Prime Video’s Spineless TV Remake Can’t Manipulate Us Into Liking It

The original Cruel Intentions, an adaptation of the 1782 novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, was one of my most memorable films growing up. It was sadistic, it had sexual tension, master manipulation, villainous step-siblings, and a small sprinkle of romance. Prime Video’s Cruel Intentions
series, developed by Phoebe Fisher and Sara Goodman, attempts to replicate what made the 1999 movie so memorable (and quotable) but smartly takes its own less merciless path and adds new elements. The main players and their goals are more or less the same, but there’s less verve and danger in the execution.

The manipulation is still there, but the blatant nastiness of the original is sanded off. The university setting and focus on Greek life on campus give the series a boost and the changes to character backstories, names, and dynamics — like the one between Caroline Merteuil (Sarah Catherine Hook), the president of Delta Phi Pi, and Annie Grover (Savannah Lee Smith), the Vice President of the United States’ daughter — make for some storylines that should be juicier than what we actually get.

Cruel Intentions Keeps All Storylines Linked

But There’s A Lot Less Menace In Execution

All told, Cruel Intentions has little of the savage spirit that made the film so deliciously enticing, but besides the familiarity of the conceit — for Caroline’s step-brother Lucien Belmont (Zac Burgess) to seduce Annie so he can finally sleep with Caroline — the two couldn’t be more different. Other characters — like Sara Silva’s fast-talking, anxiety-ridden Cece Carroway, Caroline’s right-hand woman, and Cruel Intentions’ MVP — remain in the outer circle but are no less interesting and active in their own storylines.

What I appreciated about the show is how every subplot tied back into the overarching narrative, no matter how seemingly small. Caroline is obsessed with maintaining the status of Delta Phi Pi and that means using everyone else like a chess piece in her game to ensure her goal is met. We have to step back to value the scope of Caroline’s work. Annie is the real catch here. If she pledges Delta Phi Pi then the university, which is investigating them and Lucien’s fraternity after a hazing incident gone wrong the previous year, will leave them alone.

The series teases us with sex, tension, and disturbing drama, but it doesn’t fully deliver on any of them.

Cece’s relationship with Professor Chadwick (Sean Patrick Thomas) and campus activist Beatrice Worth’s (Brooke Lena Johnson) attempts to take Caroline down are all branches of the same narrative tree. Was I entertained by it all? Only occasionally. Mostly, though, I wanted more intrigue and menace from the storylines. They don’t go far enough and there’s an odd hesitation. If there’s a season 2, it must dive head-first into the chaos and viciousness of its characters to work. Some of that is beginning to take shape at the end of season 1, but I can’t say I’m invested in what happens.

Cruel Intentions Is Afraid Of Its Own Power

The Series Tip-Toes Around Its Cruelty Rather Than Diving Into It

The series teases us with sex, tension, and disturbing drama, but it doesn’t fully deliver on any of them. There are stakes but the effects aren’t felt. If I were to compare Cruel Intentions to another university-set show like Tell Me Lies, it falls short of its master-manipulating tendencies and twisted darkness. The former knows how to keep us hooked through insidious interpersonal relationships and secrets with genuine risks, while Cruel Intentions only has a couple of moments when the heightened drama and character decisions rise to their potential.

The costumes and makeup in Cruel Intentions are fantastic though. Every outfit and hairstyle is impeccable.

The characters can be assholes, but I don’t think I was ever scared of them or of what they could do. To that end, Cruel Intentions plays things safe; it’s afraid to get too dirty. Perhaps it’s because its tone favors keeping things light despite the actions Caroline and Lucien take. At one point, Lucien’s sex tapes are leaked to the school and the aftermath is hardly felt. Campus politics is more of the central focus, which leaves Caroline and Lucien’s relationship — as twisted as it is — weaker in the grand scheme of things.

The show is slow to get moving. It often feels like there’s a lot going on but the stories aren’t overly complex and it’s easy to lose focus considering how stretched out they are. It’s as though Cruel Intentions needed to prolong certain moments to fill time. Things pick up by episode three, but I wasn’t fully locked in at any point in the season. That speaks to the lack of compelling material and rich character dynamics. And while the actors are serviceable, the leads are missing the proper arrogance required to sell us on the villainy of their characters.

The Prime Video series unsheathes its knives, but they’re not very sharp. There’s a chance the show would have been fine on its own merits, but titling it after the deliciously seductive and manipulative feast that was the 1999 film does the Cruel Intentions series a disservice. The flair, the theatrics, the gall are all missing here. The show has all the ingredients that would make it obsession-worthy, but it’s too timid to make much of an impact.

All 8 episodes of Cruel Intentions are available to stream on Prime Video on November 21.