High School Confidential - Der Teufel trägt Minirock

OK, that was a lame joke, but it's exactly what I thought of when I finished watching Pretty Persuasion. After touring Hollywood Video going around in circles a million times, a cute guy that I just had to flirt with recommended Pretty Persuasion and said that it was a huge recommendation. Well, I had to look cute and like I was interested, so I rented it, I watched it this morning just expecting a good movie, but I have to say that this was a good recommendation, because it was a great movie. I just love dark comedies, even if they push the edge, this was just a meaner version of Mean Girls, in my opinion it's a mixed version of Mean Girls and Cruel Intentions to sum it up. Pretty Persuasion is a great film with good acting, a twisted story, and has some of the funniest dark scenes I have seen in a while, James Woods was the show stealer for me, but the whole cast did a fantastic job pulling the story together well.

Kimberly Joyce is a student at high class Beverly Hills High School, she has two friends, pretty and popular Britney, and a new Arab student, Randa. Kimberly and Britney want to be actresses and just live the high life. Kimberly's family life isn't all glam though with her gold digging step mother and neglectful, racist, alcoholic father who is all about image. But the girls take a giant leap in accusing their English teacher of sexual harassment to get famous. Or at least that's the motive that Kimberly has led the girls to believe.

Pretty Persuasion is a great dark comedy, I don't think it's for everyone though, it is flawed in some ways. Some of the messages are sent the wrong way and the direction was just alright, but I thought it ended brilliantly and for some sick reason I really liked Kimberly's sadistic side, her way of stabbing people with a smile on her face, she was wicked, but so cool in the way she did everything. The best performance besides Wood was James Woods, he was just dead on with his character and as much of a jerk as his character was, he was in some sick way still likable. I don't know why, I knew I was supposed to hate a lot of these characters, but I found them to be so human a the bored rich people who have nothing better to do than complain. I would recommend Pretty Persuasion, if you like dark comedies, this is right up your alley.

8/10

Greetings again from the darkness. This one just defies all labels, categories and genres. Definitely not a teen comedy, but it is part Black Comedy, Social Commentary and is written like a spoof ... but it is not a spoof of anything in particular.

The first feature film from director Marcos Siega is off beat as both a comedy and drama. The viewer finds himself in situations of uncomfortable, guilty laughter while at the same time mesmerized by the social topics and excellent acting. The cadence of the dialogue is beyond description and is perfectly displayed at the dinner table with Evan Rachel Woods, her dad played by an over the top James Woods and her new step mom. The family dog plays a big part in the "conversation".

The heart of the story is the devilishly orchestrated false (or are they?) accusations of sexual harassment against drama teacher Ron Livingston (so great in "Office Space"). With so many different agendas at play, we can't help but be drawn into to this story on many levels. Jane Krakowski ("Ally McBeal") shows a real Priscilla Presley side as the lesbian, glory-hound reporter. Selma Blair (Reece Witherspoon's nemesis in "Legally Blonde") is terrific as Livingston's semi-supportive wife.

Make no mistake, the real star of the film, and the reason it works is the extraordinary talents of Evan Rachel Wood (just plain brilliant in "Thirteen"). Wood takes teen ego and self-centeredness and revenge to a whole new level. As one of the male teacher's states, her character is the devil. Watching how she manipulates her friends, teachers, boys and adults is quite the guilty pleasure. Very few actresses her age could pull off the role of this complex character.

The music of the film is very interesting. It is almost as if each character has their own theme song - you can really sense the focal point of the scene by the music. Not sure who to recommend this to as it is impossible to categorize. If you are up for a strange, outside the box story that is well acted, simply filmed and full of uncertain laughter, then this is the one for you!

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.

In Beverly Hills, the fifteen years old evil manipulative aspirant actress student Kimberly Joyce (Evan Rachel Wood) convinces her friends Randa (Adi Schnall) and Brittany (Elisabeth Harnois) to falsely accuse their Literature and Arts teacher of sexual harassment. She manipulates also the lesbian journalist Emily Klein (Jane Krakowski), who is covering the case, to support their cause in the trial, which leads the group to a tragic and surprising conclusion.

