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Overall Rating
  Awesome: 30.86%
Worth A Look: 28%
Average: 12.57%
Pretty Bad: 13.71%
Total Crap: 14.86%
12 reviews, 103 user ratings
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| Hard Candy |
by Scott Weinberg
"Forbidden Fruit Freakout"

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SCREENED AT THE 2006 SXSW FILM FESTIVAL: David Slade's "Hard Candy" is a brave, brazen, and agressively ballsy psycho-chiller, one that's made for grown-ups who don't mind a little intelligence mixed in with their vigilante revenge thrillers.A 32-year-old guy invites a pixie-ish 14-year-old girl to meet him at a coffee bar. They've met online, you see, and as Hard Candy begins, we know exactly who's the predator and precisely who's the prey. But things get a little more contorted once the mismatched pair arrive at the guy's photo studio / bachelor pad. It seems our spritely little teen-girl knows a whole lot more than she's telling -- and she's got a whole lot of unseemly activities planned for the afternoon.
Sorry to get extra vague on the plot synopsis with this one, but Hard Candy is the kind of movie you'll enjoy the most if you go in knowing the least. Suffice to say it's one of the most gripping psycho-thriller flicks I've seen in quite some time, chock full of warring perspectives, abundant chills, and a satsifyingly nasty attitude that fits the subject matter to a tee.
Putting aside the stellar leads performances by Patrick Wilson and Ellen Page (and the wonderfully crisp screenplay by Brian Nelson), the star of the show is first-time director David Slade. Somehow balancing the most unpleasant sort of subject matter with a cockeyed sense of humor and a master's touch where suspense is concerned, Hard Candy is a powerfully impressive debut.
At its best moments, Hard Candy captures that one hate-filled feeling that we've all had: The evening news comes on and the first story is about the arrest of a serial child molestor ... and then your brain starts sifting through all the wonderful ways in which that predator might be punished. But Slade & Co. are not content to deliver a knee-jerk revenge thriller; Hard Candy will jerk your emotions left and right, from seething anger to tentative sympathy to outright shock and, ultimately, a queasy sense of calm. And if the flick seems to run about ten minutes longer than it needs to, I was so knee-deep invested in the two characters, I really didn't mind.If the original "Death Wish" can be remembered as a classic crime flick because of the way it perfectly reflected its own era, then I suspect "Hard Candy" will still be remembered 20-some years from now. As it stands today, I think it's one of the most challenging and darkly, smartly entertaining movies of the year.
link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=11287&reviewer=128 originally posted: 03/19/06 21:11:10
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OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2005 Sundance Film Festival. For more in the 2005 Sundance Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2006 South By Southwest Film Festival For more in the 2006 South By Southwest Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2006 Florida Film Festival For more in the 2006 Florida Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2006 Philadelphia Film Festival For more in the 2006 Philadelphia Film Festival series, click here.
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USA 14-Apr-2006 (R) DVD: 19-Sep-2006
UK N/A
Australia 13-Jul-2006
Trailer
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