Opening

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21% The Hangover Part III May 23
63% Epic May 24
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88% We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks May 24
83% Fill the Void May 24
17% A Green Story May 24
—— Alyce Kills May 24

Top Box Office

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77% 42 $2.8M
55% Oblivion $2.3M
99% Mud $2.2M
36% Peeples $2.2M
8% The Big Wedding $1.2M

Coming Soon

—— After Earth May 31
—— Now You See Me May 31
100% The Kings of Summer May 31
89% The East May 31

Pretty Persuasion (2005)

tomatometer

32

Average Rating: 4.9/10
Reviews Counted: 76
Fresh: 24 | Rotten: 52

Pretty Persuasion aims for high satire but falls short of poignancy by depending on too much black humor, with too little redeeming humanity to provide balance.

14

Average Rating: 4.4/10
Critic Reviews: 28
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 24

Pretty Persuasion aims for high satire but falls short of poignancy by depending on too much black humor, with too little redeeming humanity to provide balance.

audience

61

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 9,503

My Rating

Movie Info

One of the "popular girls" decides to put her mean streak to work in this black comedy. Kimberly Joyce (Evan Rachel Wood) is an outwardly friendly but inwardly cold and manipulative teenager who attends an exclusive private school in Beverly Hills when she's not making fun of her twentysomething stepmother (Jaime King) or listening to her business mogul father (James Woods) rant about the many people he hates. Kimberly's best friend is Brittany (Elisabeth Harnois), who doesn't seem to notice

R,

Drama, Comedy

Skander Halim

Dec 13, 2005

$58.6k

Samuel Goldwyn Films - Official Site External Icon

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All Critics (85) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (26) | Rotten (53) | DVD (7)

Good writing aside, this screenplay contained the elements of two different films. One of them might have been quite persuasive.

September 23, 2005 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comment (1)
Toronto Star
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Extremely well written in the fearless way of a smarty pants on a roll in the university cafeteria.

September 23, 2005 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail
Globe and Mail
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Wood's fine work is undermined by the movie it's trapped in, which feels like a rough draft of itself: Skander Halim's screenplay is unnecessarily twisty and gimmicky, and some of the teenspeak dialogue falls flat, already out of date.

September 2, 2005 Full Review Source: Seattle Times
Seattle Times
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The screenplay by Skander Halim falters. It's too convoluted and cloudy to have the intended effect.

September 2, 2005 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
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Self-conscious, overdone, shallow, and just not up to the level of its star.

September 2, 2005 Full Review Source: Boston Globe
Boston Globe
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Leaves no gender, race, class or religion untouched in its scabrous effort to show how cruel humans can be. But it also leaves viewers with no one at all to like, or believe.

September 1, 2005
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The film is as disturbing as it is amusing, reveling in the hypocrisy of its hopelessly dysfunctional world.

March 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International
Film Journal International

Probably the darkest high school film since Heathers, which is no bad thing.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: ViewLondon
ViewLondon

Solid performances make it work, even if the film seems slightly undernourished.

June 6, 2006 Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall
Shadows on the Wall

If you enjoy dark comedies like Election, Heathers, Jawbreaker or Mean Girls, then Pretty Persuasion should fit nicely into your DVD collection.

December 17, 2005 Full Review Source: Fantastica Daily
Fantastica Daily

Director Marcos Siega seems to have a hard time deciding if he's satirizing or perpetuating offensive behavior. He also seems torn between making us laugh and making us think.

December 12, 2005 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

a dark teen comedy that tries way too hard to be a dark teen comedy

October 16, 2005 Full Review Source: AboutFilm.com
AboutFilm.com

The very dark comedy is about the crossing point of righteousness and exploitation.

October 11, 2005 Full Review

The movie -- a variation on the standard teen comedy -- is quirky and funny, but ever so dark.

October 7, 2005 Full Review Source: Reno Gazette-Journal

“Pretty Persuasion” is a formidable effort that shows how powerful, rich, pretty young girls might get their way if they just stop feeling and just start thinking.

September 30, 2005 Full Review
Pasadena Weekly

Audience Reviews for Pretty Persuasion

Hmm this wasn't what I expected at all. It takes a bit from quite a few bigger and better films and ends up no where near as good as any of them. It has a touch of Mean girls, Election, Cruel intentions and mostly plot wise Wild things. However without being as dramatic, shocking, sexy or as intelligent as any of them. If you like the above you might want to check it out, otherwise make sure you see the films mentioned, as they have similar story lines but are much better films.
December 24, 2007
Deano78

Super Reviewer

This is the textbook definition of vicious self-satisfaction. Evan Rachel Wood's hilarious deadpan steamrollers over everything she touches. The way she holds herself with such decisive control is impressive at such a young age (I can kind of imagine Dakota Fanning in something of this role in the future, actually) and she is the one that makes this movie THE best out of all its precedents (Heathers, Cruel Intentions). It was necessary for this movie to be independently made because the straight-up racism wouldn't have been approved anywhere else. And the racism and gutsy ventures into taboo territory are what make this movie unforgettable.But even though I really, really enjoyed this movie, it lacked the balls to make the full vitriolic monty, opting for the redemption arc instead, with internal turmoil + tears+ all. Come on people, we don't live in the age of the Hays code anymore - not everything has to end for the good.
November 2, 2008
jennifxu

Super Reviewer

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Latest News on Pretty Persuasion

November 30, 2005:
In "Theory," Reynolds, Mortimer & Townsend Will Co-Star
Ryan Reynolds, Stuart Townsend, and Emily Mortimer will star in "Chaos Theory," says The...

October 6, 2005:
Summer Tomatometer Wrap-up #4: The Worst of the Summer
Over the past few days, we've tried to counter the common misconception that this summer's cinematic...

September 19, 2005:
Ryan Reynolds and Marcos Siega to Test the "Chaos Theory"
Variety reports that actor Ryan Reynolds and "Pretty Persuasion" director Marcos Siega...

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