Viewers have slammed a new 'uninspired, shallow and generic' reboot of a legendary nineties movie.
Cruel Intentions, the cult classic romance movie which made global stars of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon, gripped fans with its scandalous plot.
Almost 25 years since it was first released, the teen favorite has beenadapted into a new Amazon Prime TV series- but fans aren't impressed.
Viewers have urged 'not to waste your time' on the new series, admitting it 'fails through and through'.
On the review site, fans wrote: 'The show doesn’t work on many levels, but the worst of it is that the writing is so uninspired, shallow and generic',
'Don’t waste your time on this. It’s a cheap imitation of a timeless classic. Stick to the original movie and you will get far more in every department. The acting is wooden, and the plot isn’t improved upon. It is a fail, through and through',
Viewers have slammed a new 'uninspired, shallow and generic' reboot of a legendary nineties movie
Cruel Intentions, the cult classic romance movie which made global stars of Sarah Michelle Gellar , Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon (pictured), gripped fans with its scandalous plot
'I wouldn’t waste my time on this corny and predictable garbage',
'Stop remaking classics'.
Meanwhile, viewers wrote on X: 'This new Cruel Intentions series is so embarrassing omd. Like, why reboot a movie that only worked because it was scandalous in the 90s?
'And don't get me wrong I love the characters but come on the plot was stale. It’s just rich kids being bad but stretched out and somehow boring',
'1. WHEN did they make a 2024 remake of cruel intentions? 2. WHY did they make a 2024 remake of cruel intentions??'.
The film followed a ruthless Manhattan prep school student, played by Gellar, and her extremely questionable relationship with her stepbrother, played by Phillippe.
Much like the movie, the series centers on two step-siblings -Sebastian and Kathryn - who make a bet about the former's ability to seduce one of their university classmates.Should he succeed, he is granted the chance to have sex with his stepsister.
Their relationship and wager proves to be more sordid than in the 1999 film.
Almost 25 years since it was first released, the teen favorite has been adapted into a new Amazon Prime TV series - but fans aren't impressed
Viewers have urged 'not to waste your time' on the new series, admitting it 'fails through and through'
Cruel Intentions has been adapted into a new TV series that debuted on Amazon Prime on Thursday - and itpushes the limit even further than the movie
The movie centers on step siblings, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe, who make a bet that should he succeed in seducing another woman - he can win sex with his sibling
New characters Caroline Merteuil and Lucien Belmont - played by Sarah Catherine Hook and Zac Burgees - make a similar bet and get extremely intimate when teasing each other
An additional layering on 'incestuous' relationships is the close interactions between Lucien's stepmother Claudia - who is Caroline's mother
The show ends with quite the bang when Lucien films himself getting intimate with his stepmother
Cruel Intentions was based on the Choderlos de Laclos novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which was first made into the 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons starring John Malkovich, Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer, as well as young unknowns Uma Thurman and Keanu Reeves.
It was followed by the 1999 flick, which received mixed reviews from critics, but went on to become a breakout hit, grossing $75.9 million at the worldwide box office on a $10.5 million budget.
And over the years the film, written and directed by Roger Kumble, has had longevity with audiences, both old and news, by becoming a cult classic staple.
A pair of direct-to-video sequels, neither of which featured members of the first film's cast, were released in 2001 and 2004.
A jukebox musical based on the movie made its debut in 2015 and has been reproduced on several occasions since then.
A television pilot that starred Gellar and served as a sequel to the film was produced in 2016, although the project was ultimately not picked up by any networks.
The actress previously spoke to The New York Times and expressed that she was glad that the pilot was not taken to series.
She recalled: 'On the first day, I was like, "This isn't working." It's just not a network show. And if it is a network show, it's not my Cruel Intentions. So, I was actually grateful.'
The Cruel Intentions TV series is now available to stream on Prime Video.
