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104 MINUTES As the black comedies Election, Clueless, and Heathers demonstrate, no power on earth is as malignant or as dangerous as the average teenage girl. And as Marcos Siega’s noisome Pretty Persuasion proves, few films are as obnoxious as those that entertain such a misogynist premise without a semblance of wit, irony, or purpose. When Kimberly (Evan Rachel Wood) first appears on screen, debased by the piggish casting directors of the TV series she’s trying to land a role on, she seems a sympathetic victim of male chauvinism. By the end of the picture, those chauvinists are proved right. To get her way, Kimberly targets her fancy prep school’s sleazy drama teacher (Ron Livingston) and enlists two fellow students (one an Arab girl, so look out for racist jokes) in taking him to court for sexual harassment. Her motives prove less than idealistic, and so do Siega’s; it’s bad enough that he lampoons the weak and oppressed, but the jokes aren’t even funny.
BY PETER KEOUGH
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