Click to read the article
Pretty Persuasion (2005)
Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins
Synopsis: Music-video director Marcos Siega infuses this entertainingly dark social satire with stylish camerawork and clever editing. While visually rooted in the bubble gum teen comedy aesthetic, PRETTY PERSUASION boldly insists on taking brutal stabs at topics as sensitive as the war in Iraq,... Music-video director Marcos Siega infuses this entertainingly dark social satire with stylish camerawork and clever editing. While visually rooted in the bubble gum teen comedy aesthetic, PRETTY PERSUASION boldly insists on taking brutal stabs at topics as sensitive as the war in Iraq, religion, and race. With a deceptively sweet appearance and a genius IQ, 15-year-old aspiring actress Kimberly Joyce (Evan Rachel Wood) has the world in the palm of her perfectly manicured hand. When she takes new Arab student Randa (Adi Schnall) under her shallow wings, it is with the ulterior motives she has learned from her crazy, porn-watching, coke-snorting racist father (James Woods), his blank trophy wife (Jaime King), and perverted teachers like Mr. Anderson (Ron Livingston). Desperately wanting the publicity, Kimberly convinces her sidekicks Randa and Brittany (Elisabeth Harnois) to make false allegations of sexual abuse against Mr. Anderson. While Anderson is may not be a good teacher or role model, he is not guilty of actual sexual assault. When Anderson buys his wife (Selma Blair) a skirt identical to the uniform worn by his students, his inappropriate feelings are revealed. The film suggests that society can expect no less than Kimberly's self-described precociousness from a generation that values good looks, fame, and money over honesty, goodness, and moral integrity. Wood shines as Kimberly, a villain who is truly the victim of the world around her. While Kimberly is hellbent on getting what she wants, it is hard to see how someone who has so internalized society's warped ideology can even have a sense of self. [More]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Ron Livingston, James Woods, Jane Krakowski, Elisabeth Harnois
Screenwriter: Skander Halim
Producer: Matthew Weaver, Happy Walters, Todd Dagres
DVD Info
Release:
Jan 12, 2006
DVD Features:
- Anamorphic - 2.35
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
- Subtitles - English - Closed Captioning
- Subtitles - English, French - Optional
Reviews
Probably the darkest high school film since Heathers, which is no bad thing.
Solid performances make it work, even if the film seems slightly undernourished.
The film is as disturbing as it is amusing, reveling in the hypocrisy of its hopelessly dysfunctional world.
a dark teen comedy that tries way too hard to be a dark teen comedy
The very dark comedy is about the crossing point of righteousness and exploitation.
The movie -- a variation on the standard teen comedy -- is quirky and funny, but ever so dark.
“Pretty Persuasion” is a formidable effort that shows how powerful, rich, pretty young girls might get their way if they just stop feeling and just start thinking.
Good writing aside, this screenplay contained the elements of two different films. One of them might have been quite persuasive.
Muckrakes in such a convoluted, bizarre way that it threatens to become what it seems to be satirizing: A racist, homophobic, mean-spirited tract.
Extremely well written in the fearless way of a smarty pants on a roll in the university cafeteria.
Matches the glossy, calculated kinkiness of a pay-cable television series to a story that unfolds like a Young Adult author's stab at a Bret Easton Ellis novel.
A work sufficiently slick and accomplished that you derive a level of pleasure, despite your better instincts.
Related Forums

by: REEL_REVIEWER 2/26/06

by: REEL_REVIEWER 2/26/06

by: REEL_REVIEWER 2/26/06
Pictures
Videos
News
posted by Scott Weinberg November 30, 2005
Ryan Reynolds, Stuart Townsend, and Emily Mortimer will star in "Chaos Theory," says The Hollywood...
posted by Tim Ryan October 06, 2005
Over the past few days, we've tried to counter the common misconception that this summer's cinematic fare was bereft of...
posted by Scott Weinberg September 19, 2005
Variety reports that actor Ryan Reynolds and "Pretty Persuasion" director Marcos Siega will be bringing...


Top Critic
