Pretty Persuasion

[Figure 8]

I searched for this and couldn't find anything, so I guess I'll start a new topic.
I saw this tonight and I thought it was actually pretty good.  I hadn't heard of it beforehand, but I ended up liking it.  James Woods was pretty funny and I thought Evan Rachel Wood did a pretty good job.
Poster:

Anyone else see it?

[matt35mm]

FROM THE DIRECTOR OF


No joke.

[Pubrick]

and I thought Evan Rachel Wood did a pretty good job.

figures, looks like jena malone on the poster..

[modage]

and I thought Evan Rachel Wood did a pretty good job.

figures, looks like jena malone on the poster..

i've thought that everytime i see her in that movie.

[Ravi]

That poster needs a Nick Cannon peekaboo.

[polkablues]

Evan Rachel Wood is amazing.  Already staking out a claim for best actress of her generation.  Just watch her face at the very end of the movie... there's so much going on in that brain it's frightening.

The movie itself was just pretty good.  Surprisingly uncompromising.  A little overly reminiscent of To Die For, but it had enough of its own thing to make it worthwhile.  Some of the comedy was a little too broad, just enough to be distracting, but then perhaps that made the darker moments even more effective.

Anyway, people should see it if they haven't yet.  Good little flick.

[godardian]

I somehow ended up seeing this twice--once during its run and once recently on DVD--and I think I agree with polkablues's assessment, more or less. Good little movie, emphasis on the "little." Not quite big enough for the grown-up satire/"issue" britches it's trying on. Of course, I feel the same way about Fight Club. . . . The film's not very well hidden little conventional-moralistic streak is quite out of place and well out of the grasp of the filmmaker (who, it turns out, has only ever directed Blink-182 videos before this--that explains something about the discrepancy between aspired-to depth/smartness and the actual result).

Wood is, yes, very good. James Woods is not a bad actor, but his vile Republican grotesqueness as a public figure/celebrity is somewhere between Bruce Willis's self-effacing wrongheadedness and Mel Gibson's psychosis. I suppose it worked for this role, though. He's much closer to playing himself than he was in his nice turn in The Virgin Suicides.

[Fernando]

and I thought Evan Rachel Wood did a pretty good job.

figures, looks like jena malone on the poster..

From the SUICIDEGIRLS Int.

Daniel Robert Epstein: I read that Jena Malone was originally supposed to be in your role and you were supposed to play someone else. Is that true?

Evan Rachel Wood: Yes I only met with her once and I think Jena's great. I really respect her and I think she would've been great. But it wasn't up to me. It all happened so fast and I had to completely switch my mindset about the movie. It was a little scary at first, but I was excited because it was kind of the most challenging role that I've taken on.

Evan Rachel Wood is amazing.  Already staking out a claim for best actress of her generation.  Just watch her face at the very end of the movie... there's so much going on in that brain it's frightening.

The movie itself was just pretty good.  Surprisingly uncompromising.  A little overly reminiscent of To Die For, but it had enough of its own thing to make it worthwhile.  Some of the comedy was a little too broad, just enough to be distracting, but then perhaps that made the darker moments even more effective.

Anyway, people should see it if they haven't yet.  Good little flick.

I agree with all that polky said, since she was in Once and Again I thought she was amazing, she eclipsed everyone else on that show, and there were other great performances there.

And for polkas pleasure here's a cap of that last shot he talks at the end of the movie, just amazing.

[MacGuffin]

Wood owns this movie; she is just perfect. As for the film, I agree with the reviews above. It's not a broad comedy like Mean Girls or dark like Heathers. But it has a bit of Ghost World going for it (but not at that high a level). It's an excellent exercise in What Price Fame? accented by the final scene.

[SiliasRuby]

I haven't seen this in a while so I popped it in last night and it folds up. Woods and Wood are phenomenol in this small decent story. Issues are are way too huge for this little movie and they could have expanded it a bit more.