MovieChat Forums > Hard Candy (2006) Discussion > This movie utterly SUCKS, and here is pr...

This movie utterly SUCKS, and here is precisely why:

posted 11 years ago by ohdearurdead
67 replies | jump to latest

I hated this movie after finishing it, and I set out to do some research on its redeeming qualities in case there was something I had overlooked. I found nothing. The problem is the following:

Considering what the movie was trying to say, it is completely UNACCEPTABLE that "Haeley" did not die at the end. The movie needed it - well, ANYTHING - and the filmmakers did NOT have the balls to do it. Nothing happened to her, despite the fact that she was getting perverted joy out of torturing him. They tackled a controversial topic in an attempt to be cool and hip, and yet they ended up making a heap of crap of a flick that is sure to please each and every conservative and pedophile-hater. People who abuse children deserve zero sympathy, that's a given. But let's look at the facts right here:

This movie features a supposedly underage girl who chops off a pedophile's balls, while insulting and torturing him all the way. The pedophile hangs himself in the end, after having the girl lie to him once again. Nothing happens to the girl, and she learns nothing. NOTHING. Nothing about life, about people, about things perhaps not being as black and white as they first seem.Instead, a pedophile gets mutilated, just what everyone wants to see, and it's then milked for views.

What a *beep* of *beep* I rated this movie 1/10 in an attempt to bring its mediocre rating even lower. This was the biggest pile of pretentious crap I have seen in a long time. The filmmakers milked an interesting idea and offered the viewer zero substance. Completely unacceptable and pathetic.

I am open to opposing views, but HOW could you ever counter what I just said? There is no substance.

[–] dini0519 11 years ago

I didn't like it at all either and will also rate it a 1 in order to bring the rating down. It was a sick movie. Several posters on here liked it though. I was alternately repulsed and sometimes bored. Yuck.

Dini

[–] Volley2015 11 years ago

They did such a poor job with Haley that I was actually rooting for the pedophile to take her down.... and that's pathetic.

Somehow Haley has all these magical powers with ropes, and being able to tie them as tight as possible, up high in the air, run around on the roof seconds after leaving the room, pretending to castrate him after pretending for like 30 minutes in his lower regions--just what was she doing down there for all that time, then leaving the room and pretending to take a shower because she knew he would escape from his ropes seconds later.. ugh..

Meanwhile the entire time she's pretending to castrate him she's playing doctor, fondling his hard candy and pretending to cut off what's below... like it's just sick.

There needs to be a revenge on Haley sequel I think.

[–] FenwayFrankie 9 years ago

I liked this movie but also agree that some is just not rational.

He could have easily left after he untied himself the 1st time.

There is no guarantee someone wouldn't hear him scream.

There is no way that the castration video would look exactly like what she is doing.

He would have seen she wasn't in the shower, therefore not attacked and tied up a 2nd time.

Hanging the ropes in the kitchen is sooo far fetched.

Having the ladder at the roof does not guarantee he would go up there.

"That is rather slippery of you agent Starling"

[–] ForTheNonce 11 years ago

Nothing happened to her, despite the fact that she was getting perverted joy out of torturing him.

What scenes do we see her getting "perverted joy" out of torturing him? She was trying to find out if he did it. She went through numerous life-threatening situations and pain to make sure he was guilty. It was strongly implied that she knew the victim; if it was a parent doing this to the same man would you think it was perverted joy?

[–] eddie_lawrence 11 years ago

Some of the facts in this post are wrong; but in essence the overall judgement is correct: this movie well and truly sucks. It's one sided, irresponsible, hysterical, sanctimonious. Where was the shading, the nuance? Life is much more gray than depicted in this awful rubbish. The avenging actress, who I presume is meant to get our sympathy, didn't get mine. She was a smarmy sadist whom I loathed and was on the point of switching her off every few minutes or so. I kept telling myself it would get better. No one can look at a child in the street because of beep like this without drawing suspicion; it doesn't raise awareness, it just creates a nasty society.

