Every You' features prominently), Blur, The Cardigans, Aimee Mann, Richard Ashcroft and Fatboy Slim, this popular teen movie spawned a pair of rubbish sequels but just about manages to keep its head above water. And almost a decade later, still works as an unflinching insight into the sexual decadence of the American bourgeoisie. Preppy WASP Sebastian (a smug and, on reflection, surprisingly complex turn by Ryan Philippe) has obviously bought into Frank T.J. Mackey's 'Seduce & Destroy' programme, for the chiselled cad beds a variety of girls including, hilariously, his psychologist; an attractive older woman won over by Sebastian's eloquent appreciation of her legs, and his unashamedly sleazy request to photograph them. Not a patch on John Malkovich's Valmont, though Philippe's lecherous lothario obviously has the kind of teen appeal this movie was going for, his wicked partner in crime and step-sister Kathryn is played to the hilt by none other than Sarah Michelle Geller (reunited on screen with Philippe a year after 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'). Buffy puts in an incendiary, OTT performance that works like a charm; with a neckline as low as her moral integrity Kathryn is the perfect, hence instantaneously lethal, blend of every guy's wildest fantasy, and worst nightmare. A calculating nymphomaniac and nefarious schemer; with cocaine concealed inside her crucifix, she's the girl you'll love to hate and kudos to Geller for playing against type, going all out to create one memorable, super-bitch of a character. This thoroughly unlikeable, yet nonetheless interesting, duo place a wager; whereby Sebastian promises to deflower well known virgin Annette (Reese Witherspoon in her first major role after cult favourites 'Freeway' & 'Election'); if he succeeds, he gets to indulge in incest with Kathryn, if he fails; she gets his Jaguar. Nice people. And so begins an amoral game of socio-political intrigue and sexual machinations, played out under a haze of lust amongst the white marbled edifice of Ivy League elitism, and empty materialist pleasures: Sebastian and Kathryn have a lot of work to do, and you know it'll be tears before bedtime before they're done. With strong support from Selma Blair, Sean Patrick Thomas and Joshua Jackson, 'Cruel Intentions' is an enjoyable picture, though not nearly as good as it thinks it is or how popular it was with the MTV crowd back in 1999. Cool soundtrack, decent script, good looking actors: perfectly acceptable teen movie fare, though a far cry from the relative innocence of the John Hughes era. Philippe and Witherspoon would go onto greater things; marriage and divorce for example. Reese fulfilled her potential with films like 'Legally Blonde', 'Rendition' and an Oscar winning performance in 'Walk The Line'. Ryan, however, in spite of choosing good projects like 'The Way Of The Gun', 'Crash' and 'Flags Of Our Fathers' is still waiting to make a lasting impact on film. A slick and colourful snapshot of a certain time & place; when Kevin Williamson was king, the name Neve Campbell meant something and James Van De Beek could still get a table, 'Cruel Intentions' is more of a fleeting encounter than a film to love forever, definitely worth a look, especially if you're attracted to the (in)discrete charm of the bourgeoisie. One night stand.