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Movies / On DVD / Hard Candy
Hard Candy

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Hard Candy (2005)

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Reviews Counted:32

Fresh:21

Rotten:11

Average Rating:6.3/10

Consensus: Disturbing, controversial, but entirely engrossing, Hard Candy is well written with strong lead performances, especially that of newcomer Ellen Page. A movie that stays with the viewer long after leaving the theater.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for disturbing violent and aberrant sexual content involving a teen, and for language.

Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Apr 14, 2006 Limited

Box Office: $1,007,962

Synopsis: Hayley's a smart, charming teenage girl -- but even smart girls make mistakes. She's hooking up in a coffee shop with Jeff, a guy she's met on the Internet. And even though he's a cute,... Hayley's a smart, charming teenage girl -- but even smart girls make mistakes. She's hooking up in a coffee shop with Jeff, a guy she's met on the Internet. And even though he's a cute, smooth high-end fashion photographer in his early 30s, Hayley shouldn't be suggesting that the two of them go back to his house-alone. When they get there, Hayley quickly finds some vodka and starts mixing screwdrivers. She even suggests a photo shoot and strips off some clothing. Everything is going well for Jeff… until his vision blurs and fades, and he passes out. It turns out Hayley has spiked Jeff's screwdriver, and when he revives, he's tied down with Hayley searching through his place. She doesn't think it'll take too long to get a confession that she's not the first teenage girl Jeff's brought home and, more importantly, that her prisoner knows what happened to Donna Mauer, another girl who disappeared from Jeff's favorite coffee shop. And if he's unwilling to confess, well, she has another plan -- She uses an icepack as a homemade anesthetic… She starts shaving an incision site… She's learned a lot from the internet -- including this little surgical procedure she's dying to try… Patrick Wilson and Ellen Page star in HARD CANDY, a provocative psychological thriller directed by David Slade, written by Brian Nelson, produced by David Higgins, Richard Hutton and Michael Caldwell, and executive produced by Jody Patton and Rosanne Korenberg. It is the latest film produced by Vulcan Productions (FAR FROM HEAVEN, TITUS) in association with Launchpad Productions. -- © Lions Gate Films [More]

Starring: Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, Sandra Oh, Jennifer Holmes

Starring: Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, Sandra Oh, Jennifer Holmes

Director: David Slade

Director: David Slade
Screenwriter: Brian Nelson
Composer: Harry Escott, Molly Nyman
Studio: Lions Gate Films

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Release:

Sep 19, 2006

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Reviews for Hard Candy

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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It's well worth seeing, because it is well made -- apart from a few gaps in logic -- and well acted.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
04/28/06
Peter Howell
Peter Howell
Toronto Star
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Hard Candy is an exploitation film, with very little happening but a guy getting tortured for about 75 minutes of screen time.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
04/28/06
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
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... icky, incoherent thriller ...

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
04/28/06
Steven Rea
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer
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... a revolting piece of work.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
04/28/06
Amy Biancolli
Amy Biancolli
Houston Chronicle
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Hard Candy not only trips along a tightrope line between exploitation and art; in some ways, that line is its subject.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
04/28/06
Liam Lacey
Liam Lacey
Globe and Mail
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Hard Candy is sweet poison indeed.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
04/28/06
Tom Long
Tom Long
Detroit News
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The questions posed by Hard Candy may not be as profound as the filmmakers believe, but they are enough to keep us thinking for the length of a movie that deftly uses exploitation to explore exploitation.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
04/28/06
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
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Instead of telling a story, Hard Candy cooks up one grueling ordeal after another.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
04/28/06
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
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Hard Candy is tantalizing, brutal, fetishistic, gripping and exhausting, with plenty of moments for movie patrons to shout advice at the screen.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
04/28/06
Michael Booth
Michael Booth
Denver Post
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At the very first, Hard Candy plays hardball. It's hard to watch, hard to listen to, hard to think about. And then it falls apart.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
04/28/06
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
04/28/06
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
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... a movie that will inspire discussions once it's over.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
04/28/06
Randy Cordova
Randy Cordova
Arizona Republic
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Seen as a film, seen as acting and direction, seen as just exactly how it unfolds on the screen, Hard Candy is impressive and effective.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
04/28/06
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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It's hard to find a warm spot in the heart for anyone here, or for those who created them.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
04/27/06
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
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Hard Candy is a psychological thriller as chilling as a cold, serrated blade to the jugular.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
04/27/06
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
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Hard Candy is the kind of movie that fairly demands coffee and discussion afterward.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
04/27/06
Matt Weitz
Matt Weitz
Dallas Morning News
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Only two males working in perfectly mediocre pulp harmony would dream up an avenging teen angel like this one.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
04/27/06
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune
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Hard Candy is supposed to be another cautionary tale about the dangerous risks of online chat-room dating, but ends up being just another psychological horror flick about pedophilia in which Little Red Riding Hood turns the tables on the wolf.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
04/19/06
Rex Reed
Rex Reed
New York Observer
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It really takes us on this ride.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
04/17/06
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
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Hard Candy, a highly original psychological thriller/revenge fantasy, can be bitterly hard to take and uncomfortably intense, but it's well worth consuming.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
04/14/06
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
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Latest News for Hard Candy

December 06, 2007: Ellen Page on Juno: The RT Interview
Canadian actress Ellen Page is an anomaly in Hollywood. The star of this week's Juno has been in movies since the age of 10, has the face of a 14-year-old and the pop... More...

June 18, 2007: Patrick Wilson (Pretty Much) Confirmed for "Watchmen"
He did great work in both "Hard Candy" and "Little Children," so now it might be time for Patrick Wilson's shot at the comic book material. More...

December 27, 2006: Foster a Vampire Groupie for "30 Days of Night"
After playing troubled, goth-influenced teens in projects like "Six Feet Under" and "Hostage," it's about time Ben Foster just went right to the vampires. In... More...

April 14, 2006: JB's Exclusive "Candy" Clip
One of my very favorite movies of the year (so far, anyway) is Brian Nelson & David Slade's Hard Candy, a tough and steely psycho-thriller about an internet predator, an... More...

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