[–] therefdotcom 11 years ago

i was puzzled as to where this post was heading, just until...

"No one can look at a child in the street because of beep like this without drawing suspicion;"

i rest my case.

"laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." - Dae-su Oh

[–] eddie_lawrence 11 years ago

How perceptive. That's right, I'm a paedophile, one of the misunderstood and misrepresented deviants which this movie attempts to demonise by pandering to cheap human instincts. Feel better now?

[–] therefdotcom 11 years ago

what's your address? please be specific.

"laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." - Dae-su Oh

[–] eddie_lawrence 11 years ago

You can have it, if you come alone.
First, please explain how you have rested your case when you put forward no argument. This is the kind of lazy smugness - of the herd - which never advances a debate.

[–] therefdotcom 11 years ago

i would send my friend. she calls herself hayley. not sure if that's her real name though.

"laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone." - Dae-su Oh

[–] eddie_lawrence 11 years ago

Oh dear, you're one of those ciphers who aren't very bright but think they are; and if it wasn't for the web wouldn't exist at all.
What's my address? (the judge wants to take the law into his own hands).
Your inane comment undermines your case - that opening sneer. A paedophile confession of itself is not proof of any crime, yet you want to come round to my place and castrate me on the strength of unsubstantiated evidence, hearsay. Instead of resting your case you ought to be locked up for stupidity.

[–] therefdotcom 10 years ago

don't project your sexual preferences on others, mate.

[–] iSkyWalKing 8 years ago

I agree with eddie here. You are a fkn moron. Stop trying to white knight and sit your arse down. You are not impressing anyone. Matter of fact, the way you are over-doing your whole shtick here actually makes YOU look suspicious. The only one projecting anything here from my perspective is YOU. Shut the fk up...mate.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] novastar_6 11 years ago

Of course it's one sided, how many people want to see a movie from the POV of a pedophile and child murderer?

[–] caroline-189 11 years ago

Its all about the mind games that's the point - she doesn't do it as shes not as low scum as he is. Also, as stated he would rather eat glass than loose his balls, what does he think he needs them for?? If he really regrets it, then loosing his balls is just punishment. This should apply to all peados

[–] eddie_lawrence 11 years ago

No matter how unpalatable the facts, it is important always to see both viewpoints. If we don't understand these people, then how are we to protect ourselves from them - without resorting to the equally reprehensible measures advocated by a psychopathic 14 year old? Without balanced argument, any film of this sort purporting to expose the depravity of a single group lacks integrity. More to the point, it is the duty of a civilised society to help them see their error. Justice demands it if retribution is not to be reduced to the lynch mob. I am as appalled and intolerant of these freaks as anyone here, but I would hate to string up the wrong man. The film is certainly unsettling, just not for the right reasons. It had as much going for it as Michael Haneke's Funny Games. Anyone seen The Hunt?

[–] therefdotcom 10 years ago

"It had as much going for it as Michael Haneke's Funny Games."

which you obviously did not get either.

[–] scootergirl9988 9 years ago

"If we don't understand these people, then how are we to protect ourselves from them"

Simple. We're not.

There are studies galore on murderers, psychopaths, sociopaths, pedophiles, you name it, but not one of those studies has been able to find a unifying factor in what drives them, never mind come close to being able to spot them with any degree of accuracy. Oh, I suppose we could force all people to get in depth psychiatric evaluation but even then there's no guarantee. Besides, do we really want to punish or isolate people for things they haven't done yet based upon some shrinks evaluation?

The only protection is common sense and luck. It's far from perfect but given the fact that humans are a highly flawed species it's all we have if that species is to keep any semblance of freedom.

"Nothing is more ill bred than trying to steal the affections of someone else's dog."

