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The Rules of Attraction

  • 2002
  • R
  • 1h 50m
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
54K
YOUR RATING
James Van Der Beek, Jessica Biel, Kate Bosworth, Kip Pardue, Ian Somerhalder, and Shannyn Sossamon in The Rules of Attraction (2002)
Theatrical Trailer from Lionsgate
Play trailer2:01
1 Video
99+ Photos
Dark ComedyComedyDramaRomance

The incredibly spoiled and overprivileged students of Camden College are a backdrop for an unusual love triangle between a drug dealer, a virgin and a bisexual classmate.The incredibly spoiled and overprivileged students of Camden College are a backdrop for an unusual love triangle between a drug dealer, a virgin and a bisexual classmate.The incredibly spoiled and overprivileged students of Camden College are a backdrop for an unusual love triangle between a drug dealer, a virgin and a bisexual classmate.

  • Director
    • Roger Avary
  • Writers
    • Bret Easton Ellis
    • Roger Avary
  • Stars
    • James Van Der Beek
    • Ian Somerhalder
    • Shannyn Sossamon
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.6/10
    54K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Roger Avary
    • Writers
      • Bret Easton Ellis
      • Roger Avary
    • Stars
      • James Van Der Beek
      • Ian Somerhalder
      • Shannyn Sossamon
    • 437User reviews
    • 112Critic reviews
    • 50Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 wins & 3 nominations total

    Videos1

    The Rules of Attraction
    Trailer 2:01
    The Rules of Attraction

    Photos164

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    Top cast93

    Edit
    James Van Der Beek
    James Van Der Beek
    • Sean Bateman
    Ian Somerhalder
    Ian Somerhalder
    • Paul Denton
    Shannyn Sossamon
    Shannyn Sossamon
    • Lauren Hynde
    Jessica Biel
    Jessica Biel
    • Lara
    Kip Pardue
    Kip Pardue
    • Victor
    Kate Bosworth
    Kate Bosworth
    • Kelly
    Joel Michaely
    Joel Michaely
    • Raymond
    Jay Baruchel
    Jay Baruchel
    • Harry
    Thomas Ian Nicholas
    Thomas Ian Nicholas
    • Mitchell
    Clifton Collins Jr.
    Clifton Collins Jr.
    • Rupert
    Clare Kramer
    Clare Kramer
    • Candice
    Faye Dunaway
    Faye Dunaway
    • Mrs. Denton
    Swoosie Kurtz
    Swoosie Kurtz
    • Mrs. Jared
    Russell Sams
    Russell Sams
    • Richard
    Colin Bain
    Colin Bain
    • Donald
    Eric Stoltz
    Eric Stoltz
    • Mr. Lawson
    Fred Savage
    Fred Savage
    • A Junkie Named Marc
    Eric Szmanda
    Eric Szmanda
    • NYU Film Student
    • Director
      • Roger Avary
    • Writers
      • Bret Easton Ellis
      • Roger Avary
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Sean Bateman, the character played by James Van Der Beek, is the younger brother of the infamous Patrick Bateman, the main character of American Psycho (2000), a film also based on a novel by Bret Easton Ellis.
    • Goofs
      When Paul gets kicked out of the guy's room for hitting on him, he lights a cigarette with an ordinary disposable lighter, but we hear the distinctive sound of a Zippo.
    • Quotes

