'Rules' full of sex, drugs and Dawson

Writer/director Roger Avary has finally eclipsed the shadow of former collaborator Quentin Tarantino with his adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' novel "The Rules of Attraction." Avary earned an Oscar for co-authoring "Pulp Fiction" with Tarantino, and the famous auteur later produced Avary's criminally underseen and/or unfairly maligned "Killing Zoe." With "The Rules of Attraction," Avary moves beyond the realm of the noir-tinged potboiler for which he's best known and into the gray recesses of the dysfunctional post-adolescent psyche, and it's quite a thing to behold.\nJames Van Der Beek headlines the ensemble cast as Sean, the disillusioned, yuppie, drug-pedaling younger brother of "American Psycho" serial killer Patrick Bateman. Sean longs for little more than his next high, that is, until he meets Lauren (Shannyn Sossamon), an elusive little skater chick, and then his thoughts immediately turn to bedding her. She previously dated Paul (Ian Somerhalder), a bisexual currently lusting for Sean, who's straight to dysfunctional proportions. But ideally, Lauren would like to sleep with Victor (Kip Pardue), a self-loving seducer in the midst of a drug-induced European pilgrimage.\nAll of the players in this serio-comedic collegiate nightmare are morally reprehensible. They swig, smoke, snort and screw like it's going out of style. The fact that all this debauchery is presented in such a cool, detached manner rife with humor and irony (minus a well-done, albeit unnecessary and quite shocking, suicide sequence) is the film's saving grace. \nAvary injects "The Rules of Attraction" with style to burn; the film is told in a nonlinear manner and is chock full of cinematic razzle-dazzle, including inventive split-screen shots and the rolling of both sound and picture in reverse. A montage depicting Victor's European vacation in the final quarter of the film is absolutely sublime, elevated to pure genius through Pardue's machine-gun-fire-like line delivery and Avary's choppy editing and DV work.\nSo far as acting goes, Van Der Beek is the real deal in this flick; his transformation from Dawson Leery into the self-described "emotional vampire" Sean is tangible yet startling. Props also go out to newcomer Russell Sams, who portrays Dick, the hilarious, drunken, gay misfit with an acerbic tongue and a predilection towards George Michael classics, and former child star Fred Savage as a clarinet-tooting, chain-smoking heroin addict.\n"The Rules of Attraction" is a fascinating if flawed film that unflinchingly oscillates between hilarity and horror. Those with adventurous cinematic tastes should check it out -- all others need not apply.