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The Rules of Attraction

The Rules of Attraction

Drama · Romance · Comedy · 2002

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.

Movie details

The Rules of Attraction

“We all run on instinct”

2002 Drama · Romance · Comedy 1h 50m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.2 / 10

Community rating

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.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Rules of Attraction?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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A fidgety, wisecracking video store clerk develops a fixation on a particularly reclusive customer, a frequent visitor to the pornography section of Cinefile, the video store where he works in Los Angeles. After multiple failures to impress her during their brief daily transactions, he finds her street address in the store's database, drives to her apartment building and initiates an unconventional campaign to win her affections.

Just Before I Go

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Ted Morgan has been treading water for most of his life. After his wife leaves him, Ted realizes he has nothing left to live for. Summoning the courage for one last act, Ted decides to go home and face the people he feels are responsible for creating the shell of a person he has become. But life is tricky. The more determined Ted is to confront his demons, to get closure, and to withdraw from his family, the more Ted is yanked into the chaos of their lives. So, when Ted Morgan decides to kill himself, he finds a reason to live.

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In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.

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The Little Death

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A comedy film that looks into the loosely connected lives of people with strange sexual fantasies.

Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Roger Avary

Written by

Roger Avary

James Van Der Beek

James Van Der Beek

Sean Bateman

Shannyn Sossamon

Shannyn Sossamon

Lauren Hynde

Ian Somerhalder

Ian Somerhalder

Paul Denton

Jessica Biel

Jessica Biel

Lara

Kate Bosworth

Kate Bosworth

Kelly

Jay Baruchel

Jay Baruchel

Harry

Thomas Ian Nicholas

Thomas Ian Nicholas

Mitchell

Court is in session

Put The Rules of Attraction on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.