| Buy the DVD |   |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Year: | 2002 |
| Rating: | R |
| Length: | 1h 50mins |
| Cast: | Roger Avary, James Van Der Beek, Ian Somerhalder, Shanynn Sossamon |
Based on a novel by Less than Zero author Bret Easton Ellis, this skillfully made drama pulls off the neat trick of making its viewers care about self-absorbed young people whose behavior borders on the reprehensible. It's not easy to work up much enthusiasm for shallow, selfish, and greedy college kids, but writer-director Roger Avary (Killing Zoe) enables us to do so by virtue of his compelling narrative. Rules primarily concerns itself with the interaction of four people. To begin with, there's slick young drug dealer Sean (James Van Der Beek), who desperately wants to bed chic coed Lauren (Shannyn Sossamon), who once dated Paul (Ian Somerhalder), a bisexual who once dated Victor (Kip Pardue), another bisexual who would like to date Lauren. These circuitous couplings take place largely at Camden College, the ultimate party school, where on-campus soir‚es frequently turn into orgies and nobody is ever seen to crack a book. Avary keeps us from sinking into this vast sea of debauchery by fiddling with the story's timeline, first exploring one story thread, then "rewinding" back to the starting point to follow another, and even "fast forwarding" to embellish a third. His direction is muscular and energetic -- so much so that you'll be thoroughly caught up in what could easily have been a dreary, pointless depiction of directionless, emotionally stunted, substance-abusing, compulsive fornicators. The DVD edition features a "revolving door" commentary by various cast members and production people, along with a Sundance Channel "Anatomy of a Scene" featurette and a preview of Avary's film Glitterati. Ed Hulse
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