      Victor: [summarizing his vacation, nonstop, in just under four minutes] Took a charter flight on a DC-10 to London. Landed at Heathrow. Took a cab to the city center. Don't let people lie to you: hostels are for the ugly. I'm staying in Home House, the most beautiful hotel in the world. Called a friend from school who was selling hash, but she wasn't in. Met a couple of Brits who take me to, of all places, Camden Street. I flirt a bit at the Virgin Megastore, buy some CDs, then follow some girls with pink hair. I wandered around trying to get laid, until it started to rain, then went back to Home House. Ministry of Sound is dead, so I go to Remform - but it's Gay Night. I find the one hetero girl in the place and we dry hump on the dance floor. We cab it back to Home House. I strip her clothes off, suck her toes, and we fuck. I hung out for four or five days. Met the world's biggest DJ, Paul Oakenfold. Kept missing the Changing of the Guards. Wrote my mom a postcard I never sent. Bought some speed from an Italian junkie who was trying to sell me a stolen bike. Smoked a lot of hash that had too much tobacco in it. Saw the Tate. Saw Big Ben. Ate a lot of weird English food. It rained a lot, it was expensive, and I'm jonesing... So, I split for Amsterdam. The Dutch all know English, so I didn't have to speak any Dutch - which was a relief. I cruise the Red Light District. Visit a sex show. Visit a sex museum. Smoke a lot of hash. I meet a Dutch TV actress and we drink absinthe at a bar called Absinthe. The museums were cool, I guess. Lots of Van Goghs and the Vermeers were intense. Wandered around. Bought a lot of pastries. Ate some intense waffles. We bought some coke and I cruised the Red Light District, until I found some blonde with big tits that reminds me of Lara. I gave her a hundred guilders. In the end, she pulls me out, and I cum between her tits, even though I'm wearing a rubber. Afterward we made small-talk about AIDS, her Moroccan pimp, and herself. I wake to the sound of a wino singing. It's 8 AM and hot as blazes. I pretend to ice-skate around Central Station, while someone plays the sax. Trade songs with a Kiwi girl... Then split for Paris by train. Wander the Champs-Elysees. Climb the Eiffel Tower for only seven francs, because the ticket machine was broken. Got the hang of the Metro, took it everywhere. Went to a Ford model party and hooked up with a Romanian model named Karina. She chugs my cock at the Mariott Champs-Elysees, which is good. We played billiards, went shopping. I think she gave me mono. Drove a Ferrari that belonged to a member of the Saudi royal family. Made out with a Dutch model in front of the Louvre. Saw the Arc de Triomphe and almost became road-kill crossing the street... "Oakie" invites me to Dublin, so I catch an Aer Lingus flight and stay at the Morrison. Dublin rocks like you can't imagine. Oakenfold lets me spin some discs with him. Irish girls are as small as leprechauns. I swap hickeys with a drunk woman. After groping my abs and calling me "Mr. L.A.", she strips for me in the bath room of the club. Sneak into the Guinness factory and steal some stout so good my dick goes hard... I fly to Barcelona, which was a low-rent bust. Too many fat American students. Too many lame meat markets. I dropped acid at the Sagrada Familia, which was a trip to say the least. Cruise up the coast to the Museo Gala Dali, but had no more acid, which sucked. Some girl from Camden calls me on my cell, so I let her listen to the church bells in Cadaques. Canta Cruz is beautiful, but there are no girls here, just old hippies... So, I went to Switzerland where I, ironically, couldn't find anyone who had the time. Took the Glacier Express up the Schilthorn, which is beautiful in a way I can't describe... Euro Pass into Italy and ended up in Venice, where I met a hot girl who looks like Rachael Leigh Cook and speaks better English than I do. She's living for a year on only five dollars a day. We gondola around, buy some masks. She think's I'm a capitalist, because my hotel room costs more for one night than she's spending her entire trip. But she doesn't mind it so much when I pay the bills... I ditch her and hook up with a couple who obviously want a 3-some. Too much tension there, but the doofus offers to drive me to Rome, an offer I jump at. Traffic is bad and we're stopped for hours without moving. The wife turns out to be a freak. The guy starts to wig out on me. It's like a Polanski film... We stop for a while in Florence, where I see some big dome. A bomb goes off and I lose the weird couple, which is probably for the best... Ended up in Rome, which is big and hot and dirty. It was just like L.A., but with ruins. I went to the Vatican, which was ridiculously opulent. Stood for two hours to get into the Sistine Chapel, which - now that it's been cleaned - looks fake. I meet two under-age Italian girls who I try to talk into fucking each other while I jack off onto them. Bored, I buy them some ice cream instead. My hotel has a gym, so I work out. I bump into some guy from Camden who says he knows me, but I'm sure that he's a fag, so I lose him. I try to fart and instead shit my pants. Back in my hotel room, I masturbate and have a pain in my groin. That night, I dream about a beautiful girl, half in water, stretching her lean body. She asks me if I like it and I tell her she can clean fish with it. I don't know what it means, but I wake well-rested, masturbate in the shower, and check out... I make my way back to London and hang out in Piccadilly Circus. Hmm. Palakon. I swap shirts with some upper-crusty Cambridge chick. Hers was an Agnes B., mine a Costume Nationale. She acts stuffy and prudish, but is really wild underneath it all. She barely looks at my abs, though she wants to. The next day, I drop some acid and get lost in the subway for a full day and can't find my way out. I meet a cute girl who lets me jack off onto her as long as no cum gets onto her Paul Smith coat. We get stoned while listening to Michael Jackson records and the next morning I wake up talking to myself. I have a big bump on my head from flailing in my sleep. I get my stuff and barely make my plane back to the United States... I no longer know who I am and I feel like the ghost of a total stranger.

