I'm surprised that reviews of this tidy little work are so mixed. It's a reliable enough recipe: take 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' and mix with 'House of Games,' but lighten it up with a dash of glitz, a fetching fantasy of idealized college life, and no major downer at the end :-)
The young actors are pretty and some are talented, and the dialogue is not bad -- some of it is actually rather good. The sets are a bit much, imho -- one wonders just how plush Derek's trust fund is, after seeing the "undergrad apartment" which few dotcom lottery winners could afford to keep up. There's a relentless prettiness to most of the backdrops even when they're trying to look noir, but that can be forgiven in a film which is really more stage play than cinema. The cinematography is mostly effortless and unobtrusive; there are a couple of arty little touches, but it's not self-indulgent.
Supporting cast do their jobs reliably; the brief scene in a high school admin office (where "Jones" is pursuing her investigation) is nicely played all the way into the far background of the shot. Some of the young extras definitely seem to be trolling for work (it's just amazing how pretty everyone is in this universe!) but it's all in good fun.
Marsden does very well with the Ripleyesque protagonist. His Marvel Comics good looks and alarming glibness are quite convincing; I loathed "Derek" after only a few minutes, and enjoyed Marsden's enjoyment of the role. Actually I should confess, I watched the film only because I like Edward James Olmos and never miss a chance to see him even in a small part; but was pleasantly surprised -- enjoyed it far more than I expected to.
One thing I appreciated about the script was a minor surprise value. Not Derek's true nature -- it's evident from the git-go, so no surprises there; and we know that poor, bewildered Jones will indeed figure it out given time (if nasty Derek doesn't push her down a staircase first, of course). The surprise I rather liked was that the film threatens for a moment to turn into another poor-little-falsely-accused-fellow saga, a sort of Dinesh D'Souza flavoured backlash tract on the wickedness of ruining young men's lives by actually taking rape seriously. Just as one is saying Oh Gawd, spare us -- it lightly skips away from the brink of disaster and delivers a far more palatable (and imho useful) message. It may be rather slickly wrapped, and admittedly unoriginal; but the basic lesson (that liars and users are despicable no matter how handsome/rich/cool they are) is one the human race can always do with.
One thing that amused me considerably was the fluency, the articulate command of language which these "college students" converse and declaim. I work at a University, and the undergraduates with whom I come in daily contact seem to have vocabularies of less than 800 words, including a fairly rich, repetitive admixture of the short one that starts with F. I would very much like to think that films like this could revive an interest in being articulate, witty, and intelligent-sounding among undergraduate and high-school age people; I've become a bit weary of the fashion for sounding and acting illiterate and stupid.
Well, end of rant :-) I think this is a well-crafted, undemanding, fresh and shiny little work that may entertain people even a few years from now. It has a peculiar style and sparkle which oddly enough remind me of films of the late 30's and early 40's. I'd recommend it.
Someone should compile a good list of films about compulsive liars and charming sociopaths -- 'All About Eve' comes to mind, 'Ripley' of course, and 'Deathtrap' -- I think 'Gossip' would be worthy of inclusion. Timothy Dalton in 'Framed' would make the list, with an honourable mention for his youthful effort as the sinister young King of France in 'The Lion in Winter'.
