ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

TheDelusionist Kimberly Joyce (Evan Rachel Wood) is a privileged fifteen-year-old Beverly Hills high school girl obsessed with the desire of becoming an actress and very misanthropic tendencies. After being dumped by her boyfriend, her supposed best friend Brittany (Elizabeth Harnois) has no problems dating him. Masking her unhealthy jealousy Kimberly puts a brave face on things, almost deluding herself that she in fact does not care. One morning Kimberly notices Randa (Adi Schnall) a new student coming to Roxbury all the way from some Arab country. Kimberly easily manipulates Randa into liking her, taking her under her wing, but of course it is all part of an obscure evil plan involving racism, accusations of sexual harassment and sleeping with a horny lesbian journalist. Will Kimberly's genius plot work out for her in the end? Or will she just feel more empty and alone? It's fair to speculate.Pretty Persuasion is a darkly hilarious, twisted little satire on American society and our Western ideals. It discusses a broad spectrum of topics raging from women's role in society, to our Judeo-Christian family values and the influence of mass media on people. While some of those 'issues' are only touched upon, Skander Halim's sharp writing always manages to be spot on and funny. Ramsey Nickell's colorful, yet cold and almost sterile cinematography helps reflecting Kimberly's thought process, while perfectly contextualizing the clean and clinical ambiente, home of the rich and famous. Marcos Siega's direction might be a bit unfocused at times, presenting some of the subplots in a less than satisfying way, yet there is a distinct charm and great command of the craft that genuinely comes through in this picture. It also makes me hope that he'll take a break from television to bring us another shiny gem like Pretty Persuasion. He has a great way with actors, managing to get a great performance out of everyone involved, especially Evan Rachel Wood (who also looks stunning) and James Wood, playing her wacky, almost insane father in the film.Pretty Persuasion is definitely my kind of film. I can certainly identify with Kimberly Joyce, and I'm sure we've all felt like her at some point, though most of us haven't acted on it. The film manages to make you feel for a character that is ostensibly a 'horrible person'. The worldview of the filmmaker mostly reflect my own, lamenting some of the same frustrations, namely the shallow surface of politically correct and morally rotten, corrupt mass media. While the movie could be viewed as an overly cynical sociological commentary, to me it sticks out as a fantastic counter programming to television's totalitarian and superficial moral agenda. On a lighter note, I get great pleasure out of films like Mean Girls (2004), Heathers (1988) and even The Virgin Suicides (1999) presenting us with the mysteriously intriguing world of female adolescence. There is just something alluring to the idea of being a teenage girl that I can endlessly come back to: The ephemeral aspect of youth, the mystical transitional phase of being something between a little girl and woman. I think Pretty Persuasion fully explores this concept, transporting the viewer into a magical, forbidden and even crazy world not many have access to.

Aseem I chose to watch this movie because it was available, looked like a pop corn college flick. There is something about this movie which keeps you on it and for someone who gets bored very easily, this is quite an achievement. Part of the attraction I guess has to do with the innuendos, hot girls and that the story revolves around an alleged sex crime. But this is quite common and this is not why I gave the movie a 7. The reason I gave it a 7 is because of the lucid way in which the central character is developed and the director's portrayal of characters and situations which are quite realistic while at the same time not taking the "college" flick feel away from the movie. Not a must see. Maybe a maybe see

