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Candy

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Candy (2006)

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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.

Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $0

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

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Reviews for Candy

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1 - 20 (sorted by comments; Australian critics are listed first)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: In Film Australia | comment Comment
11/15/06
In Film Australia
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Watching Neil Armfield's beautifully directed film Candy is a little like looking through a window and watching pain.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
06/15/06
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The question is whether "Candy" is intended to be an honest and unflinching look at the junkie life, or merely trying to top "Trainspotting" and its ilk.

Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI) | comment 1 Comment
01/04/07
Rob Thomas
Rob Thomas
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
12/30/06
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
05/12/07
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Davies has no new insights into the heroin spiral, but this silly melodrama benefits from the palpable chemistry between Ledger and Cornish

Full Review Source: I.E. Weekly | comment Comment
05/15/09
Amy Nicholson
Amy Nicholson
I.E. Weekly

Acting with his own accent for the first time since he became a movie star, Ledger is something of a revelation in this role.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
11/16/06
Andrew O'Hehir
Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com

Doesn't deviate much from the downward-spiral norm, but benefits hugely from an atypically loose performance by Heath Ledger.

Full Review Source: The Stranger (Seattle, WA) | comment Comment
12/07/06
Andrew Wright
Andrew Wright
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)

Those with the stomach for searing drama will recognise superior writing, direction and acting in one of the most heartbreaking films of the year.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/30/06
Angie Errigo
Angie Errigo
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.”

Full Review Source: FilmStew.com | comment Comment
12/07/06
Brett Buckalew
Brett Buckalew
FilmStew.com

Beautifully shot and wonderfully directed, Candy is a gut-wrenching, sobering, and passionate look at relationships, addiction, and one woman's journey down the rabbit hole.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
11/17/06
Brie Beazley
Brie Beazley
Reel.com

... for a druggie movie, "Candy" is surprisingly dynamic and involving ...

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
11/30/06
Carina Chocano
Carina Chocano
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The performances are good, but it would be hard to recommend this to anyone unless you have a lovely daughter who's dating a sleaze-bag and you want her to watch it as a deterrent.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
01/19/07
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

Director Armfield coaxes excellent performances from his performers, almost making up for the thinness of the material

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
11/16/06
Chris Barsanti
Chris Barsanti
Filmcritic.com

Director Neil Armfield reaps rewards for the trust he places in his actors.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
12/07/06
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

...Because we never had a strong handle on who all these people were at the beginning, it's difficult to care about whether they're capable of redemption in the end.

Full Review Source: Associated Press | comment Comment
12/01/06
Christy Lemire
Christy Lemire
Associated Press

Both actors are immensely impressive, so perversely appealing that you want them to survive their addiction and keep on with their terrific performances.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
12/14/06
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

In this brief, brutal moment of Candy's voice, the film is almost something new. But she exists, at last, beyond Dan and beyond Candy.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
11/25/06
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

In the end, Candy is a little too sweet and not quite harmful enough to the audience's health.

Full Review Source: Slate | comment Comment
11/17/06
Dana Stevens
Dana Stevens
Slate

Both actors put in terrific performances while the film captures the grim, grinding cycle of dependence just perfectly. But for all that, it’s very hard to get excited about a film with so little to say about [such] rich topics.

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
11/15/06
David Edwards
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments; Australian critics are listed first)
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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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