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Pretty Persuasion
2005
Kimberly Joyce is an insanely intelligent, wildly funny, shockingly cruel and sexy-beyond-her-years Beverly Hills teenager who will stop at nothing to become famous. Believing the world is an orchestra and she is the conductor, Kimberly masterfully manipulates all those around her. She convinces her two best friends to join .. Read more
| Starring | Evan Rachel Wood, David Wagner, Ron Livingston, James Woods |
|---|---|
| Director | Marcos Siega |
| Genres | Comedy |
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Pretty Persuasion
Kimberly Joyce is an insanely intelligent, wildly funny, shockingly cruel and sexy-beyond-her-years Beverly Hills teenager who will stop at nothing to become famous. Believing the world is an orchestra and she is the conductor, Kimberly masterfully manipulates all those around her. She convinces her two best friends to join her in a campaign against their befuddled teacher, Mr. Anderson. Kimberly entangles the entire Beverly Hills community in her carefully woven web of seduction and deceit.
| Starring | Evan Rachel Wood, David Wagner, Ron Livingston, James Woods, Jane Krakowski, Elisabeth Harnois, Selma Blair, Stark Sands, Danny Comden, Jaime King, Josh Zuckerman |
|---|---|
| Director | Marcos Siega |
| Studio | HIGH FLIERS DISTRIBUTION LTD. |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 47 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Collections | 100 Feisty Females |
| Genres | Comedy |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 25 Sep 2006 Production year: 2005 |
| Format | DVD |
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Most helpful member's review
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23 out of 24 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
Pretty Persuasion
If ever there was a successor to black as night high school satire Heathers then this is it. It has super smart, super malevolent, 15 year old Kimberly Joyce (Evan Rachel Wood) and two of her friends frame their English techer fro sexual harrasment. The script is biting and gives everyone at least a few big laughs.
Evan Rachel Wood is possibly the best young actress on screen right now. Since Thirteen announced her as a major talent she's done interesting work and always given a compelling performance, Pretty Persuasion is no exception. As Kimberly Joyce ('The devil in a grey skirt') playing, by turns, the wronged innocent and one of the more memorable Femmes fatale of recent times. It may be her best performance to date (though Thirteen runs it close) if only because when Wood says 'It's like this whole world's the orchestra and I'm the conductor' you believe she could be.
There's a clutch of excellent supporting turns, most notably from James Woods who slimes his way through the film, chomping scenery as Kimberly's racist layabout of a father and nabbing some of the very best lines. Jane Krakowski, late of Ally McBeal, shows up as a lesbian tv reporter covering Kimberly's case, who Kimberly seduces for her own ends,. Krakowski was the only worthwhile thing about the remake of Alfie and again here suggests that there's more to her than Ally McBeal ever let her show.
Okay so there's a few rough edges and if you don't know Kimberly's motives 10 minutes in, well, I hope you enjoyed the first film you've ever seen but for the most part this mix of ingredients from sources like Heathers, The Last Seduction and Mean Girls is tremendously entertaining and irresistibly funny. -
Most recent members' review
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
My flabber was gasted.
Ewan Rachel Wood gets full marks from me for her role of the wicked, manipulating slut of a schoolgirl. But her diction is atrocious, making it almost impossible to understand what she is saying. However, it is a brave and shocking film, a black comedy that is presumably meant as an indictment of morals in American High schools today. James Woods, as Evan Rachel's foul-mouthed, disgusting, racist father, is utterly outrageous. In it's own way, it's a kind of Borat experience. The only difference for me was that it didn't actually make me laugh. It's extremely clever, though, and definitely worth seeing.
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Pretty Persuasion
Kimberly Joyce is an insanely intelligent, wildly funny, shockingly cruel and sexy-beyond-her-years Beverly Hills teenager who will stop at nothing to become famous. Believing the world is an orchestra and she is the conductor, Kimberly masterfully manipulates all those around her. She convinces ...
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