The Rules of Attraction

2002 Directed by Roger Avary

We all run on instinct

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.

James Van Der Beek Shannyn Sossamon Ian Somerhalder Jessica Biel Kate Bosworth Jay Baruchel Thomas Ian Nicholas Russell Sams Kip Pardue Joel Michaely Clifton Collins Jr. Clare Kramer Faye Dunaway Swoosie Kurtz Colin Bain Fred Savage Paul Williams Kavan Reece Ron Jeremy Theresa Wayman Eric Stoltz Jesse Heiman

Alternative Titles

Regras da Atração, Die Regeln des Spiels – Rules of Attraction, Les lois de l'attraction, Las reglas del juego, Die Regeln des Spiels - The Rules of Attraction

romance drama comedy

111 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by robyn ★★★★★ 12

IT SUCKS COOOOOOOOOOOOOCK
This fucking film. This film is the most perfect representation of a Bret Easton Ellis book, the style is uncanny. It is disjointed, it is meandering and there are no good people, but that's fine.
This film brought Shannyn Sossamon to my attention (she's never far from it now), it had Ian Sommerholder before he was EVERYWHERE with his creepy eyes, tiny Jay Baruchel, James Van Der Beek's best acting role (it really opened my eyes and taught me to not be judgemental just because someones been in something corny).
The camerawork is excellent and experimental, the split screens the jumps in time the backwards work is all flawless and just suits the work to a tee. The dialogue is spot on, just everything man.
Plus you know, TOMANDANDY.
(p.s kip pardue)
Review by Cinematic Underdogs ★★★★½ 17

Seven salacious takeaways from rewatching The Rules of Attraction in 2021.
1. This film is still pretty damn risqué / edgy. Drugs, venereal diseases, coked-up narcotics dealers, bathtub suicides: it unflinchingly flaunts a ton of taboos. Yet, despite pushing our cultural buttons, it has aged strangely in a few scenes. Case in point: opening with a date rape that is treated with mildly ribald undertones just doesn't bode well two decades later. We can all be thankful for that.
2. Don't forget that when this was made, it starred the leads of the WB's two hottest tween hits: James Van Der Beek of Dawson's Creek and Jessica Biel of Seventh Heaven. This was definitely to be an image-defying pivot for…
Review by Parker ★★★★★ 1

"I only had sex with her because I'm in love with you" is the most honest thing a fictional character has ever said.
Review by Jay ★★★★½ 6

Trailer
Back in the day, before he became obsessed with Fifty Shades of Grey and casual homophobia, Bret Easton Ellis was an interesting writer with a number of interesting things to say. The Rules of Attraction, arguably his most famous and accomplished novel outside of American Psycho, was one of my favourite books as a teenager. As a godless sodomite born into a family of amoral atheists, I needed something to act as a bible and, for a while, The Rules of Attraction filled that void. I felt like I “got” it more than anything else I’d ever read and, more importantly, I felt like it “got” me too. It was the book that I always turned to when I…
Review by Daryl ★★★★★ 7

A brilliantly made film.
This is probably America's Trainspotting.
Roger Avary shows some very exciting direction. The cast are all excellent and together they bring us a breathtaking story told in breathtaking style.
Review by Warren ★★★★ 10

In high school I read American Psycho, on the recommendation of a woman in Connecticut I met in an AOL chatroom when I was 13 and thought I was in love with. I was thrilled by the book for all the wrong reasons, knowing so little about affluence and the elements of the 1980's that it was satirizing, just enjoying the graphic descriptions of murder and the absurdity of chapters about Huey Lewis and such. I would later, after a couple viewings of Mary Harron's adaptation (which I liked but did not love), come to appreciate what Bret Easton Ellis was really doing with his book.
The Rules of Attraction came at just the right (and wrong) time for me.…
Review by ✨ christie ✨ ★★★★ 6

you can’t convince me that this wasn’t directed by gregg araki
Review by Eli Hauser ★★★★★ 8

rules of atraction/don’t trust the b in apartment 23 double feature
Review by Hollie Horror 4

