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Candy (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:74
Fresh:36
Rotten:38
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: Stars Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish look better than they should as heroin addicts, and their characters are too absorbed and self-pitying to be totally compelling.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for pervasive depiction of drug addiction, disturbing images, language, sexual content and nudity.
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:03-11-2006
Synopsis: In Neil Armfield's CANDY, Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish play Dan and Candy, two young bohemians who fall madly in love while shooting heroin together. In the beginning, the couple's days are... In Neil Armfield's CANDY, Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish play Dan and Candy, two young bohemians who fall madly in love while shooting heroin together. In the beginning, the couple's days are occupied with making love, shoplifting, and having a strung-out wedding day that ends with a lot of giggling over a couple of Big Macs. Despite Candy's disapproving parents, they cling to each other with a fierceness that shuts out any and all outside criticism. When funds or drugs are low they pop by the house of a pharmacology professor named Casper (Geoffrey Rush), who uses his professional expertise to supply them with pharmaceutical-grade heroin. As the reality of their addiction creeps to the forefront, they must turn to desperate measures to get their fix. Candy becomes a prostitute, and Dan a thief and con man. When Candy discovers she's pregnant, they decide to go cold turkey, but the horrific side effects of withdrawal result in a miscarriage. The two tumble into despair, and opt to move to the country to try methadone treatments. Candy's depression soon blooms into a full-blown nervous breakdown, and as her parents finally usher her into rehab, Dan returns to his friend Casper for comfort, only to find him dead of an overdose. Heroin abuse--with its soaring highs and inevitable crash--has been well-documented in many films. However, CANDY brings something fresh to the story with its focus on the doomed junkie love affair. Candy and Dan tumble into each other much in the same way they descend into addiction--with a white-hot, desperate need that blinds them to reality. It's a moving, realistic portrait of how that kind of all-encompassing, obsessive love can sometimes be just as powerful as any drug, and just as hard to kick. [More]
Starring: Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish, Geoffrey Rush, Paul Blackwell
Starring: Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish, Geoffrey Rush, Paul Blackwell, Tom Budge, Nathaniel Dean, Sandy Winton
Director: Neil Armfield
Director: Neil Armfield
Producer: Emile Sherman, Margaret Fink
Studio: ThinkFilm
Reviews for Candy
There's no moment that truly feels original until Candy's climactic breakdown at the end of the movie. By then, it's too late.
Candy is pretty much the standard, downbeat, drug-addicts-in-love tale we've seen repeatedly over the years.
It's not entertainment by any means, but it is riveting and rewarding viewing.
Think of this warts-and-all misadventure as the cinematic equivalent of a 'Just Say No' public service announcement.
A dispiriting, predictable slog toward either (a) redemption or (b) death.
[T]here's a lot of cinematic pleasure to be had in Heath Ledger's thoroughly un-self-conscious performance...
For all its depiction of a descent into drug addiction, Candy is filled with surprisingly sweet moments and goes down more easily than seems possible given the subject matter.
Drug addiction is bad. Given the universal consensus on this topic, anyone making a movie about it needs to come up with a fresh approach.
...Our time with Candy and Dan, though tediously long, feels superficial.
Both actors are immensely impressive, so perversely appealing that you want them to survive their addiction and keep on with their terrific performances.
Just because you're a poet and in love and jamming spikes in your veins in the deepest downest underer, it doesn't make you Nick Cave.
Though studded with strong moments, ultimately has the feel of a harder, more unflinching version of a monitory after-school special.
Doesn't deviate much from the downward-spiral norm, but benefits hugely from an atypically loose performance by Heath Ledger.
... doesn't have anything new to say. But it takes a quieter, more intently observed approach to the usual stereotypes and the texture of their experience."
Ledger’s first film since the one-two punch of Brokeback and Casanova reinforces the almost always accurate admonition “Just say no to drug addiction films.”
Director Neil Armfield reaps rewards for the trust he places in his actors.
There's a formula here, and it's not the liquid being shot into popping veins.
It doesn't register as strongly as director Neil Armfield might have intended, and that may simply be due to the dog-eared nature of the material.
Latest News for Candy
March 13, 2007:
"Candy" Girl to be Bond's Next Flame?
Just in time for the DVD release of "Casino Royale" comes word, via IGN, of rumors regarding who'll vamp it up opposite Daniel Craig in the inevitable next Bond movie.... More...
December 07, 2006:
A Few Random "Dark Knight" Nuggets
Poor Heath Ledger is out there on the circuit trying to promote his indie flick "Candy" -- and all he's getting are "The Dark Knight" questions! Ah well, I... More...
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