Hey folks, Harry here... Moriarty is in New York - wandering the streets alone and depressed and angry. He left his mitts back home... So weird that it disturbed him so... Anyway in the story above this one, I ran out of space for reviews and views for RULES OF ATTRACTION, so I figured I'd tag JiveGuy's here. So....

now for JiveGuy....

This is JiveGuy again with a review of last nights screening of Roger Avary’s “Rules of Attraction” at the Egyptian theater in Hollywood. I’ve sent in reviews of a couple of other cool sneak previews such as “Battle Royal,” and “The Ring” as well. I only write I when I’m really excited about a film, and this one was really good. I’ll leave the plot and spoilers to someone else and just give a rundown.

           First, let me start off by saying that I’ve read the book and it instantly became one of my favorites. I've been extremely psyched to see this film all summer.That’s two strikes against the film already, because 1) How often are movies as good as their books? And 2) When does anything ever live up to the hype? Both of these become irrelevant because Avary did a wonderful job capturing the mood and idea of the book, and adapted the screenplay as perfect as anyone possibly can for a slightly under two hour film. He brilliantly mixed together several parts of the book, making everything fit. He did however choose to leave out one major story in the book for his plot purposes, but more on that later. Let’s talk about what drove the film to greatness: The three main actors.

James Vander Beek/ Sean Bateman –  I’ve always hated Vander Beek with a passion for some reason. I still do. But in the film, he was flawless, and straight out nailed Sean Bateman. He didn’t even sound like Dawson. Moriarity mentioned after the screening that his close ups were a whole movie on their own and I agree completely. Kudos to Vander Beek for risking it with this role. He maintained that cool, yet total asshole quality that the character needed to be brought to life. A great change of pace from, say, the Freddie Prinze Jr. crap we’re usually delt. He’s the centerpiece of the film and holds it together.

Shannyn Sossamon/ Lauren Holleran – I’m always going to praise Sossamon for whatever she does as I’m totally biased when it comes to her so naturally I loved every minute with her. Once again she brings that style she posseses in real life (the snappy hair, attitude, and cool clothes) much like she did on “40 Days and 40 Nights.” Her character didn’t demand much because most of the meat was not included in Avary’s screenplay for plot purposes, but she does have to do some of the most daring things in the film. All the credit in the world to her, as I know for a fact most Hollywood actresses would not have touched that role with a ten foot pole. She holds up against the crazy characters and situations around her, great casting choice here.

Ian Somehalder/ Paul Denton -  The biggest surprise of the film. I was afraid going in that this would be the character that ruined the film, and I was hoping that Ian wouldn’t overplay the characters homosexuality. Well he didn’t, and to tell you the truth I think the best scenes in the film were his. I don’t recall seeing himin anything else, but the guy has got a strong presence.

I don’t think anyone can argue that these three weren’t flawless. There were supporting players as well, some better than others.

Jessica Biel, Kate Bosworth, and Clare Kramer –  I wouldn’t call Biel a main character, but she plays a good slut. She plays Lara, a mixture of several of Laurens friends from the book. Bosworth was just there. The role needed T and A and she supplied it. But don’t get too excited, she doesn’t show it. Kramer, who’s hotter than both of them, is in there too briefly as Mitchells girlfriend, but she mentioned during the Q and A that Avary had to cut some of her scenes.

Thomas Ian Nicholas and Kip Pardue –  Nicholas actually wasn’t annoying here. He plays Mitchell, a rich kid who used to be bisexual. Although Pardue is limited here, his big introduction is awesome, as it quickly summarizes his characters months in Europe. Avary places this midway through the film and it works great for a better impact.

Clifton Collins Jr. – You may remember him as Frankie Flowers from “Traffic.”  He plays a drug dealer that’s pressuring Vander Beek for the money he owes him. It’s funny, you can take this side story and Collins character out of the movie and you’d have the same film but I’m glad it’s there because Collins was hilarious and enjoyable  every time he was on screen.

Fred Savage and Eric Stoltz – Someone wrote in with an early review this summer and said that Savage just makes a fool of himself in his one and only scene, but it’s actually one of the funniest scenes in the movie. I don’t know why he’d lose any respect. It’s not like he had a huge mole or anything. Stoltz is someone we definitely didn’t get enough of but he’s in there more than Savage. Stoltz plays a teacher who parties with the kids and just loves college girls.

Russell Sams – A scene stealer? Definitely. He comes into the movie about halfway in for about 10 minutes, playing “Dick,” not Richard. He’s going to raise a few eyebrows when his character, the most fucked up outof everyone, is introduced.

The film is set in the present, but features mostly 80’smusic. I think I heard a song by Milla Jovovich in there and someone told me Vander Beek had one too? Anyhow, Avary had a lot of cool camera and editing tricks in this film, and they’re put to good use. The opening of the film is very unique, as is the ending. “The Rules of Attraction” is nicely shot, and definitely a great film all around. It’s become my favorite of the year. I hope Lions Gate markets this film as the next “American Pie” (even though it isn’t) so it can make a ton of money.

After the movie, Avary, his producer (who’s a dead ringer for Thomas Ian Nicholas) and the cast sat down for some Q and A. Once again Bosworth provided the T and A.  She just had to make the fashionably late entrance seperate from the rest of the cast, to every guys delight., especially the row of guys in front of us who were shooting her the whole time with a video camcorder. Avary discussed some differences between the R rated cut (what we saw) and the European cut. He also mentioned that the character of Patrick Bateman of “American Psycho” fame, was in fact in the film but his scene had to be cut. Supposedly it was of him talking to his brother Sean on the phone, all the while holding a severed head. I really wanted to ask Avary who he casted to play Patrick, but I had such a huge fucking headache from sitting so close tothe screen I didn’t. What amazed me was how he shot all of Pardues scenes in Europe. Basically he just followed him with a camera for two weeks and let Pardue do his own thing.

Overall, it was an entertaining night, I’m just a bit disappointed Sossamon wasn’t there, now we’ll never meet and fall in love. But that’s another story…

JiveGuy