reidy-christopher While I watched "Pretty Persuasion" I couldn't help but sit there and catalog all the movies it was trying to be. "Heathers" came to mind first, then "Election", then "Cruel Intentions", then "To Die For" and even, "Pretty Poison", which I've never seen, but have read about (and that one came out about forty years ago). Yes, I'll admit by now that this Teen-Age-Badgirl-Master-Manipulator idea is officially a genre, and going into "Pretty Persuasion" you kind of accept that it is going to tread familiar ground...but seriously...so familiar you can't but sit there and consciously think about those other, better films? Every caustic, nasty bit of dialog that came out of Evan Rachel Wood's mouth just crashed to the floor of the set and laid there. It wasn't shocking. It was shockingly bad. And sophomoric. I remember when I first saw "Heathers" at the movies in 1989. I remember that experience because it literally was shocking. I was actually shocked by it. But delighted too. Because it was so original and yes, witty, it made it enjoyable and that was even all the more shocking. This movie tries to do the same thing but fails miserably. It fails because, A.) It was all ready done twenty years ago and B.) It was grade school level humor at best. Seriously, it was embarrassing. James Wood's made a complete fool of himself. I've never liked him anyway, but here he confuses acting disgusting with actually being disgusting, which seems to be a problem he shares with the filmmakers. Every single character in the movie is a cretin. No one has a sense of humor, let alone a wicked one. The only appealing character is the one played by Jane Krakowski, but she isn't given much to do in a subplot that goes nowhere. Most of the actors were very good, but again, in the service of characters you actually despise, what is the point? There's no one to route for here, even in an anti-hero kind of way. The filmmakers must've sensed this on some unconscious level, because the film veers into straight melodrama in the last half hour or so, which makes the questionable idea of viewing the movie even more disturbing. There's also a sort of anti-Americanism going on. There's this Arab teen girl character who is the butt of jokes and then ends up blowing her brains out in some weird bid for audience sympathy. Is the writer an Arab? He seems to hate the U.S. Of course we're all shallow, psychopathic, materialistic, morally bankrupt miscreants, yeah, I know, we get it, but that doesn't keep the Arab family from making a bee-line to Beverly Hills. Kind of a mixed message, huh? How about Poughkipsie? I get the feeling this film got made because someone (from Arabia maybe?)had deep enough pockets to drop a huge bag of money on some movie executive's desk and say "Make my kid's movie." I say this because the whole thing reeks of "vanity project". What person in Hollywood read the script and thought, "Oh, yeah, a sub-par rip-off of "Heathers"! Let's do it!" But apparently that bag of money was big enough to attract top acting talent and above the line contributors. Which is why this gets three stars. The photography was excellent. The Director of Photography knew where to put the camera. At least he knew what he was doing.

triple8 SPOILERS THROUGH:This movie reminded me of so many others-examples-"Heathers", "Mean Girls", "Cruel intentions", and VERY MUCH "Wild Things". I am amazed I hadn't heard of this movie before. It's got it's own unique quality though, despite the reminders of other movies. I mostly liked it although I guess I can see why some people wouldn't. It's not exactly light movie viewing and is very crude in some areas as well as being dark. (Sometimes it almost made "Wild Things" look like a picnic.) Still thought it was intriguing.I found it's strength to be the performances and the high level of getting the viewer absorbed. I didn't move for the duration of the movie as I wanted to see where it was going to go. It succeeds in shocking the heck out of the viewer with some of the places it does go. This movie is provocative. It touches on so many issues( Racism, war, child neglect, media sensationalism, sexual harassment, and plenty more). This is a very thought provoking movie more so then "Wild Things" maybe more along the line of "Heathers" although the main female character really reminded me of the lead in "Cruel Intentions". There were a lot of similarities to all of the above mentioned movies but this movie pushes the envelope a wee bit more. Still at times It seems almost a bit to much as the movie takes on so very many issues.And the amount of crudeness is strikingly high and I could see where some would say it was to much. The movie could have been toned down a little and maybe found a wider audience. It did seem there was a bit of a "try to shock" feeling but I also think the movie was very well written, minus some of the crudity and very interesting and complex. So I'd say I liked it.The end however was a negative. I simply didn't believe she did it all over a guy. I think the ending was very abstract and one could read a lot into it. Ultimately I think it had more to do with the loss of her brother and her genuine desire to play Anne Frank but I could be wrong. But it seemed like her brother was the one person she cared about. (And suicide-that's another theme touched on and man that was awful to watch. I really wish the movie had ended happier.) I guess I'd give this movie a high 7 or maybe a low 8. I'd see it again and have already recommended it to some friends. I could see though where as a movie it would be difficult for this picture to find a large audience. Maybe it would have been better as a play. I could definitely see it on stage. At any rate-if one likes the other movies mentioned above chances are they will like this. My vote's 8.