This dark "Pretty Persuasion" is a Machiavellian and mean tale of manipulation. With another impressive performance of the gifted Evan Rachel Wood and the stunning James Wood, this dramatic dark comedy may shock with the crude sex scenes, the deranged family of Kimberly or the outrageous perjuries of the girls; or make the viewer laugh with the permanent black humor or the scenes of the racist Hank Joyce; or feel sorry for the poor teacher Percy Anderson. But certainly this movie shows an important message, how people may be easily manipulated by an intelligent person. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Garotas Malvadas" ("Bad Girls")

Pretty Persuasion Reviewed by Sam Osborn

Rating: 2 out of 4

Let's get one thing straight, I was not in any way offended by Pretty Persuasion. Many critics have disparaged the film for its aggressive subject matter, but I simply didn't find the film to be the least bit entertaining. I rarely take offense at the subject matter of a film, as long as it is necessary to the proper telling of the film's story. With Pretty Persuasion, the so-called offensive material is quite imperative for the telling of the story. That's not to say however, that I enjoyed the story. Instead of striving for a slick, intelligent and provocative film, Pretty Persuasion lapses into cruelty and absurdly misaimed satire that rarely evokes more than the sound of crickets from the audience. It seems to want to reside in a Napoleon Dynamite-esquire world, where normality was a disease cured centuries ago. But don't hold your breath Napoleon fans, these aren't the quasi-lovable characters of middle America from the Sundance cult phenomenon, but precocious, snooty Beverly Hill caricatures that would rattle the nerves of even the vainest of Hollywood celebs. There are, of course, the film's delightful little moments of hilarious shock factor (take, for example, Kimberly's dialogue with her stepmother) and some strangely impressive performances, but the screenplay hits its balls so far into left field that most of us are left shaking our heads in disappointment.

The film follows the devious scheming of Kimberly Joyce (Evan Rachel Wood) through her early years of high school. Teaming up with her newfound Arab friend Randa Azzouni (Adi Schnall), and boyfriend stealing bombshell, Brittany Wells (Elisabeth Harnois), the three set out to come forward with accusations of sexual assault, incriminating their easily distracted History teacher, Mr. Anderson (Ron Livingston), whose interest in young ladies has even reached into his marriage to Grace Anderson (Selma Blaire). Picking up the story is the stunning, lesbian reporter Emily Klein (Jane Krakowsi). Back at home, Kimberly's father, played outrageously by James Woods, worries only over the reputation of his wholesale electronics business. Divorced and re-married with a girlfriend on the side, Woods' character wanders about the house in robe and boxers, spouting ignorant and prejudiced comments and insisting he isn't being a racist, but simply telling the truth. Woods' performance is nearly worth recommending the film for. He steals scenes like they were candy from a baby, demanding the audience's concentration and truly earning the attention comically. This is Woods at his best, however ignorant his dialogue may be.

Evan Rachel Wood has rapidly become my favorite young female actor in Hollywood. Coming off impressive work in Samuel Bayer's Green Day music video "When September Ends" with Jamie Bell, Wood continues with her streak of phenomenal independent work in Pretty Persuasion. Despite the film's creative crutch, Wood takes her virtuoso bitchy role by storm. It's a daring, provocative, and hilarious performance by one of the industry's most intriguing actresses.

But despite all my raving of the film's performances, I still find myself bored with Pretty Persuasion. There's great potential here to make an intelligent and provocative film that could possibly pose as a comic version of American Beauty. Instead, director Marcos Siega takes the low road for scatological and low-brow goofiness, sacrificing all that could be satisfyingly funny. We're left alienated by Siega's quasi-normal world and not allowed to re-connect. The jokes range from sexist to racist, attempting to offend any and all the least bit interested in women's rights. Instead of achieving satire, the film finds itself wallowing in gross immaturity.