Pretty Persuasion (2005)
Pretty Persuasion (2005)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic 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.
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Movie Info
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Cast
as Kimberly Joyce
as Percy Anderson
as Hank Joyce
as Emily Klein
as Brittany Wells
as Grace Anderson
as Roger
as Troy
as Kathy Joyce
as Randa Azzouni
as Barry
as Mrs. Azzouni
as Joe
as Rick
as Jewish Boy No. 2
as Headmaster Charles Meyer
as Nadine
as Larry Horowitz
as Carl
as Judge Carl Munro
as Warren Prescott
as High School Girl
as Carlyle Cream
as Stephanie Swift
as Kenny
as Mr. Azzouni
as Tiffany Minx
as Dave Evadsti
as Cody
as Sound Guy
as Emmett Friedman
as Morgan
as Sudan
as Bystander
as Bystander
as Martin
as Josh Horowitz
as Bobo
Critic Reviews for Pretty Persuasion
All Critics (77) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (25) | Rotten (52) | DVD (4)
Good writing aside, this screenplay contained the elements of two different films. One of them might have been quite persuasive.
Extremely well written in the fearless way of a smarty pants on a roll in the university cafeteria.
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Skander Halim's screenplay is unnecessarily twisty and gimmicky, and some of the teenspeak dialogue falls flat, already out of date.
The screenplay by Skander Halim falters. It's too convoluted and cloudy to have the intended effect.
Self-conscious, overdone, shallow, and just not up to the level of its star.
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.
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.
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.
Super Reviewer
"Evil comes in a school uniform." A 15-year-old girl incites chaos among her friends and a media frenzy when she accuses her drama teacher of sexual harassment.
Super Reviewer
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