Around 4am last night Richard & I decided that watching Rules of Attraction would be interesting with the commentary of everyone's least favorite comedian Carrot Top and while what he contributed to the film wasn't interesting, it WAS most certainly, absolutely 100% revolting, but I haven't laughed that much in a long time, sure, the laughing was more to ease some of the uncomfortable & icky feelings associated with picturing Carrot Top salivating over all of the women in the movie & saying things like "Need a computer with a hole in it, glad i'm not the only one masturbating to internet porn," but whatever, I don't know, sometimes you make bad decisions that late at night and sometimes you're too tired to mind.
Review by Lee Morgan ★★★★½

In an ideal world, there would be a movie version of Less Than Zero every bit as good as this one, if not even better.
We don't live in an ideal world.
Review by Kristhian Morales ★★★

-"Well, Dick, how is school?"
-"It sucks COOOOOOCK!"
Review by Noah Thompson ★★★★ 5

Rock 'n Roll.
A rewatch of this was going to happen eventually, as it's an adaptation of my favorite book by my favorite author. No, really. I adore both American Psycho the film and the book, but I believe the novel of The Rules of Attraction is Bret Easton Ellis' masterwork. Am I maybe a little bit biased because it's focused on college and I'm a college student? Maybe. But, the novel to me serves as a haunting reminder of all of the craziness I am (thankfully) missing out on, the sex, the drugs, the parties, the vapidness and sardonic viewpoints of Ellis' writing so perfectly encapsulated in the environment of a pretentious liberal arts college filled with empty white…

Recent reviews

Review by rozzar227 ★★★★★

“I started driving faster as I left the college behind. I didn't know where I was going, someplace unoccupied I hoped. At first I thought there were things about her that I'd never forget but, in the end, all I could think about was-“
I'm starting to think that The Rules of Attraction has one of my all time favourite endings. It manages to end our journey with such an enigmatic character in a way that's so inherently un-cinematic, and yet, to go about it any other way would sabotage what had come before. I love how subversive the whole thing is. A flighty teen movie features sex, drugs, rock'n'roll, parties, love letters, romance, heartbreak, but The Rules of Attraction…
Review by Emma ★★

Googled this halfway through, saw it was based on a Bret Easton Ellis book and said “ahh” out loud. one of the most deeply 2002 things I’ve ever seen. Imagine walking around looking as good as Ian Somerhalder and Shannyn Sossamon look in this movie.
Review by Demetrio Portillo ★★★½

I saw this earlier and just can’t stop thinking about it. Really great acting from everyone and a stellar soundtrack.
Review by conoreb ★★★½

This movie was good but the end was pretty traumatizing and I think about the one big scene a lot. Not a light fair.
Review by Sean Kelly on Movies ★★★★

A very surreal non-linear look at a trio a college students. It's really quite hard to describe the film, since it plays on multiple layers. It was interesting seeing a very young Jay Baruchel show up, as well as an out-of-the-blue cameo from none other but Paul Williams (he was apparently Still Alive in 2002 :P).
One of the highlights of the film is an extended montage about a trip to Europe, in which there was so much footage shot that there is apparently a feature-length version in existence.
Review by Justin Caffier ★★★½

Totally makes sense why 16-year-old me considered this his favorite movie. Thrilled it still mostly holds up. The snow tear and overuse of the rewind gimmick are the only parts that actively bugged me now. Tbh, this remains the best film representation of what reading an Ellis novel is like. American Psycho’s the better film, duh, but that barely captures novel Patrick’s spiral into psychosis. Bale did his own thing with it and we’ll all the richer for it. Sean Bateman, on the other hand, feels more faithfully translated from page to screen by Van der Beek.
And Victor’s EuroTrip remains one of the coolest sequences a movie’s ever surprised me with. Yeesh.
Review by yess ★★★

This movie is very triggering
Review by Eda Nur Dere ★★★★½

Aşk: Olmayan İdeale Duyulan Arzu- Boş Modern Sohbetler- Yalın Alpay- B13 / Flu Tv
Iı bi de şey diicektim, böyle hayatın izzeti ikramını s
Review by porksweats ★★★

viktor's eurotrip sequence is worth watching the whole film for
Review by ally <3 ★★★★½

every time i watch this i cry, i laugh, i cringe and i puke but that’s why i love it
Review by Ali Chappell ★★★★★

This movie never gets old.
Its all my favorite teen stars going bad. JVDB, Jessica Biel, Fred Savage.
Fred savage does heroin.
Plus i got a soft spot for BEE and his wonderful writing.
Review by Kyle Turner ★★½

first fight with my partner was about this movie :)