Candy 2006

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: [Heath Ledger] is alive and awake and interesting every minute of Candy. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: There have been other movies about heroin addicts, but none more harrowing than Candy. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Unfortunately too many elements of this Australian feature have been recycled from other addiction stories... Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: As good as the main performances are, they're inevitably flatter than the language of the film's narrator. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: I think it's a very strong effort. Read more

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Though it's a well-worn story, Candy does touch on a universal anxiety. For two people basking in the heat of an all-consuming love, what happens when the power gets cut off? Read more

Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic: 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. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: It's one thing for a movie to show us the perils of addiction. It's another for it to give us two people who can't seem to find any joy in it. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: ... for a druggie movie, "Candy" is surprisingly dynamic and involving ... Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Rehab comes not a moment too soon. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: 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. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Undeniably affecting. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Davies has no new insights into the heroin spiral, but this silly melodrama benefits from the palpable chemistry between Ledger and Cornish Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: If the characters' trajectory feels pre-ordained, the actors force us to sit up and pay attention with renewed focus. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: For Ledger, it's the opportunity to do the sort of flat-out, high-risk role young actors often claim to be desperate for, but are rarely willing to chase. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: ... although there are some very striking moments in Neil Armfield's debut, there are simply not enough to keep us absorbed the way a movie should. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Despite being well made and supremely acted, Candy is a true feel-bad experience. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.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. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: 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. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: In the end, Candy is a little too sweet and not quite harmful enough to the audience's health. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated 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. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: [A] slightly over-familiar but neatly told story of a sexual/romantic passion at once partly fuelled and blighted by drug addiction. Read more

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

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: ... a flawed but engrossing parable on love and sacrifice. Read more