Twenty-five years after the release of the cult-classic film starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon, Sony Pictures TV and Prime Video are dropping a “Cruel Intentions” TV series. Adapted for television by Phoebe Fisher and Sara Goodman, this 21st-century retelling is a battle of wills between two volatile stepsiblings: the conniving and cross-wearing Caroline Merteuil (Sarah Catherine Hook) and the manipulative Lucien Belmont (Zac Burgess). Determined to preserve Greek life on their college campus, the pair team up to exploit freshman Annie Grover (Savannah Lee Smith), who happens to be the daughter of the vice president of the United States. While the show hits all the beats of the film, it lacks originality and the sultry sinisterness that made the movie’s main characters so alluring.
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Hollywood seems intent on creating remakes of well-known IP. So, after years of delays, the resurrection of “Cruel Intentions” was probably inevitable. Yet, in a post-#MeToo era, the themes of this particular tale have lost their charm. The series opens at the start of the school year at the picturesque Manchester College, where, following a hazing incident the previous semester that left Scott Russell (Khobe Clarke), the son of a congressman, hospitalized, the fraternities and sororities are on thin ice. However, probation is unacceptable for Caroline, who has eliminated her competition to become the president of Delta Phi. Desperate to solidify her legacy, she solicits her stepbrother, Lucien, to seduce the naive Annie and persuade her to join Delta, thus ensuring the sorority’s presence at Manchester. Bored by his revolving door of escapades, Lucien decides to take Caroline up on her offer. After all, if he delivers, he will get something he’s always coveted: sex with Caroline. If he fails to bring Annie into the fold, he will forfeit his vintage Jaguar XK140.
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In the season opener, “Alpha,” Annie arrives on campus to much fanfare. As she struggles to find her community with the Secret Service hovering around her, she meets Beatrice Worth (Brooke Lena Johnson), a sophomore intent on taking down the Greek system. Annie also keeps running into Lucien. Though she’s immediately suspicious of his interest in her, Annie finds herself ensconced in the stepsiblings’ sphere of influence. Despite her eagerness to make friends, she feels a subtle unease around the duo that she can’t ignore.
“Cruel Intentions” offers nothing new, enticing or sexy, except for the Olivia Rodrigo bangers laced throughout the first season. A storyline centered on the perils of Greek life feels as stale and outdated as the early 2000s patent-leather platform stilettos Caroline wears every day. Moreover, while they are certainly mean, neither Lucien nor Caroline has the menacing qualities Gellar and Phillippe mastered in the original. Lucien isn’t believable as a ladies’ man, and Caroline’s unresolved mommy issues make her more sadistic than seductive. The show’s best character, CeCe Carroway (Sara Silva), Caroline’s closest friend and minion, is relegated to a recycled storyline with Professor Hank Chadwick (Sean Patrick Thomas).
The episodes move quickly, but many of the plot points, from revenge porn to poorly cut bangs, feel odd and contrived. Reboots are challenging because they must provide something modern and intriguing to attract longtime fans as well as newcomers — “Cruel Intentions” is likely to appeal to neither constituency. Shows about young adults, like “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” work when the narrative speaks to a specific generation, but instead of being sensual and foreboding, this series is a monotonous retelling of a story that worked in the past but certainly doesn’t make sense today.
The eight episodes of “Cruel Intentions” premiere on Nov. 21 on Prime Video.
