Based entirely on the sum of its star-studded parts, expectations were very high heading into the release of blockbuster thriller Rules of Engagement in April of 2000, but the end result was a colossal letdown on a number of levels for a variety of different reasons.
Directed by Academy Award-winning The Exorcist and The French Connection legend William Friedkin, the script marked the screenwriting debut of Stephen Gaghan – who would win an Oscar of his own for penning Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, which hit theaters only eight months later.
In front of the camera, heavyweights Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones headlines a cast that also featured Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce, Bruce Greenwood, and many more, with the $60 million budget and timely thematic inspirations painting the picture of an intelligent, complex, crowd-pleaser.
Instead, Rules of Engagement came under huge fire for its borderline offensive storytelling, with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee calling it “probably the most racist film ever made against Arabs by Hollywood”, although Friedkin would refute those claims in favor of branding his feature as being “jingoistic” instead.
In this instance, the controversy did not create cash, with the film tanking hard after shifting just $71 million in tickets, yielding a big loss for studio Paramount. However, more than 20 years on from its release, and the polarizing exploration of a Marine veteran being put on trial for a rescue mission gone horribly awry continues to stir up the conversation, with Redditors weighing up the pros and cons of the contentious film.
The performances remain solid, but there’s an air of unease in some of the sentiments and points being made by the characters that are even more galling given how much the world has changed in the last 22 years, leaving Rules of Engagement as little more than a forgotten footnote in the history of cinema.