T. Charles Erickson Valmont (Michael T. Weiss) hands Merteuil (Tasha Lawrence) the much sought-after letter which seals the deal on their dastardly plot in the Huntington Theatre Company's production of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," playing through Feb. 5 at the Boston University Theatre.

The first is to titillate audiences with its cruel seductions, otherwise known as sex as a weapon of revenge. And the second is to turn a profit.

The problem with titillation - whether you take the high or the low road - is that it always promises more than it delivers. And you've parted with your money before you remember how much titillation inevitably lets you down.

All of this makes "Dangereuses" an odd choice for a theater with as substantial a reputation as the Huntington Theatre Company, except for the fact that the play is a proven moneymaker. The only thing odder is the flippant, carefree style in which Daniel Goldstein has directed it.

"Dangereuses" is a story that revolves around a late-18th-century French aristocrat, La Marquise de Merteuil, and her former lover, Le Vicomte de Valmont, a man with a reputation for sexual conquests. Seeking revenge on a lover who left her to marry a young virgin, Merteuil persuades Valmont to seduce the virgin before the wedding takes place.

This seems like such an easy task to him that he also takes on the more difficult one of seducing La Presidente de Tourvel, a young woman who's adamantly faithful to God and her marriage vows. Valmont doesn't want to break down her beliefs, but rather get her to betray them against her own better judgment. If he succeeds and gets written proof of it, Merteuil promises to spend a night with him. This is his greatest desire and he's willing to destroy anyone and their feelings to achieve it.

The only problem is that in seducing Tourvel he begins to feel something resembling love himself. He becomes confused about how to reconcile his vicious predatory sexual games with the glimmers of love in his own heart. And how to choose between his perverse attraction to Merteuil and his budding love for Tourvel. All the while, time is running out.

This, of course, is the same story that Mr. Hampton adapted for the 1988 film version of "Dangereuses" starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer. The story is based on Choderlos de Laclos' only novel, published in France in 1782, causing considerable controversy.

Instead of directing his cast to perform it in an elegantly restrained 18th-century style with flashes of passion occasionally breaking through, Mr. Goldstein has them act as if they're bored Hollywood stars in 21st-century America. It's not a bad insight that such trifling with other people's emotions often grows out of boredom. But it makes for a terrible acting choice. It saps the production of all dramatic tension and makes one wonder whether the characters are bored with their lives or whether the actors are simply bored with the play itself, or perhaps both. If either the characters or actors care so little, why should we care one whit? Unfortunately, we don't.

Michael T. Weiss, best known for his work on "The Pretender" TV show, plays Valmont as a preening, self-satisfied Hollywood hunk. Tasha Lawrence as Merteuil elongates the final vowels of her words, creating a sense of a whining, wealthy American. When the two finally turn against each other, they seem more annoyed with each other than furious.

Yvonne Woods makes Tourvel too wooden in her primness to seem of real interest to Valmont, even when she finally succumbs to him.

A brief moment of exuberant nudity and a less revealing and more jaded touch of it may help sell tickets, but they certainly don't resurrect the show.

The highlight of the evening is clearly Erin Chainani's elegant costumes, which are rooted in the 18th century with a contemporary flair. And James Noone's set with its palatial staircases, chandeliers and flickering candles.

Mr. Goldstein's directorial choices - particularly the staging of the sword fight and having characters symbolically appear to indicate what's going on in someone's head - make the show seem something like a romantic fairy tale. It avoids the raw ugliness of the characters' actions that you're forced to face in more traditional productions, like the far better conceived and acted one that's currently being performed at the Hovey Players, a community theater in Waltham. Avoiding the raw ugliness only makes the play less moral and justifiable, if you can imagine that.

However it's directed, the play is destined to remain at the level of titillation. That's because it doesn't reveal anything but the obvious about heartless seductions and cruel sexual games. Is there anything other than the obvious to reveal about them?

In the hands of the Huntington, the play would be better titled "Les Liaisons More Disengaged Than Dangereuses."