The main characters are not always as interesting or well presented as they should be, so its very hard to care about them that much. You kind of know their particular plight, without them having to spell it out, but some insight into each person might not have hurt too much. Each character narrates a large part of their own story. However, the director does a lot with the material to keep it lively. You get split screens, backwards running film, slow motion, etc. and it fits the subject perfectly. Cameos are interesting, to say the least - its not every movie where you get to see Fred Savage strung out, or see an insane emergency room doctor. Eric Stoltz, Faye Dunaway and Swoozie Kurtz are also aboard but don't stay around for too long. The character Kip Pardue plays, Victor, gets a bit of a raw deal, as he's seen in the beginning for a minute, then again at the end, when you get a video diary, of sorts, of his escapades around Europe. In the book he's handled differently. I like Kip, who played Sunshine in "Remember the Titans" and was also in that stupid race car movie with Sly Stallone and Burt Reynolds. I had a shrink hypnotize me so I'd forget the name of that one, but Kip was in it, that much I remember. My favorite character by light years is Richard (sorry...he prefers Dick, and loves saying it), who's a friend/lover of Paul (Ian Somerhalder, who's great). Dick is in the movie for about ten minutes but makes a lasting impression, dancing on a hotel bed with Paul to the strains of George Michael's "Faith", then having a hysterically funny scene in the hotel w/Paul and their Moms. NO ONE in the movie is as much fun as Dick, and I was a bit letdown when he exited. He seemed to have a wild sense of humor about how screwed up he was. I've seen this about five times by now. I don't love it, and I have some problems with some of the overkill, but I like it a lot. 7/10.
Review of The Rules of Attraction
