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Movies / Upcoming / Candy
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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61 - 79 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

An Australian drama about two lovers addicted to heroin that offers no fresh insights into this obsession.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
11/17/06
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Dark, depressing and hard to watch at time ... solid performances, especially from Abbie Cornish, who may be the best new actress to materialize this year.

Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | comment Comment
11/16/06
Edward Douglas
Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net

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

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

If the characters' trajectory feels pre-ordained, the actors force us to sit up and pay attention with renewed focus.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
11/16/06
Jan Stuart
Jan Stuart
Newsday

Impressively directed, moving and frequently harrowing drama with strong performances from both Cornish and Ledger.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
11/16/06
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Even as they spiral inevitably downward from ecstasy to hell -- she turns tricks, he steals -- they somehow still look really attractive, which is a ridiculous thing.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
11/15/06
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

An excellent, heartfelt film to compare with Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
11/15/06
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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]

Harrowing and strongly moving, this junkie drama beautifully explores the emotional core of its characters. It helps, of course, that the cast is this good.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
11/15/06
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Despite being well made and supremely acted, Candy is a true feel-bad experience.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
11/14/06
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

After 'Brokeback Mountain' Heath Ledger goes on to a second self-sacrificial role in the reigning standard of gritty and graphic junkie destruction derbies.

Full Review Source: Monsters and Critics | comment Comment
11/11/06
Ron Wilkinson
Ron Wilkinson
Monsters and Critics

It leaves Ledger and Cornish all smacked up with nowhere to go.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
11/11/06
Jamie Russell
Jamie Russell
BBC

There have been other movies about heroin addicts, but none more harrowing than Candy.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
11/08/06
Rex Reed
Rex Reed
New York Observer

[A] slightly over-familiar but neatly told story of a sexual/romantic passion at once partly fuelled and blighted by drug addiction.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
10/28/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

An Australian rendition of Requiem for a Dream in which pretty people live in filth, steal from their relatives, and turn tricks in order to satiate their narcotics cravings.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
10/19/06
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Slant Magazine

Despite a fine performance by Abbie Cornish (Somersault) in the title role, film belongs to Heath Ledger in terms of narrative and identification.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
10/18/06
Russell Edwards
Russell Edwards
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Candy doesn't just accidentally fall into addiction, she takes that path deliberately and doesn't want to get off the train, and we're never really given a reason to understand the whys and wherefores of her actions.

Full Review Source: Cinematical | comment Comment
09/23/06
Kim Voynar
Kim Voynar
Cinematical

...a surprisingly engaging and emotionally wrenching piece of work.

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
09/10/06
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
 
 
61 - 79 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4
all

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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