Review of Hard Candy (2005) by Karungari G — 21 Oct 2011

The good thing about this picture is the female lead dominates and torcher's her male victim. In countless movies male leads have torcher's their female victims so it's time for a change. The bad thing about "Hard Candy" is everything else. The picture has a basic premise where a thirty two year old guy meets a fourteen year old online. The girl wants to stay at the older guy's house where she will eventually drug and hold him captive.

In later scenes the film gets a bit intense that made me feeling a tad disappointed, furthemrore the two main characters keep talking throughout it almost feels like watching a stage theater. I was wondering in the situations they were in will the film ever survive? At first I was feeling sorry for the thirty two year old Jeff played by (Patrick Wilson) but he is just as guilty because right from the start it's clear the guy has more intentons then meeting a fourteen year old at a coffee shop.

As for Ellen Page, I didn't quite like her in this role. Her character as the fourteen year old girl Hayley Stark comes across as arrogant, cocky, intimidating, and yes even psychotic. Maybe if she was a little more charming but with a sly glee in her eyes then i'd probably have a change of heart. Page's character is the kind that Wendy Kroy (in the film "The Last Seduction") would crave with delight.

One can look at "Hard Candy" as torture porn or as the female lead finally getting her revenge and enjoying her fat piece of the cake. Actually the picture felt like it was made for TV.