Review of Pretty Persuasion (2005) by Sam T — 23 May 2008

Very misunderstood by many. This movie is not condoning its material, which is highly distrubing, but rather, it is condemning it, and it does so by making you hate every single character who participates.

There are no innocent bystanders. This is satire at its best; it starts out with a razor sharp edge and it never lets up. If you identify with anybody in this movie, seek professional help. Leading the cast is Evan Rachel Wood, one of my favorite actresses, who turns the antihero, Kimberly, into a character who is, by far, the most unapologetically evil person I have ever come across in a movie.

She comes close to being Satan incarnate. James Woods has some amusingly hypocritical rants, but when Wood interrupts him to ask her bimbo stepmother if she has sex with dogs, you know who's the real troublemaker at the dinner table.

The movie is hard to watch because it is so mean, but it's also funny, and it is a character study of a girl so magnetic, so cruel, and above all so fascinating that once you've begun, you can't just turn it off.