Skander Halim's script and Siega's direction often clash with their own very dark plot.
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08/11/05
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Pretty Persuasion (2005)
32
%
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Reviews Counted:74
Fresh:24
Rotten:50
Average Rating:4.9/10
Consensus: 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.
Theatrical Release:Aug 12, 2005 Limited
Box Office: $58,570
Synopsis: Music-video director Marcos Siega infuses this entertainingly dark social satire with stylish camerawork and clever editing. While visually rooted in the bubble gum teen comedy aesthetic, PRETTY... [More]
Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Ron Livingston, James Woods, Jane Krakowski
Director: Marcos Siega
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Reviews for Pretty Persuasion
Top CriticMost of the problem behind this misshapen lump of a movie is that Siega comes from a long line of music-video and TV directors who can't... sustain a feature film.
08/29/05
Wood's not an interesting psycho—just numb, mumbling, and dull. Pretty unpersuasive.
08/31/05
(Marcus) Siega plays racism, class disdain, ignorance and self-absorption for glib laughs in his equally glib satire...
09/01/05
not just another black comedy about a manipulative high school *****
08/11/05
Matches the glossy, calculated kinkiness of a pay-cable television series to a story that unfolds like a Young Adult author's stab at a Bret Easton Ellis novel.
09/23/05
Reminds me of a half-hour TV series that has a great pilot episode, then falls apart in subsequent installments.
08/31/05
Top CriticPuerile social satire, stinging only insomuch as its unsophisticated wit and overwhelming smugness are painful to sit through.
08/26/05
This black comedy's mean-spiritedness comes in one size that fits all.
08/20/05
It’s both the joy and folly of Pretty Persuasion that it attempts to skewer Beverly Hills, underage schoolgirls, post-9/11 America, TV news media sensationalism and more.
08/18/05
Nothing is less shocking than a movie that's constantly trying to shock....more bite than bark, but it's all dog.
08/26/05
a dark teen comedy that tries way too hard to be a dark teen comedy
10/16/05
Pretty much just a geek show with a tacked-on, bed-wetting moral.
09/01/05
Too flip to be serious and too smug to be rousing.
08/11/05
Top CriticSolid performances make it work, even if the film seems slightly undernourished.
06/06/06
Kimberly warns that 'every war has its casualties' - you pick a fight with her and you're gonna be on that 'notify my next of kin' list... wickedly funny.
09/02/05
Wood does flip cynicism with such precise, easy rhythms and with such obvious pleasure in naughtiness that she’s impossible to hate.
08/22/05
Top CriticSad to say, but satires about mean teen girls have gotten predictable. Stale.
08/16/05
Smug, rude and ultimately lost.
03/13/05
The material in Pretty Persuasion needed to be handled as heavy drama, or played completely for comedy, and by trying to have it both ways, the movie has it neither way.
08/25/05
Top CriticLatest News for 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 Hollywood Reporter. The comedy is coming from "Pretty Persuasion"... More...
October 06, 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 fare was bereft of quality. However, that doesn't mean the season was... More...
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 will be bringing the comedy "Chaos Theory" to life, by way of Castle... More...
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