Rules of Attraction (2002)

A little rule of thumb—if a movie is bad according to someone with ASD, then you really ought to watch it 🙏 🙏

Honestly, the second I spotted van der Beek on screen, I pretty much checked out mentally. But since there wasn't anything better playing on cable at the time, I stuck it out... and somehow, by the end, I actually thought the movie was decent enough.

One of the more questionable creative choices was during that party scene; you have all these girls walking around topless, yet J. Biel is the only one left fully clothed. 👎It’s like they refused to give the teen idols any leeway—everyone else is stripped down, but not them. 😁

Solid movie. That opening sequence really sets the tone perfectly.

So, I just sat through that movie again—honestly, I’d almost completely forgotten I’d even seen it before—and man, I have to say, it’s top-tier stuff. It doesn't pull any punches, either; it just lays out life exactly how it is, messy and brutal and downright exhausting. That's pretty much all I've got to say about it.

I can’t get that scene out of my head—you know, the one where Richard, aka Dick, crashes into Paulov’s room? It’s just pure chaos. They start dancing to George Michael, there’s carnations everywhere, shots of Jack Daniel's being passed around, and then those moms showing up and sipping vodka mixed with pills... honestly, I was absolutely losing it. It was so hilariously perfect. The whole sequence hits exactly the right note, and honestly, the movie itself is just one of those things you put on when you want to completely turn your brain off and enjoy a long-form music video. 😲

Really, really good movie! It’s not perfect, but there are some truly iconic scenes: the opening, those stylistic touches, the cameo by Dick, the road trip through the States, and that incredible shot with the snowflake that captures just how detached and empty the main characters feel. I especially loved the moment when Lauren—who spends most of the film acting all bubbly and flighty, mostly because she feels so abandoned—finally steps outside after the party and the loss of her innocence, and you can just see the disillusionment written all over her face...