The 2024 remake of Cruel Intentions, now streaming on Prime Video, tries to reimagine the scandalous cult classic of 1999 by transferring its scheming leads from high school into the privileged world of college Greek life. Half-sisters Phoebe Fisher and Sara Goodman, manipulative Caroline Merteuil (Sarah Catherine Hook), and Lucien Belmont (Zac Belmont) attend the charming Manchester College in Washington, D.C., but this eight-episode series goes well beyond what will be exciting and seemingly sharp-tongued drama that made the original iconic.
Cruel Intentions 2024: Plot
The show opens with the Delta Phi sorority prepping for recruitment under Caroline’s watchful eye. Caroline is hell-bent on ensuring she doesn’t lose her position as president; her aim is set on Annie Grover (Savannah Lee Smith), daughter of the U.S. Vice President. She conjures up a plan to bring Annie to their sorority through the way of her half-brother Lucien whose charm proves to be both a sword and a double-edged sword. But the stakes all feel laughably low.
Running parallel to this is the hazing scandal, wherein the fraternity to which Lucien belongs, Alpha Gamma, strikes a pledge, Scott Russell (Khobe Clarke), with a beer can during an initiation gone wrong. The influential father of Scott, a congressman, pressures the college administration into clamping down on the Greek system. This is one subplot that, had it been rendered with any serious strength, might have been intriguing.
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Lack of Continuity
The show tries hard to be a mashup of ambition, lust, and betrayal, but its characters never do any good. Caroline and Lucien’s constant manipulation never has a more nuanced feel. Instead, they were suspiciously devilish caricatures of privilege. Caroline’s single-minded obsession with Delta Phi feels overblown, and Lucien is much more in love with his libido than his strategy.
Cece Caraway, or Sara Silva, sorority sister, is one of the few characters whose supposed depth is glimpsed through her actions. Her passion and drive to become a teaching assistant to a political science professor are glimpses into her authenticity.
Cruel Intentions is a Remake
Those who liked the original Cruel Intentions will likely have the feeling of déjà vu while watching this remake. It leans too hard on the source material but draws nothing from it in the way of charm or intensity. It is once again somehow similar to one of the 2022 Starz series adaptations Dangerous Liaisons, but it is weaker in every conceivable respect of those interpretations.
And it’s with all that, against the backdrop of the Greek system, which sets up great themes of power and privilege, identity they don’t go there; it’s an opportunity that is wasted to create a modernized tale with very pertinent social commentary.
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Good things about Cruel Intentions
Pilot director Adam Arkin can’t do much to put a little style into the mess. Manchester College looks sleek, and even the party scenes have a sense of decadence to them. Sara Silva is one of the few somewhat bright spots in an otherwise odious cast as Cece.
Problem with the movie
The central problem with Cruel Intentions 2024 is a lack of originality. Recycling the same tropes but not adding new layers, the series feels dated and uninspired. What is odd, however, is that while one genuinely attempts to be edgy, characters end up underinvesting in ways that evoke either the necessary intrigue or sympathy to maintain interest among the viewers.
The stakes of saving the Greek system feel ridiculously low. This series is doomed to fail in convincing anyone that the mess of fraternity and sorority politics is something worth giving a rat’s hindquarters about.
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Verdict
The veneer of a gloss of the production and the wistful hanker of Cruel Intentions 2024 don’t come through as good drama nor sharp social commentary, but rather as dull, forgettable packaging in over-the-top antics, underdeveloped characters, and often parodic dialogue.
This adaptation will not likely please fans of the original film or the broader universe of Dangerous Liaisons because it tries to bring the story forward for a modern audience’s consumption and comes out with a product that is dated both in its characters and its viewership.
Of course, if you are in the mood to watch a program centered around issues of power and scandal. Cruel Intentions 2024 tries to promise drama that will interest you, but it only demonstrates that there are far better ways of doing this.
