Prime Video's Remake Of A Sarah Michelle Gellar Cult Classic Is A Streaming Hit

When Amy Heckerling scored a teen comedy hit in 1995 with "Clueless" by working from the Jane Austen's 1816 novel "Emma," Hollywood figured there might be a potential goldmine in youth-skewing films based on classic works of fiction. Gil Junger certainly found this to be the case with "10 Things I Hate About You," his high school-set take on William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew," while Robert Iscove scored a box office hit with his "Pygmalion" riff "She's All That." So it wasn't all that shocking when Roger Kumble found intrigue and no shortage of sex appeal via "Cruel Intentions," his scheming rich kids reworking of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' "Les Liaisons dangereuses."

Why did the film work so well? Columbia Pictures' willingness to release the film with an R rating allowed Kumble to push much further with the sensuality. He also had an absolute juggernaut of a young cast in Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon, and delightful scene-stealer Selma Blair. The film went on to gross nearly $80 million on an $11 million budget, and spawned two direct-to-DVD sequels in the early 2000s.

As with many of those late 1990s early 2000s hits, it felt like only a matter of time before "Cruel Intentions" would get remade. That time has come, and Prime Video subscribers were evidently amped for it.

According to this week's rankings, the new streaming series rendition of "Cruel Intentions" is just what those with a taste for deliciously dark romantic maneuverings were looking for. The show is trailing only the top-rated "Cross" on the Prime Video streaming platform, and is currently ahead of "Jeff Dunham's Scrooged-Up Holiday Special" (which might very well overtake "Cruel Intentions" once the holiday season is in full bloom).

Is the show worth your time? Stars Sarah Catherine Hook ("The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It"), Zac Burgess ("Boy Swallows Universe"), and Savannah Lee Smith (Max's "Gossip Girl" reboot) seem game to go where the trio of Gellar, Phillippe, and Witherspoon went in the original. Creators Phoebe Fisher and Sara Goodman have experience with '90s remakes in the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" series, while they've got top-flight talent behind the camera in veteran television director Adam Arkin. Alas, the reviews have not been swell so far. "Cruel Intentions" currently holds a measly 36% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with The Guardian's Hannah J. Davies writing, "Really, this feels like a generic teen series by any other name." Most of her colleagues have the same issue with the series, so maybe keep this in mind as you budget your streaming time over the next few weeks.