Review of Hard Candy (2005) by Debi M — 24 Oct 2012
One of the more brain-dead movies I've seen in recent memory. Page is strong in her role - unfortunately. The 14 year old spends the entire movie acting like a pretentious, obnoxious 30 year old, and the monotonous monologues she spews out in almost every conceivable moment literally do not end until the credits roll.
Wilson works with what he has, which is unfortunately not much, and the end result is extremely weak. After Jeff Kohlver (Wilson) invites Hayley Stark (Page) into his home, things start to look a little creepy.
After all, he is a 30 year old who is hitting on a 14 year old. Oddly, though, we, the audience, never see for sure his intentions with Page. She assumes throughout the duration of the movie that he kidnapped, raped and killed a girl who has been missing for a long time, when there is no evidence to prove it.
He continues to protest his innocence throughout the whole film. Eventually I didn't care if he was a child predator or not - anyone is more likeable than Page's irritating, self-righteous character who thinks she knows everything.
Her cruelty to Jeff is hard to watch, as he begs her to stop and she mercilessly breaks him. Morality aside, Hard Candy is simply a dreadful, bitter movie that is neither thought-provoking nor insightful nor even hard-hitting.
Simply, it is a useless film, providing no interesting developments whatsoever and a tasteless story to boot.
This review of Hard Candy (2005) was written by Debi M on 24 Oct 2012.
Hard Candy has generally received positive reviews.
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