    • Crazy credits
      The credits run backwards, starting with the disclaimer ("Any similarity to persons living or dead...") and rolling upwards to end with the cast.
    • Alternate versions
      The French 2-Disc Special Edition entitled 'Les Lois De L'Attraction' is the longest possible version available. It has a couple of scenes not in the UK & US DVDs and also includes more of the suicide scene (including the girl actually cutting into her wrists, instead of just seeing her reaction) It also includes more relevant commentary tracks than the other DVD's available.
    • Connections
      Edited into Glitterati (2004)
    • Soundtracks
      Anna Begins
      Performed by James Van Der Beek

      Words by Adam Duritz

      Music by David Bryson, Marty Jones, Toby Hawkins, Lydia Holly and Adam Duritz

      Published by 1993 EMI Blackwood Music Inc./Jones Falls Music/Knucklevision Music/Puppet Head Songs/Siren Says Music (BMI)

    User reviews437

    Featured review

    sad. very sad. so very, very, very sad. a downer of a film.

    As a college student, I can't quite put into words how depressing watching this movie was for me. Because even though a part of me wants to believe that this isn't how good-looking rich kids treat each other, another part of me has to acknowledge that this is, that there are people out there who truly don't care about themselves enough to respect other people in relationships, sexual or otherwise, that we as a society still find it acceptable to portray gay men as ONLY sex-obsessed, self-deluded persons swooning over strait counterparts and that it's one of the only representations we have in popular or cult films/culture, especially in this one, and that the death of romance has not only been portrayed, but that it's been slaughtered in full-force. Watching this film leaves you with a frozen kind of emptiness inside of you. The reverse-sequences interspersed throughout the film, as annoying and tiring as they are, remind you how backwards and unhealthy these kind of lifestyles are- lifestyles that base relationships (seemingly) on lust only, that don't seem to appreciate friendships formed along the road, that continually define life as one big shopping list of bedmates. I don't know...I hope the film is seen as a warning as to the disconnection and ultimately dissatisfying result being this way leads to. It's kind of rare for me to become so negatively opinionated about a movie, but this movie just struck me in a very cold, unfeeling place. It should be called "the rules of desolation."
    • poetellect
    • Oct 14, 2002
    • Permalink

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    FAQ26

    • How long is The Rules of Attraction?Powered by Alexa
    • Is 'The Rules of Attraction' based on a book?
    • Was "The End of the World" party scene really filmed on September 11th, 2001?
    • What is meant to be said before and after the opening and closing dialogues?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 11, 2002 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • Germany
    • Official site
      • Official Director's site for the film. (United States)
    • Languages
      • English
      • German
    • Also known as
      • Atracción
    • Filming locations
      • University of Redlands, Redlands, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • Kingsgate Films
      • Roger Avary Filmproduktion GmbH
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $4,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $6,532,619
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $2,532,410
      • Oct 13, 2002
    • Gross worldwide
      • $11,832,822
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 50 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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