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Hard Candy
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 189 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Suspense/Thriller
Written by: Brian Nelson
Directed by: David Slade
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 14, 2006
DVD: September 19, 2006
Running Time: 103 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for disturbing violent and aberrant sexual content involving a teen, and for language
Starring Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, Sandra Oh, Jennifer Holmes, and Gilbert John
A cat-and-mouse psychotic thriller as incisive as it is stylish, Hard Candy delivers a provocative take on the revenge drama while jangling nerves at every turn. The film plunges us into an unstable universe where we cannot readily identify the "good guy" in the tense confrontation between a 14-year-old girl and the 32-year-old man she suspects of pedophilia and murder. (Lionsgate)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: 30 Days of Night
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Film Threat Eric Campos
A tough sit, but it attracts more than repels you. It commands your attention. Once it lands its hooks in you, there's no tearing away.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Rob Nelson
A film that forges identification with its victimized heroine like none I've seen in decades. (The Nova Scotia–born Page, a Molly Ringwald type who was only 15 when the movie was made, leaves little doubt as to whether a kid can play a grown-up's icky game and win.)
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
To pull this kind of thing off you need exceptional performances, and the two leads rise commandingly to the challenge. Wilson, best known for his work in the screen version of "The Phantom of the Opera" and HBO's "Angels in America," keeps his true colors effectively muted throughout the bulk of their face-off, but it is Page who astonishes.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
These are two fascinating characters, and watching them thrust and parry proves to be as impossible to turn away from as observing a grotesque roadside accident.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Hard Candy, a highly original psychological thriller/revenge fantasy, can be bitterly hard to take and uncomfortably intense, but it's well worth consuming.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Hard Candy is impressive and effective. As for what else it may be, each audience member will have to decide.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The film was reputedly inspired by Japanese teens who trolled chat rooms to find predators, made assignments, then ganged up to beat offending adults.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
Despite the hot-button pedophilic story hook (I'm surprised Jeff and Hayley didn't meet on MySpace.com), Hard Candy ultimately beats with the heart of a stagier, more complicated psychological revenge picture along the lines of Roman Polanski's "Death and the Maiden."
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Hard Candy is extreme - a battle of the sexes that glides from tricky to angry to shockingly ugly.
Read Full Review >Empire Caroline Westbrook
It's not always easy viewing, but Hard Candy is an intelligent, challenging film which deserves to be seen.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Peter Debruge
The most extreme English-language studio release I've seen in years.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Hard Candy not only trips along a tightrope line between exploitation and art; in some ways, that line is its subject.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Winda Benedetti
Hard Candy is not perfect, but it is a provocative piece of filmmaking with a dark and daring heart that makes it worth seeing.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
A psychosexual thriller that treads a thin line between art and exploitation. The mere fact that it manages this queasy high-wire act is what sets debut director David Slade's slick mind game apart from the drooling pack.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
The prize for most sick-making movie I've ever seen goes to . . . that Driver's Ed film I saw when I was 16. The psychological thriller Hard Candy is right up there, though. I didn't know whether to applaud or barf.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Inspired by accounts of underage vigilante girls in Japan turning the tables on Internet predators, playwright Brian Nelson's schematic tale of the hunter captured by the game, a queasy blend of exploitation-movie nastiness and blunt moral lesson.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
To give the film its due, the direction is expert, the writing is shrewd, the cinematography is stylish, and the performances are extraordinary... Hard Candy is also sadistic in its own right, relentlessly ugly, entirely heartless and eventually unendurable. It's torture.
