MOVIES: Pretty Persuasion (Marcos Siega, 2005)

Pretty Persuasion wants to be a Heathers for the new millennium. Evan Rachel Wood stars as a 15-year-old who decides, for reasons that are both more and less complicated than they first appear, to falsely accuse one of her teachers of sexual assault. The material is too distasteful even for black comedy, and neither writer Skander Halim nor director Marcos Siega has found any way to make it funny, so the cast (which includes talented actors like James Woods, Ron Livingston, and Jane Krakowski) is left to flounder. Not worth the time.