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Hard Candy
Lions Gate Films


7.0

based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 62 votes
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FILM:

30 Days of Night

MPAA 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)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Brian Nelson
DIRECTED BY:	David Slade
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: September 19, 2006 Theatrical: April 14, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	103 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

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...

100

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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Hard Candy is extreme - a battle of the sexes that glides from tricky to angry to shockingly ugly.

Empire Caroline Westbrook

It's not always easy viewing, but Hard Candy is an intelligent, challenging film which deserves to be seen.

Miami Herald Peter Debruge

The most extreme English-language studio release I've seen in years.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Hard Candy is the rare movie that may be worthiest for the arguments you'll have after it's over.

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.

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.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It takes creepy, spooky, and altogether ooky to a hideous new level.

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.

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.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

High-minded sleaze, the film deceives you with its first 10 minutes, which are interestingly creepy.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Icky, incoherent thriller.

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.

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.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

With Hard Candy, the innocent are tortured along with the guilty -- the innocent, in this case, being the audience.

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.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 62 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jim H. gave it an8:
Provocative subject, striking visuals, and the first evidence of Ellen Page's obvious talent.

Jakob L. gave it a9:
This intense thriller shocks with its intense visuals and explicit content. Young actress Ellen Page succeeds with acting the part of you Haley that captures a person she suspects to be a pedophile and tortures him until he admits to the crime, if he even committed such? The audience will constantly have to reconsider who's the good guy in the movie, is it the young girl who's rightfully punishing a killer and a rapist or is it the innocent 30 year old photographer thats a victim of a young girls insanity, remember four out five doctors do agree that she is in fact insane.

Lil H gave it a10:
Loved it. The recoloring was amazing, not to mention Ellen Page's performance. Very thought provoking too.

Alan N. gave it an8:
I find it strange that some of the critics marked this movie so low. It is an extremely intense experience that takes place mostly in the confines of a single location. I never go into too much plot detail on my reviews but suffice to say this is a storyline that will offend some people, so beware. That said, I thought it was fairly tastefully done with no truly graphic scenes of either sexually or violence. The actors performances, the claustrophobic nature of the setting and the fact that the two main characters are both damaged keeps the intensity alive throughout the movie. An excellent feat considering it is heavily dialogue driven. I very much recommend this movie. It should be noted that Ellen Page, the lead actress was 18 when she made the movie, despite playing a younger person. That may help some reconcile their morals and not miss out on a viewing. Oh and I urge you NOT to read Ms Habanera's review below if you wish to avoid a massive spoiler which will definitely spoil your enjoyment of the movie. Luckily I'd already seen the film prior to coming on here.

Ms Habanera gave it a10:
This movie was fantastic. The acting was superb, the direction and cinematography top notch. A tough subject. I agree with Stacey flip - it was gripping. And just when the story threatens to be monotonous, Jeff figures out the castration was faked, and the film turns again. Simply astonishing & gutsy.

Jonathan F. gave it a6:
Ellen Page of course is great, my bet is she'll have a long impressive career. Patrick Wilson is pretty impressive too, probably one of the more underrated male actors of his generation - he was fantastic in Little Children too. The movie probably would have been better in my opinion had it stayed on the course it seemed to be heading in the fist 20 minutes, but it turns into some extremely implausible spider web of a film. Some great scenes, but their outcomes are often disappointing. Sandra Oh and Ellen Page together on screen was tasty - yet Oh's role is minuscule. A respectable, well-acted, but ultimately disappointing and confused movie. Make of it what you will.

Razvy T. gave it a9:
Very, very, very good movie with a nice script and a very good director.Oh and the actors played awesome !!!

Hard Candy Lions Gate Films

Hard Candy
Lions Gate Films