“Hard Candy,” named after Internet slag for an underage girl, was aptly named because it was hard to swallow.
The opening credit sequence was simple but well done. The movie then began with a slightly suggestive online conversation between two unknown people, one with the alias “Thongrrrl14” and the other called “Lensman319.” After they agree to meet in a centrally located coffee shop called Nighthawks, the scene changes.
In the coffee shop, a young teenage girl is eating cake when a man walks up and surprises her.
Jeff, played by Patrick Wilson, and Hayley, played by Ellen Page, begin talking and slightly flirting while purchasing various desserts and coffee. As they talk, their relationship begins to define itself. Jeff, 32, met Hayley, 14, online and finally meet in public thereafter.
Jeff is suave and sexy while Hayley seems to be a slightly typical teenage girl – insecure and craving attention. However, she shows other sides of her personality as well, both flirting with him and then pointing out that he has been seen in public with her today before agreeing to go to his house.
At first, it seems she is simply joking around, but later scenes in the movie reveal how truly perfect her comment was. Once they arrive at the house, the feeling that the situation is shifting begins to grow. Hayley seems to know exactly what she is doing, even while getting drunk. For example, she takes the necessary precaution of not drinking anything she didn’t pour herself. Jeff also seems to feel as if he is in control of the situation. However, a sudden turn of events shifts the mood, flow and theme of the movie itself.
What happens after is possibly the weirdest change of tone in any recent movie. It becomes sick and twisted, and causes the audience to be visibly confused about what had just happened. The confusion stemmed from not understanding the motive for the shift as well as from the subsequent events.
Occasionally, the audience laughed, but it was due to dark humor, or at something that was almost so absurd as to be funny. However, there was one extended scene that elicited gasps rather than laughs and audible shock. One woman ran from the theater covering her mouth in disgust.
Overall, the movie was difficult to watch. Some scenes attempted to be hard hitting about online pedophiles, while others fell flat due to the slow and repetitive acting and plot.
Wilson played Jeff in such a monotonous way that made him seem almost bored with Hayley’s antics. Certain scenes exposed Page’s emotion but none made her seem truly real.
As almost the entire movie takes place inside Jeff’s house, the result is a boxed-in feeling that overshadows the few thrilling scenes. Sandra Oh as Judy provides the only sane character in the entire movie. The ending proved to be somewhat “thrilling,” but it was too late to make “Hard Candy” even slightly edible.
