88 out of 99 people found the following review helpful:

Totally gripping

Melon from East Sussex, 17th June, 2006

This is a tense, edge-of-the-seat two-hander that hits you hard and keeps you guessing right up to the very end. It constantly toys with your emotions, swinging sympathy back and forth between the two characters as their roles shift continuously from predator to prey and back again. Page and Wilson are both breathtakingly good in their parts. Most of the film is played out in long, tight close-ups of their sweating faces, picking out every nuance and look of fear. A tough-as-nails, scary-as-hell movie that really isn't for the faint-hearted, although it does (thankfully) follow the often forgotten rule that what's implied is a hell of a lot more powerful than what's shown.

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69 out of 88 people found the following review helpful:

Pathetic attempt to win contoversy points

J Rawlinson from Birmingham UK, 30th July, 2007

This film epitomizes controversy over content and watching it is to waste 120 precious minutes better spent doing... [Insert anything here]. The heroine is so vacuous, nauseating and badly characterized that in the films closing minuites as the director is desperately trying to weave in the plot. I was left pondering how to moralize a victory for our despicable but marginally more intriguing villain. In short: to call this film garbage is an insult to garbage.

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47 out of 48 people found the following review helpful:

You wont have seen anything like this before

A Customer from N Wales, 12th July, 2007

Refreshingly different, Gripping, Controversial, disturbing, unpredictable and what a fantastic little actor Ellen Page is, she deserves a gong of some sort for this. I was absorbed by it, it was original and i didn't know where the plot was going so it kept me entertained right til the end. Ellen Page was awesome and the other guy was good too (a lookalike cross between Midge Ure and Kevin Costner!). I recommend u to watch this, one of the best i've hired yet from easy DVD

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43 out of 47 people found the following review helpful:

Hard Candy

SAI81 from from Tonbridge, 29th November, 2006

I don't want to say much about the happenings of this film, for fear of spoiling it. Suffice to say that it's a two handed power play between 14 year old Hayley (Ellen Page) and 32 year old Jeff (Patrick Wilson) the two meet on the internet before getting together at a coffee shop and then back at Jeff's house where things take a turn for the unexpected. The screenplay, by first time feature writer Brian Nelson, is outstanding. Packed with memeorable lines, the blackest of comedy and shocking revelations about both his main characters it keeps you nailed to the edge of your seat. Another massive help in that is the performances. For over an hour the only people we see for any length of time are Hayley and Jeff so Page and Wilson must carry the film. Page is simply extraordinary, every line delivered at perfect pitch but never once winking at the audience on the comedy, it's an incredibly intense performance and one that belies her tender age (perhaps 17 at shooting). Were there any justice her mantelpiece wold now be groaning under the weight of the awards she's won for the part, but Hard Candy isn't the kind of movie that wins awards. Patrick Wilson is also great. He's not able, after the first 20 minutes or so, to use much besides his face and voice to give a peformance but still peels back the layers of his character in horribly compelling fashion. Perhaps the cleverest aspect of Nelson's screenplay is the way in which it plays with our loyalties. Some will come out of the film on Hayley's side, some on Jeff's, some simply appalled. Director David Slade (another debutante with a big future) shoots almost the entire film in tight close up. This gives the whole thing, right from the start, an uncomfortable intimacy. He shows us little, implies almost everything before throwing our assumptions back at us in often shocking fashion. This is one of the best horror films to grace the cinema in a long time and can stand proudly alongside the genre's true classics. It will be an uncomfortable experience (several people left during the operation sequence in my screening) but it won't be one you'll soon forget and that's all too rare these days.

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*** May contain spoilers ***

Putting the grrrrr in girl

itsanonstopdisco from , 17th March, 2010

For anyone who's watched Miss Page in any other film, you'll know she's got talent. She can act her little backside off and give an amazing performance no matter what the role. Her take on Hard Candy's 'Hayley' is no different and the more I watch this film, the more I love her. The male lead comes from, none other than, my favourite bumbling vigilante Patrick Wilson, playing a stark contrast to his picture perfect performance as Watchman's 'Dan Dreiberg.' From the moment 'Jeff' meets with 'Hayley' there is a boom of on-screen chemistry, despite the obvious age difference. The story of their relationship developing seems to be normal, if not slightly uncomfortable, due to 'Hayley's' overtly flirtatious nature towards this older guy. Looking back, these early scenes just solidify both 'Hayley's' sadistic drive and Ellen's immense talent to create this dark, focussed young girl. Once she has set her trap, we see more of what our suspicions told us when she ties up 'Jeff' and bombards him with questions about his photography and obsession with young teenage girls. 'Hayley's' strength is incredible as she finds herself being the target of his charms, and resisting with a mildly sarcastic retort, a quiet sigh of relief can be heard that he's hasn't won. The true nature of 'Hayley's' intentions become a shock after a short struggle, when she takes it upon herself to end his sexual life by way of castration. Much of these scenes are misdirection and implication but would be enough to make you wonder, is she really doing this....? Well the short answer is no, some clever trickery result in great relief on 'Jeff's' part and mild disappointment on mine. That may be strange to want this punishment for such a lovely looking man, but 'Hayley' pulls us in that much, combined with the extremely controversial subject, you find yourself wanting to see him suffer. What follows is a combination of struggle, bargaining and more traps leading the pair to the roof, and 'Jeff' to only one way out. Given an ultimatum he wrestles with the decision to take the cowards way out or face his demons head on. A promise from 'Hayley' helps him along as he tightens the noose and jumps from his roof. The promise, was to destroy all evidence, 'Hayley's' final act of defiance, to break it. She leaves the scene of the crime, along with all the evidence of 'Jeff's' frightening work with teenage girls. Dressed in her iconic red hoody she emulates the revenge of little red riding hood, as she leaves grandma's house, with the wolf slain in her wake. This film deals with a variety of horrific subjects, but not in a way to make parent worry and mothers want to ban the internet. The strong female role gives young girls something to aspire to be and personally I think educates them on what the dangers are as well as answering their questions that would, possibly, make them take their guard down in the same situation. The actors' performances are bang on target, with a whole new side to Patrick Wilson, and Ellen Page shining through, this is dark, moody and brilliant. Well worth renting and buying! ^_^

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hard candy

mummymash from , 20th February, 2010

Utterly unconvincing plot and acting. Boring, anoying characters. I could have easily turned it off half way through. I wish I had! Rubbish!

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psychological thriller

A Customer from Tunbridge Wells, 13th February, 2010

cleverly done with only 2 main characters with a twist at the end.

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Bit of a shocker

Zamy from , 8th February, 2010

This film explores in a rather simplistic way some of the problems of internet chat rooms and the grooming of an underage girl for sex. As a thriller it works quite well although it follows the nastiest possible scenario for old-fashioned tabloid exploitation results. Along the way we are asked to believe that a slight 14-year-old girl could do certain things I won’t mention to a fit 30-year-old man – not possible I think. We are given very limited back-stories for the two of them so it is difficult to engage on a thinking level. The filming is professionally done although there were too many extreme close-ups for my taste. The two actors do engage fully in their roles with Patrick Wilson particularly good at end of his tether acting, although one fears for his career if he does too much of this kind of stuff. Two stars for technical competence but nothing really for the content. Avoid if of a nervous disposition.

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