"The Rules of Attraction"

The Rules of Attractions stars James Van Der Beek, Shannyn Sossamon and Ian Somerholder. Written and directed by Roger Avary, this 2002 film chronicles the intertwining lives of college students looking for drugs, sex and love.

Set in the background of Camden college, Van Der Beek plays Sean Bateman (younger brother of American Psycho's Jason Bateman), a drug-dealing, thrill-seeking party-goer who falls in love with Lauren, played by Sossamon, this film's idea of a purist. Lauren, the only virgin of all the college students around her, is saving herself for her boyfriend, who is out of the country. She has previously dated Somerholder's Paul, who had previously come out of the closet as a bisexual. Both Paul and Lauren realize they have feelings for Sean throughout the movie, yet neither can have him because of such obstacles as mistaken identities, mistaken sexual preferences and drug abuse.

If this sounds like an interesting story, I suggest you view the film. Otherwise, you will spend almost two hours watching people behave immorally. Normally, I am not against viewing such blatent displays of illegal behavior. In fact, party movies can be quite entertaining, as long as there is a compelling plot to accompany the pointless behavior. However, in a film like this, the plot is convoluted enough to be confusing at times and simple enough to be non-compelling, similar to the way it was shot, with some scenes being played backwards and other being shown out of chronological order.

The highlight of watching this movie had to be the different names of the parties. "The Edge of the World Party," "The Dress to Get Screwed Party" and, of course, "The End of the World Party", which both starts and finishes the movie, are all names of parties that give Camden a feel of pretentiousness that I found amusing. All I have to say is I am glad to be attending NSU, where the parties know what their social standing is, and the people attending them know their sexual preferences, for the most part.