A "clever" little indie black comedy, about a precocious fifteen year old high schooler/aspiring actress and her watered down, contrived, pseudo-sadistic, clownish exploits. If you've lived a day in your life, are able to eat solids yet, and your IQ is at least sub par, and most importantly...you've seen at least a handful of films that strive for that same "shocking" attitude, with little more to offer than a cheap attempt at irony, and ridiculously glossy, under-ripe adolescent sexual schlock, then you will definitely find Pretty Persuasion right along with every pretentious, audience-insulting, over-indulgent piece of garbage there is out there. You'll find the script to be just as moronically cartoonish as the acting, however, if you haven't seen very many films and have a very watered-down sense of humor, then you'll probably like it. The film offers a bland attempt at oversexualized "camp" from moment to moment, which should be appreciated as an interesting attempt, while blindly becoming formulaic satire in a cloak of edgy "indie" tragedy. The film just yells EDGY INDIE BLACK COMEDY, and I would think that we'd be done with this by now.
James Woods is over the top, as usual, and his performance is not interesting, in the least. Woods and Wood are both confusingly irritating, spouting off "humorous" and cheaply written pieces of dialogue. Lines such as, "Do you F**k dogs?" are funny I suppose, and might lure a smile, but overall, it's pretty amateur in its delivery and concept. The film is just a bit full of itself, or unconscious of itself, either way...it reminds me of the goofy, teenaged, local TV projects I would try with my other 15 year old peers.
It makes sense that most people compare this to Election or Heathers, for a few unimportant and easily relatable reasons, however, it should be more appropriately compared to a TV movie. Don't get me wrong, I love oversexualized vulgarity, and cheap, black comedies, that actually take you somewhere stimulating, but this film is just cheap, and it's sad that it requires so little effort to gain a recommendation these days. It's a film that a lot children will love, because they don't know any better.
James Woods is over the top, as usual, and his performance is not interesting, in the least. Woods and Wood are both confusingly irritating, spouting off "humorous" and cheaply written pieces of dialogue. Lines such as, "Do you F**k dogs?" are funny I suppose, and might lure a smile, but overall, it's pretty amateur in its delivery and concept. The film is just a bit full of itself, or unconscious of itself, either way...it reminds me of the goofy, teenaged, local TV projects I would try with my other 15 year old peers.
It makes sense that most people compare this to Election or Heathers, for a few unimportant and easily relatable reasons, however, it should be more appropriately compared to a TV movie. Don't get me wrong, I love oversexualized vulgarity, and cheap, black comedies, that actually take you somewhere stimulating, but this film is just cheap, and it's sad that it requires so little effort to gain a recommendation these days. It's a film that a lot children will love, because they don't know any better.