Variety Todd McCarthy
A spectacular performance by teenage thesp Ellen Page elevates this disturbing slice of designer shocksploitation into a film that's impossible to dismiss on principle.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Hard Candy is the rare movie that may be worthiest for the arguments you'll have after it's over.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Scott Foundas
The more things drag on, the more monotonous they become and, by the end, Hard Candy has devolved into a rather transparent game of one-upmanship in which Hayley and Jeff come across in almost equally repellent measure, their behaviors driven less by organic impulses than by their need to satisfy the script's elaborate series of reversals and counter-reversals.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Had they ended 20 minutes in, "Wedding Crashers" would qualify as a gut-busting triumph, and Hard Candy would be a miniature masterpiece.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
It takes creepy, spooky, and altogether ooky to a hideous new level.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Gene Seymour
As gripping as Hard Candy is, one can't quite shake the feeling that we're the ones being exploited by its mordant blend of kinky revenge fantasy and push-me-pull-you moral vision.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust
Maddeningly exploitative, the film takes a provocative subject -- pedophilia -- and wraps it in a sterile, vacuum-sealed package, devoid of meaning.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
High-minded sleaze, the film deceives you with its first 10 minutes, which are interestingly creepy.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Though Hard Candy clearly believes pedophiles should be chopped into little pieces and buried in an unmarked grave, its only purpose is exploitative. Sure, it's a cautionary tale for all those sicko wolves out there, but it's nothing more than an unabashed lurk-and-dread fest.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
During the ensuing narrative unpleasantness and visual incoherence (meaningless choker close-ups, pointless slow motion), Hayley subjects Jeff to a range of torture, all in the name of, well, what? Despite the two fine performances, it's hard to say.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
With Hard Candy, the innocent are tortured along with the guilty -- the innocent, in this case, being the audience.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Tautly directed by David Slade, this drama probably offers more sadism than anyone could possibly want...The characters are absurd, but if you're up for this sort of thing, then surely you can con yourself into accepting them. Personally, I'd rather have this movie obliterated from my memory.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 189 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
spike lee joint gave it a10:
Whats with this movie, its too good. Not allowed. This town isn't big Enough for two incredible dream come trues. There's orgasms and "hard candy". Damn right I made fu**ing room for two. Twos company, threes a party with God.
Juno macguff gave it a10:
Holy sh**! What did just witness. A true masterpiece. How did the oscars miss this and catch a horrible movie like crash. The script for this movie was incredible. Patrick Wilson was perfect and very real and ellen page was truly godly magnificent. She was more then extraordinary. She usually gives performances like thus and I know it but I'm still always surprised. Really amazing movie. I don't know what other adjectives to describe this movie as(or ellen page) but its needs to be watched. The ending is awesome.
robert t. gave it a10:
One of the best opportunistic movies for acting i have seen but of course i am a huge fan of Ellen Page. I think she is a phenomenal actress. i like the camera work for the most part as well as the directing and writing. I don't think it was the best film of 2005 but most likely one of them. Ellen Page was amazing bbut i thought that Patrick WIlson could have been better.Overall it was a good movie.
Matthew W gave it a2:
Terrible. I truly cannot understand how everyone else gave this film such a high rating. While the acting was certianly something to be applauded the movie fails in what it sets out to do: show how sick pedophiles are and teach them a lesson. Throughout the entire movie, nothing at all happens to make the audience feel justified in enjoying or at least repecting what Hayley is doing to Jeff. It is implied, yes, but within the context of the movie it is far to weak, especially considering what happens to Jeff. I almost cound not finish watching the picture and found myself cheering whenever Jeff actually managed to escape. Of course, if you like watching people get tortured for no reason, (at least this is how it seems), then defintely check this one out. Otherwise, take my advice and go watch something more entertaining such as 300. At least there's some explanation for all that bloodshed.
R. H. gave it a6:
I wish people would stop saying how "striking" this movie was. I mean, yes, its great - its gritty, excellently acted, and cinematic. What i find is basically another thriller in a realistic style. I'm suprized to hear the director say hpw its "unlike how hollywood movies are made". Sorry, i'm getting used to the realistic style by now (Abou Schmidt, Cloverfield, etc.) But i feel like these formal qualities are an excuse not to discuss its content, which i have to say is really noteworthy - i find this to be the most original aspect. What i find frighteningh i guess, is how easily this could easily happen to any guy. In the movie, her actions are partially justified by what he's done previously, but it shows how much power women actually have now on all social levels when it comes to sexual issues. (Some women will say its not enough, but i ask, what is enough?). This movie left me feeling downright frightened to talk to _any_ women... i wonder if that was the intended effect. I think i really need a movie now that resolves some of these issues (since clearly no solutions are offered here). The content is shocking, and original, but not really helpful in any way. (If there are women that feel empowered by this film, then i _am_ really scared. Were her actions justified by his? Maybe. Does that make them right? No.)
Tania C. gave it a10:
Absolutely great, brave movie. I think now a days it´s very important to show such a controversial topic.
Luke H. gave it a10:
Amazing. One of the most perfect movies you will ever see.