[–] mirta1 11 years ago

that is sure to please each and every conservative and pedophile-hater

I might be missing something, but could "pedophile-hater" really be a separate category from "run-of-the-mill human being"? Just the way it's phrased though, to put it there in a way that suggests someone would be wrong to *really disapprove* of paedophilia, and also to lump them in with "conservatives" for some strange reason.

[–] reverendkervin 10 years ago

Agreed. He is clearly guilty at the end of the movie, and he was not castrated (read the faq). He jumps off the roof because he is guilty and does not want to be found out by the woman he loves. Did any of us even watch the same movie? And yeah is being a conservative AND a pedophile hater somehow similar? Do liberals not hate pedophiles? Is she really a psychopath or someone bent on revenge on an a pedophile-rapist-murderer? Are any of you parents? Did anyone even watch the same movie as me? aren't all 14-17 yr old girls kind of annoying? I dunno, I didnt think the movie was great but beyond being a revenge flick, I don't see how the movie is supposed to be better by the Haley character learning something. So now you're relating to the pederast because you're annoyed by teenagers? Somehow being an annoying teenager is on par with being a murderous pedophile? I'd really question whether someone who had something terrible to someone they loved be it child friend or relative isn't in their first instinct to seek revenge in the most damaging way possible, or at least thought about it. Most surveys on that actually support that that is usually the first thought. Anyways, the responses here are hilarious. Mind-numbingly hilarious.IMO.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] keyser_soze_smokes 10 years ago

Pandas.

=======================================
🐋 Doggy dolphins? 💅Erection?

[–] Splarne 10 years ago

naked pandas.

***

Go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!

[–] markleachsa-1 10 years ago

Just a point of fact. The word pederast refers to a man who has sexual relations with an underage boy. Ellen Page, and her character, is definitely a girl.

[–] lostn 10 years ago

I hate pedophiles too. I watched Trust which is about a girl who is victim of a pedophile, and I wanted what happened to Jeff to happen to that guy, who never actually got his just deserts.

But even having said that, I found this film hard to watch and returned it after getting half way. I wasn't enjoying the torture (maybe because I don't like torture films in general) even though he deserved it, and I have no sympathy for pedophiles.

It might be down to Ellen Paige's portrayal of the girl, her sadism, and her unsympathetic enjoyment of the torture. If they made her more of a victim who turned the tables around on him only near the end, I might have welcomed the torture he got.

I totally think Jeff deserved some payback, but not by a cunning devious girl. Like you said, this is giving the viewers what they want to see happen to pedophiles. I would rather he be arrested or killed by the police. She should have tortured him for a bit, then he breaks free and torments her back, but in the nick of time the cops show up, who then shoot him dead. But then, I'm no director, and maybe this film would have sucked.

[–] therefdotcom 10 years ago

"I wasn't enjoying the torture"

you weren't supposed to.

"I totally think Jeff deserved some payback, but not by a cunning devious girl."

who better than a devious girl?

[–] mdonln 10 years ago

I think I rated this movie 7. I 'liked' it in the sense I felt it was a very good character portrayal of both Hayley and Jeff and the actors did a great job in their respective roles.

I agree with almost everything you said except technically she did not actually castrate him. It makes absolutely no difference but for accuracy's sake let's get the facts right. It would be like saying she shot him. Well, as a fact, she didn't shoot him but in the scheme of things, it doesn't much matter.

The movie also won points with me because it deals with difficult, polarizing issues that should be discussed. I don't know if we're supposed to 'feel' something for her but I didn't - just total repulsion.

The problem I had with the film is it seems to try to straddle a line that I don't feel really exists. In my view, which you and others share, Hayley's completely wrong; at all times she's the aggressor and predator and he's her victim.

[–] Kid_Lukeboy 10 years ago

Agreed with the OP. This movie is one-dimensional to the umpteenth power!!

[–] aburn-1 10 years ago

no matter how much people want it to be, this movie will never be the same as the show Knight Rider.