50
Philadelphia Inquirer by Carrie Rickey
Although it would be understatement to call their characters unsympathetic, Van Der Beek and Sossamon play their parts with such doomed passion that they have some affecting moments.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
25
New York Post by Jonathan Foreman
Looks and feels like a bad imitation of "Trainspotting" without any of that film's wit or charm.
50
Some of its parts are nifty, but the sum of these parts is nothing.
83
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
The cast is a pitch-perfect assemblage of pretty young things, but James Van Der Beek, as a slit-eyed dorm stud, proves that he can be an actor of cruel force.
80
Rolling Stone by Peter Travers
Rules needs that dose of hilarity. Ellis' satire, filtered through Avary's harsh lens, is hard to stomach, harder to ignore.
50
Miami Herald by Rene Rodriguez
Hollow and pointless.
70
Dallas Observer by Robert Wilonsky
For all its kinetic energy, for all its camera tricks, for all its dark humor, there's still something a bit off about these Rules, and it's not really Avary's fault.
60
Gets an ambitious, sometimes inspired but ultimately less than satisfying screen treatment from Roger Avary.
70
Washington Post by Stephen Hunter
The movie feels more like a walk across campus than a movie. That's so depressing. On the other hand, each of these lost children is really looking for the same thing, ol' Mr. Love.
63
If there's one thing Avary gets right, it's the brutal use-or-be-used approach to interpersonal relations that Ellis laid out with numbing detail, and James Van Der Beek is down to the challenge as Sean Bateman: horndog, cokehead, ceramics major, and all-around jerk.