Cruel Intentions (1999) **

Directed by Roger Kumble. With Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillipe and Reese Whitherspoon. Expecting a nightmare of depravity like "Wild Things", I was cruelly disappointed by this contemporary adaptation of "Dangerous Liaisons", set among Park Avenue's preppies and debutantes. There is very little perversity in this piece of monumental anachronism, which tries to adapt the (im)moral values of debauched French aristocrats to the lifestyles of brothers and sisters of Monica Lewinsky. The result is a laughable mess, both tedious and campy. It takes more than ravished virgins or horny stepsisters to arouse my interest. **