cruel intentions back in cinemas

I saw Cruel Intentions for the first time on Monday evening, and I found it quite engrossing, even mesmerizing. The dialogue is witty and the youthful performances are effective, especially Sarah Michelle Gellar's. Writer-director Roger Kumble manages to maintain a consistent tone while modulating the mood as the narrative arc evolves—or he shifts the tone subtly and appropriately without losing control of his delicate balancing act. The score is effective, too, and Kumble's climactic use of the Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" is classic. 

Unfortunately, Kumble shoots nearly the entire film (aside from the occasional long shot of New York City) in closeups, with a few medium-distance shots mixed in. Thus the movie is quite limited visually. And of course, the story is not exactly weighty. But as a black comedy-sex comedy that manages to braid parody with some strange sense of poignancy and capture the zeitgeist of a moment, Cruel Intentions succeeds in a way that might actually be timeless. 

I consider the film "good."