Before Gossip Girl and Cruel Intentions, there was Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan. Released in the summer of 1990, Stillman’s debut feature provided a humorous glimpse inside New York City’s debutante society. In honor of its 25th anniversary, Rialto Pictures is re-releasing the film in theaters nationwide this summer.

Metropolitan introduced audiences to Stillman’s dry wit and stilted dialogue, and earned the auteur an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. The film follows the escapades of Tom Townsend, a middle-class Princeton student who, while home for winter break, gets mixed up with a group of New York socialites. The clan, who refer to themselves as the “Sally Fowler Rat Pack”, named for one of their members, are short on escorts and quickly take a shine to the fair-skinned Townsend. They proceed to involve him in their dress-ball culture, and late-night talk-a-thons. The cast included Carolyn Farina, Edward Clements, Chris Eigeman, Taylor Nichols, Allison Parisi, Dylan Hundley, Isabel Gillies and Will Kempe.

Metropolitan opens August 7 at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center in New York, and August 14 at the Laemmle’s Royal in Los Angeles, with other cities to follow. The New York run will feature Q&As with Stillman as well as members of the cast. Check the Film Society at Lincoln Center’s website for details.

To whet your whistle for the film’s theatrical return, we suggest taking a gander at the trailer below.