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Sadly Over-hyped

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Pretty Persuasion is an intrigue that will leave you breathless with shock. It is devious, manipulative, and well thought out.Each character has enough depth to be solidly constructed and give us meaningful dialogs. Sometimes, as we follow the main girl, it feels like a monologue, a dry one, but all of it points to a genius after what she wants.The tone is just, some elements are a bit caricatural, but never over the top, just enough to resonate with the audience, and make a point. The whole setup is simple, like the editing, the camera shots, and the story, but it all to underline the razor precision of the mind behind it all. It makes the dramatic reveal even stronger.Do not underestimate this film, it packs a moral punch.

When people think they're "entitled" to be famous and successful are willing to do anything to achieve those things without perseverance and hard work, but with treachery and manipulation, you want to throw up (I do when a new reality TV show comes on). The harsh but honest satire, "Pretty Persuasion" takes that attitude and mixes it with some orange juice-like humor. It doesn't go down easily but it's worth it.Aspiring thespian and the daughter of an anti-Semitic, retail electronics mogul, Kimberly Joyce (old soul Evan Rachel Wood of "The Wrestler") has trouble getting on the fictional teen TV soap, "Dysfunctional" since she doesn't stand out, let alone live in Beverly Hills. Having a sexy rep at the prestigious high school she attends doesn't help either. Kimberly's smart, though. Insidiously smart to enlist her "best friends", ditzy Canadian import Brittany (Elisabeth Harnois of "Mars Needs Moms") and shy Arabic new girl Randi (Adi Schnall) into slandering their straight arrow English teacher, Percy Anderson (Ron Livingston of "Office Space") with a sexual molestation charge.It is basic revenge against said teacher ditched Kimberly from the lead role in a school play, "The Diary Of Anne Frank", embarrassed Brittany during an audition and criticized Randi's bad grammar prose. All girls are in, and the media frenzy starts, but Kimberly has a more subversive reason for the chaos.With a smart script by Skander Halim (wrote some eps for the Canadian teen sitcom, "18 To Life"), helmer Marcos Siega ("Chaos Theory" and some eps of "Dexter", Veronica Mars" and "The Vampire Diaries") has wrapped a fully functional satirical ball that has social class, bigotry and anarchistic fame threaded inside. This maybe a look into the posh life, high school-style, but it's sadly universal.Ms. Wood ensures her career's longevity by looking angelic with a sinister, calculating outlook. "It's like the world's an orchestra, and I'm the conductor," she shamelessly admits to one of her pals. She's also a hoot when shooting bestiality jokes at her trophy stepmom (Jaime King, "Sin City"). The cast's an orchestra's too; standouts include Jane Krakowski ("30 Rock", "Ally McBeal") as a in-the-closet TV reporter who's "seduced" (!) by both the scandal and Kimberly; Livingston, whose all-too-strictness hides a legit source of perversion and Schnall, whose mousy demeanor opens her to subtle bigotry and manipulation.Comically outstanding is Oscar nominee James Woods ("Ghosts of Mississippi") who, despite his bigoted vitriol, has a moral core as Kimberly's dad. I wish there was more of Danny Comden as Livingston's fellow teacher, a goofy "law expert" who pathetically aides him in court, but he also leaves an impression.A nominee for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, "Pretty Persuasion" hits the bulls-eye when noting that fame can be a narcotic and morality can be an afterthought.

Spoilers within.I have to add my review of this film, as it runs so counter to the vast majority of the posts. I'll digress for a moment.I remember fighting through two of Shakespeare's comedies in 9th grade. A Midsummer Night's Dream and As You Like It. The iambic pentameter most certainly did not jump off the page. I complained to my teacher that the jokes seemed to be lacking, at least to my 13 year old sensibilities. He told me to reread the plays. Later that year, we watched a film of "Midsummer". The dialogue crackled with life and the almost 400 year old work made all of us smile and discuss the keen ear the Bard had. I saw it as the classic it is.Assuredly, this movie is NOT Shakespeare. Nor is it "Heathers", "She's All That", or even "Disturbing Behavior". It's not even "10 Things I Hate About You" (I know, 10 Things is just "Taming of the Shrew" with a good soundtrack). The films I've just listed had fairly well written scripts. Pretty Persuasion is not funny. It's nowhere in the vicinity of funny. It's a few states over, like the distance from Arizona to western Maryland. The directing of "Persuasion" is unremarkable. As are most of the performances. Wood is good in the unredeemable bitch role, I admit. Her performance wasn't worth the movie's screen time, however.When the Palestinian girl killed herself, I shook my head, wishing fervently that I'd walked out of the theater much earlier in this misbegotten film. Maybe the theater manager would have refunded my money.Rent "Cruel Intentions" instead, or any of the other movies that I mentioned.

I've liked every effort I've seen by young actress Evan Rachel Wood ("13" being a stellar example, and "Missing" being another). This is no exception. "Pretty Persuasion" is akin to "Election" (Reese Witherspoon) for the first half, with a dark, witty sense of humor about high school aged people playing mental "chess" with each other, their teachers, and parents. Slowly the story morphs darker, into something like "To Die For" (Nicole Kidman), with a media-made, fame-driven main character willing to do whatever it takes to reach a twisted idea of recognition and advancement. THIS would be enough for the film to be interesting and well done within its own right, but then it goes further. Further. This film is billed as a comedy. If it is, it is not for long… a) if you watch the entire thing, and b) you pay attention. I was expecting a good film. I received even more.