Cruel Intentions Review: What’s the Point?

Based on the 1999 film Cruel Intentions by Roger Kumble, which is a modern retelling of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ 1782 novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, this 2024 Prime Video drama series follows the elite students of Manchester College where social hierarchy and reputation are everything. After a shocking hazing incident almost destroys everything that they hold dear, step-siblings Caroline Merteuil and Lucien Belmont decide to go to any lengths to preserve their carefully constructed life, regardless of what or who it affects in the process.

The series has 8 episodes, each with a runtime of around 40 minutes.

Cruel Intentions Review

Bratty (and rich) teenagers have been the subject of many movies and TV shows over the years and their infinite ability to test the patience of audiences is nothing if not impressive. However, Prime Video’s Cruel Intentions takes this ability to another level with its story that doesn’t seem to move from episode to episode and a cast of characters who seem to lack any and all originality whatsoever.

The series follows the relationship dynamic in the original and is set in a more elite school with the Vice President’s daughter Annie Grover mixed in between the games of the stepsiblings. The series, however, lacks the thrill and the shock factor of the original with the storyline being stretched thin over 8 episodes unnecessarily. It doesn’t add anything new or thoroughly shocking and ends up just confusing you about the point of rehashing the movie.

The series decides to dissect the class differences in these schools and the violent culture of hazing in the different sororities and fraternities. However, that also feels surface-level and never becomes anything more than just a B plot. The plot surrounding Caroline and Lucien feels like something that we have watched previously many times (because we have) and it doesn’t have the same effect as the original because, well, a plot such as this was somewhat unheard of at that time. I mean, with movies such as Your Fault, we have gotten into the topic more than we would probably like, leaving us to see the same old stories with an equally old lens.

I think the performances are fine – both Sarah Catherine Hook and Zac Burgess look and feel somewhat diabolical but even then I found them to be missing the pure terror that Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe gave off. I think there is some missing tension between the characters as well, so you don’t really feel like there might be something between the two. Honestly, I sometimes found them to be a bit naive, even. However, the vulnerability that peeks through sometimes in their characters is nice, but again, it’s nothing new. None of the quirks that the characters seem to exhibit also feel special or different either.

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I must mention that Cruel Intentions really tested my patience with some of its characters. I couldn’t figure out how Savannah Lee Smith’s Annie Grover remains clueless at the end of 8 episodes and Sara Silva’s CeCe Carroway is an annoying presence I found myself skipping over several times throughout the runtime. Again, I fail to see the relevance of redoing an old movie without changing anything and stretching the story to a point where it stops making sense. But maybe that’s just me.

However, the most frustrating part might just be that the series ends on a cliffhanger. Eight episodes, and we don’t get a definite ending of any sort. It brings up these different and disturbing threads, takes us on a boring goose chase and then ends up not giving us a banger of an ending so maybe give audiences some sort of entertainment. Thus, when things finally come to a close, you can’t help but feel thoroughly blindsided and disappointed by the lack of a conclusion.

Final Thoughts

In the end, I failed to understand the point of Prime Video’s Cruel Intentions. It features some good-looking people doing some woke and some cruel things, but it’s nothing shocking nor is it new and leaves us feeling rather cheated at the lack of a conclusion and cohesive ending. I think it’s best to save your time and watch the movie, at least it’s shorter.

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