Date: November 20, 2024

Cruel Intentions’ Review: Amazon Remake Dishes Out Liaisons Too Sizzle-Free to Feel Dangerous

Roger Kumble’s 1999 film Cruel Intentions, based on Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ Les Liaisons Dangereuses, offered a modern spin that embraced the twisted core of its source material. Its 97-minute runtime delivered tight, dirty fun with a stellar cast that masked any narrative shortcomings. By contrast, Amazon’s eight-episode adaptation, written by Phoebe Fisher and Sara Goodman, stretches the premise to its breaking point, leaving little resolved and offering even less substance.

The series moves the story to Manchester College, a generic “Washington, D.C.-adjacent university,” which lacks any visual or thematic richness. Most of the action takes place in Greek houses and dorm rooms, making it feel more like a cut-rate college drama than a reinvention of a classic tale. The result is a show that feels derivative, with its attempts at modernization landing hollow.

Sarah Catherine Hook stars as Caroline Merteuil, the ambitious president of Delta Phi, whose goal of saving the Greek system from hazing scandals hinges on recruiting Annie Grover (Savannah Lee Smith), the daughter of the vice president of the United States. To secure Annie’s allegiance, Caroline enlists her stepbrother, Lucien Belmont (Zac Burgess), to seduce her. The stakes—a favor framed as a wager involving sex with a step-sibling and the exchange of a vintage car—are superficial at best, lacking the venomous wit and weight of the original plot.

The series fails to justify its fixation on the Greek system, a less compelling hierarchy than the affluence of New York’s Upper East Side or pre-Revolution France. A subplot involving a professor teaching “Fascism, Then and Now” attempts to parallel abuses of power in both history and Caroline’s manipulative leadership style. While this thread shows a glimmer of ambition, it’s poorly executed, feeling out of place and underdeveloped.

What made the original Cruel Intentions compelling was its unapologetic exploration of betrayal, manipulation, and the darker sides of human desire. This version lacks that edge, offering only occasional flashes of humor or intrigue. Among the young cast, only Sara Silva as Cece—a fast-talking, wounded eccentric—brings energy to the screen, delivering most of the series’ laughs and emotional weight. The rest of the ensemble is forgettable, with Hook’s Queen Bee performance lacking nuance and Burgess failing to capture the allure his role demands.

The adult cast, including Claire Forlani and Sean Patrick Thomas (a nod to the original film), provides some legitimacy but is largely wasted in a series that doesn’t know what it wants to say. The visuals are equally uninspired, with Adam Arkin’s direction in the premiere offering the only episode with a sense of style.

Ultimately, this Cruel Intentions feels like a Xerox of a Xerox—a pale imitation of both the 1999 film and its source material. It leans too heavily on nostalgia without offering a fresh perspective or compelling reason for its existence. The result is a bland, lifeless series that asks, “Remember this?” but gives little to remember.