Wood plays 15 year-old student Kimberley, a Lolita-style temptress who decides to take revenge on her drama teacher, Mr Anderson (Livingston), when he leaves her out of the school play.
Along with her mates Brittany (Harnois), a beauty queen who confuses podiatrists with paedophiles, and Randa (Schnall), a shy Arab girl, she accuses Anderson of sexual harassment in the hope that a well publicised court case will help her career as an aspiring Hollywood actress.
They say:
Empire: "A teenie To Die For whose flaws are superceded by a complex, compelling turn from Evan Rachel Wood.”
BBC: "In the end this supposed satire doesn't say anything much except that people are mostly bad and parents are, like, the worst.”
Total Film: "Siega stretches his film with a closing burst of contrived twists and the resulting muddle of moods leaves a sour aftertaste, even given the sweet spots.”
We say:
Director Marcos Siega’s big screen debut is a cross between “Clueless” and “Wild Things”, with a central performance that also recalls Nicole Kidman’s ambitious weathergirl in “To Die For”.
And that is the main problem with “Pretty Persuasion” – there’s just too much crammed into one story.
As well as mixing emotional tragedy with puerile comedy (one character remarks “there’s nothing like a bit of hard canine cock to satisfy my desires”) seemingly at random, Siega also attempts to raise questions about racism, exploitative media practices, and America’s lust for celebrity.
As such, many of the characters are reduced to one dimensional caricatures, particularly the Arab schoolgirl who hardly says a word throughout the whole film.
The screenplay does have some excellent satirical lines, however, such as "I respect all races but I'm glad to be white”, and seeing Kimberley kicked out of the school play, “The Diary of Anne Frank”, for making anti-Semitic remarks can’t fail to raise a few laughs.
Watch out too for a gloriously foul mouthed cameo from James Woods, who spends his days indulging in phone sex while watching internet porn and snorting cocaine.
CAST
Evan Rachel Wood, Ron Livingston, Jane Krakowski, Selma Blair, David Wagner, Brent Goldberg, Adi Schnall, Elisabeth Harnois, Jaime King
DIRECTOR
Marcos Siega
TIME
110 mins
POSTED...
Fri 23 Jun 2006 at 7:52am
