10 Films You Loved As A Teen, But Should Never Watch Again

by Robert Zak

1. Cruel Intentions

Columbia Pictures

No list of moody teenage flicks would be complete without this bratty bastardisation of the vastly superior 80s costume drama, Dangerous Liaisons (itself an adaptation from a play).

Cruel Intentions sees step-siblings Ryan Philippe and Sarah Michelle-Gellar (remember them?) make a bet on whether or not Ryan can get the virginial Reese Witherspoon - who's holding out for 'true love' - between the sheets. Cue two hours of superficial slickness that had a generation of boys wishing they were Ryan Philippe.

The film was probably so appealing at the time because it was 'sexy' in the most adolescent of ways - teasing us with cleavage shots, an insipid sex scene, and that infamously stringy lesbian kiss between Selma Blair and Gellar. It allowed our 12-13 year-old selves to think that we understood cool things like sex and the art of seduction - even though we were still a million miles away from experiencing those things ourselves.

Of course, by the time you hit 15 - the film's age rating in the UK - you knew that reality was nothing like Cruel Intentions. You're not Sebastian Valmont or Sarah Michelle Gellar (no one wanted to be Reese Witherspoon, did they?), wearing all-black doesn't turn you into a modern-day Casanova, and the idea of anyone holding out for 'true love' is dead and buried.

Which other teen classics deserve to be on this scrapheap? Share your own picks below in the comments thread.

Contributor
Contributor

Gamer, Researcher of strange things. I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.