Kimberly Joyce (Evan Rachel Wood) is a manipulative, vengeful mean girl who desperately wants to be a big actress. She's the type who would stab you in the back while smiling as your friend. Brittany (Elisabeth Harnois) is her beautiful sweet best friend. Randa (Adi Schnall) is a new Arab girl in school who Kimberly lustfully takes under her wings. Then the three girls accuse English teacher Mr Anderson (Ron Livingston) of inappropriate behaviors.This is a biting satire. At least, it tries really, really hard. James Woods goes all out as Kimberly's racist inappropriate father. He is probably the only one who came closest to getting a laugh. That's the major deficiency in this movie. Evan Rachel Wood is a good dramatic actress, but she's not a particularly good comedic actress. None of the leads have good comedic timing. If there are no comedians, then the movie really needs an energetic outrageous character. 'Heathers' had Christian Slater. 'Election' had the tightly wound Reese Witherspoon. In this movie, they only have supporting actor James Woods. It just couldn't get from satire to black comedy.

I chose to watch this movie because it was available, looked like a pop corn college flick. There is something about this movie which keeps you on it and for someone who gets bored very easily, this is quite an achievement. Part of the attraction I guess has to do with the innuendos, hot girls and that the story revolves around an alleged sex crime. But this is quite common and this is not why I gave the movie a 7. The reason I gave it a 7 is because of the lucid way in which the central character is developed and the director's portrayal of characters and situations which are quite realistic while at the same time not taking the "college" flick feel away from the movie. Not a must see. Maybe a maybe see

Woaw, this is the most intelligent, thoughtful, genuinely artistic and fully achieved movie I've seen in a long time.It tells a lot about how people "get" movies that much lesser achievements in similar discursive film-making, like "American beauty", get wide recognition though genuine articles like "Pretty persuasion" seem to meet much hostility.My main thanks go to Wes Anderson, whose fresh, clever and stylish rehash of European style by the likes of Jeunet or Jodorowsky, seems to have opened new doors in modern cinema, as I've recently recognized this major influence he's had on new directors (like Marcos Siega here) in another recent movie, "A Home at the End of the World". This one was also very good, but relied more on conventions at the story level.Here the screenplay is clever, clever work, both at the narrative and meta-narrative levels, which asks all the right questions (which is probably why it seems to upset people - who wants to be asked pertinent questions nowadays?), and uses a terrific, very mature cinematic vocabulary, which any genuine Cinema lover will recognize as such. Come on guys, if you can't see that this is GREAT cinema, you've missed the train entirely.**SPOILERS AHEAD** In case you didn't think this is intelligent work at the moral/social level... ask yourself: what could have prevented Randa's suicide? Think of all the missed opportunities, miscommunication, from her parents, the other girls, the teacher's attitude... think about the motivations.. ever asked yourself the same questions about the crime in "Heavenly creatures"? If not, well... do!Thanks to the crew for such a carefully crafted piece of work, and the moral integrity.

SPOILERS THROUGH:This movie reminded me of so many others-examples-"Heathers", "Mean Girls", "Cruel intentions", and VERY MUCH "Wild Things". I am amazed I hadn't heard of this movie before. It's got it's own unique quality though, despite the reminders of other movies. I mostly liked it although I guess I can see why some people wouldn't. It's not exactly light movie viewing and is very crude in some areas as well as being dark. (Sometimes it almost made "Wild Things" look like a picnic.) Still thought it was intriguing.I found it's strength to be the performances and the high level of getting the viewer absorbed. I didn't move for the duration of the movie as I wanted to see where it was going to go. It succeeds in shocking the heck out of the viewer with some of the places it does go. This movie is provocative. It touches on so many issues( Racism, war, child neglect, media sensationalism, sexual harassment, and plenty more). This is a very thought provoking movie more so then "Wild Things" maybe more along the line of "Heathers" although the main female character really reminded me of the lead in "Cruel Intentions". There were a lot of similarities to all of the above mentioned movies but this movie pushes the envelope a wee bit more. Still at times It seems almost a bit to much as the movie takes on so very many issues.And the amount of crudeness is strikingly high and I could see where some would say it was to much. The movie could have been toned down a little and maybe found a wider audience. It did seem there was a bit of a "try to shock" feeling but I also think the movie was very well written, minus some of the crudity and very interesting and complex. So I'd say I liked it.The end however was a negative. I simply didn't believe she did it all over a guy. I think the ending was very abstract and one could read a lot into it. Ultimately I think it had more to do with the loss of her brother and her genuine desire to play Anne Frank but I could be wrong. But it seemed like her brother was the one person she cared about. (And suicide-that's another theme touched on and man that was awful to watch. I really wish the movie had ended happier.) I guess I'd give this movie a high 7 or maybe a low 8. I'd see it again and have already recommended it to some friends. I could see though where as a movie it would be difficult for this picture to find a large audience. Maybe it would have been better as a play. I could definitely see it on stage. At any rate-if one likes the other movies mentioned above chances are they will like this. My vote's 8.