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Pretty PersuasionEarly on in Pretty Persuasion, we learn that this is not going to be a politically correct school comedy. "I have respect for all races but I'm very glad I was born white," says anti-heroine Kimberly Joyce (Wood), as she's speaking to a new friend, the Arabian-born Randa (Adi Schnall). Nevertheless, she takes Randa under her wing at the private Beverly Hills school they attend. Introducing her to old friend Brittany (Harnois), who claims "I know all about the immigrant experience - I'm Canadian!" Kimberly is the sort who barely manages to hide her contempt for the world. Raised by an anti-Semitic father (Woods) and a stepmother (King) she loathes, self-confessed "aspirant" Kimberly only dreams of becoming an actress.
Barring her way, it seems, is drama teacher Percy Anderson (Livingston). When he crosses not only Kimberly but also Randa and Brittany, she encourages her friends to accuse him of sexual harassment. With plot moving back and forth in time, writer Skander Halim and director Marcos Siega conceal the trio of incidents that the girls present as evidence against their teacher. Instead, we are shown an early scene that sees Percy give his girlfriend (Blair) a grey skirt similar to those worn by his pupils, a clumsy attempt to put doubt in our minds about him. In the background to all this is a local TV reporter (Krakowski), determined to stir things up as she files a story on the school.
Pretty Persuasion, while peddling a nice line in outrageous patter, never really has the courage of its convictions. Following on from her bad-girl act in Thirteen, as good as the acerbic Wood is as the ruthless Kimberly, she must contend with a rather two-dimensional character who has turned out the way she has simply because of bad parenting. At one point we get to see a telephone conversation on Kimberly's birthday that she has with her biological mother, who forgets her daughter's age and then finishes the call after one minute. It's about as original as the notion that, for male teachers, high school is "cock teasing 101", as Percy is told by a colleague.
That said, there are still some delights to enjoy, mainly in the shape of James Woods, at his most revolting. Wandering around his house in a pair of underpants and a silk-dressing gown, as he blatantly calls a phone-sex line while others are at home, he is then seen to walk into Kimberly's bedroom and wipe something - we assume, semen - on her bedspread. This ably demonstrates the sort of level the filmmakers are working at here - grotesque comedy hidden under a rather transparent attempt at satire. If the film has some points to make about celebrity and notoriety, it never fully engages at an intellectual level.
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