The general plot line of “The Rules of Attraction” is that of a typical teeny bopper movie. The only twist is the blunt way things are thrown onto the screen. It all takes place on (or near) a New England college campus. The four main characters basically have their nightlife captured on film. After the movie begins with the culminating scene, followed by an overly drawn out special effects sequence, we jump back a few days and start the lead-in for the rest of the movie. Although there are four main characters, their stories all revolve around Sean Bateman (James Van Der Beek), the college drug dealer, whom all the girls want.
The casting would fit a teen sitcom. Although I could tell a lot of work went into the preparation of the facial expressions, James Van Der Beek simply does not look like a badass drug dealer. He did, however, look like Dawson with a really, really bad headache.
Overall there is a total lack of story line, a lack that the director tried to cover up via the vividly graphic scenes, special effects, and raw shock value, none of which propel the plot line at all.
I give the movie a D. It did have the potential to be a really exciting movie. Some of the ideas were excellent. It just seems that the entire movie was really put together simply to have an outlet for those ideas.