WaffleMovies.com


 

Back Shelf Beauties
by Willie Waffle

Click Here to Buy Movie Posters!
Click Here to Buy
Movie Posters!

Candy

Heath Ledger stars as Dan – a drug addict in love.  He doesn’t have a real job and sponges off of a pal, Casper (Geoffrey Rush), when he needs a few bucks.  Now, he’s in a serious relationship with Candy (Abbie “you know who” Cornish), and they have started a joint descent into the hell of drug addiction, forcing her to make money however she can, while her parents are worried about where it will all end.

Will Dan and Candy live happily ever after?  Can they kick the habit?

Candy is a rough movie to watch, but the acting performances make it worth it.  I was worried about Cornish after she appeared in A Good Year with Russell Crowe (a stain on any career, especially Crowe’s), but she shows excellent ability in a movie that forces her to show the downward spiral drugs will take them both on.  She goes from the sweet, lovable lady to hard core junkie full of rage at her life and what it has become.  While Ledger is good as the addle brained loser who doesn’t seem to have any control over his life, Cornish is the one who shocks you with her ability to channel inner rage and spit it out at her co-star as she puts out one of the better acting performances of the year.

Writer/director Neil Armfeld (based on the novel by Luke Davies) perfectly captures the absolute loserdom of drug addiction, but never forgets to make sure we see the characters as flawed people making horrible choices and hurting their loving (and possibly flawed as well) families, instead of stereotypical druggies.  The naming of the three acts (Heaven, Earth and Hell) is a bit of overkill, and I wish we had more development instead of the same old trouble of how they will try to get drugs today, followed by lots of yelling. 

In the end, it’s worth it to see Cornish and Ledger, even if you walk out of the theater feeling like you were emotionally hit by a truck.

3 Waffles (Out Of 4)

Candy is rated R for pervasive depiction of drug addiction, disturbing images, language and sexual content. 

Copyright 2006 - WaffleMovies.com

You can support this site by shopping at AllPosters.com Click here to buy posters!