The Rules of Attraction

Pulp Fiction’s co-writer Roger Avary was an ideal choice to adapt Bret Easton Ellis’s follow up to Less Than Zero, and he throws the kitchen sink at it, using split-screens, video-diaries and all kinds of tricks to get to the dark and dangerous heart of the novel. James Van Der Beek is Sean Bateman, brother of American Psycho’s Patrick, who sells drugs, abuses women, and generally makes a monster of himself on a university campus. Eric Stolz plays a stoner lecturer with elan, and Faye Dunaway has a memorable turn as a concerned mother. With the opening credits appearing some twenty minutes into the film, The Rules of Attraction is a decidedly unconventional film, and one that takes liberties with Ellis’ novel, yet somehow ends up making the right kind of satirical jabs.