The Rules of Attraction, staring James Van Der Beek is a twisted example of how hard it can be to figure out where your life is headed while attending college.
Sean Bateman (James Van Der Beek) falls in love with Lauren Hynde (Shanynn Sossamon), but he can’t control himself from screwing everything up. While all of this is going on Paul (Ian Somerhalder), a bisexual, is also in love with Sean. If this triangle of love isn’t confusing enough already just throw in Laura (Jessica Biel) who is attracted to Sean Bateman and his friends.
The strange thing about this film is that the end is in the beginning, and at the end there isn’t a conclusion. To make things even more screwed up, three different characters perspectives are shown and are wound up together into a giant knot.
The director Roger Avery who also directed American Psycho and co-wrote Pulp Fiction showed time going backwards, and in one scene showed the interaction between two characters through their eyes at the same time. As confusing as all of this sounds it actually all comes together and makes sense while watching the movie.
The soundtrack fits perfectly for this film. The lyrics to each song fits the mood or situation dead on. The only way to describe this film is pure chaos, and because of this constant chaos it is hard to feel sympathetic for any of the characters.
Grade: C+
