Who else prefers Cruel Intentions?

Yeah I totally think CI was better. It felt more resolved? I liked Sebastian getting to say he loved Annette before dying vs having some kid who killed you deliver the msg postmortem. DL was pretty good, and some parts were just hilarious, it was very dark, but not as sensual as people have made it seem. I just guess i can identify more with the way the characters come off in CI. DL is defintely more of an oscar buzzed movie where CI is more of a guilty pleasure. But what do I know, I'm just young uncultured swine.

I honestly don't know.
One thing I'll say is that at the end of Cruel Intentions, I never get the impression that the two main characters deserve their comeuppance. They're quite obviously bad people in Dangerous Liaisons in that Sebastian's a rapist (with an STI?) and Merteuil's a crazy old witch but in CI they're just kind of douchey.

Dangerous Liaisons had better actors. Cruel Intentions had more attractive actors and a cool soundtrack (which is rather shallow).
Dangerous Liaisons has an strangely sexy older woman as Merteuil which, as a concept, is more fascinating to watch. Cruel Intention has Buffy the Vampire Slayer play her which, given the context, seems more realistic (why would an older woman be that involved in the affairs of modern day teenagers anyways?).

I have read through the entirety of this thread and have seen three versions of the story; Dangerous Liaisons, Valmont and Cruel Intentions. I have never read the book or seen the play but for personal taste, I'd rank the movies in this order

Valmont
Dangerous Liaisons
Cruel Intentions

I didn't like either of these two films but if I had to choose one, Dangerous Liaisons knocks Cruel Intentions out of the park. I mean Malkovich has a lot of that manipulative characteristics down and Glen Close was actually pretty well performed but in terms of De Tourvel, no one and I mean no one can compete with Michelle Pfeiffer. The dark tone did actually do a lot in the movies favour and made me feel uncomfortable in scenes such as when Valmont rapes Cecile.

Cruel Intentions had a kind of premature tone about it. The acting in this film was atrocious and the writing is hypnotisingly bad (I know thats not a word but its the only way I can describe it). After I saw Cruel Intentions, I had to comprehend for a bit that the movie actually had fans. I mean considering that Valmont and Merteuil were step-siblings...that made the movie more disturbing. Why am I complaining? A bet two people make where they destroy the lives of everyone involved is disturbing enough, even in modern times, it doesn't need THAT too.

The reason why Valmont is by far my favourite is for a few reasons. The tone of this movie is kind of light but that is what works so well with it. At first it feels like fun and games and when all these horrible things start happening, it becomes more shocking to someone who knows nothing about the story. Colin Firth plays his part with plenty of charm and he did kind of pull off the look that Milos Forman was going for. I mentioned a rape scene in Dangerous Liaisons. In that they don't even try to mask it and in Valmont they make it even more uncomfortable by giving the scene an almost soothing tone. It gave both Valmont and Merteuil more of a human side than I have seen in either of the two versions which just added to the emotional weight of the climax. The emotional subtlety of this film is simply phenomenal and I stick by this as my vote for the best of the three versions I've seen.

"I have always valued my lifelessness."

I thought they were both very good but CI handles Valmont and especially his relationship with Tourvel/Annette much better.

Comparison is an insult to say the least.

Acting, writing and directing is much more superior on the Dangerous Liasons. Cruel Intentions is not a bad movie and considering the movies HW does today it was one of the good ones but no where near as good as DL.

Glen, Malkovich, and Pfeiffer's performance is excellent where Glen was nominated for an Oscar.

I presume you are quite young and not sophisticated enough to enjoy the big difference.

DANGEROUS LIAISONS: 7/10
CRUEL INTENTIONS: 6/10