Metacritic Movie Ratings
Hard Candy Reviews

3.0

out of 100

Metascore^®
Mixed or average reviews
Based on a weighted average of all critic review scores.

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

90

out of 100

The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
To pull this kind of thing off you need exceptional performances, and the two leads rise commandingly to the challenge. Wilson, best known for his work in the screen version of "The Phantom of the Opera" and HBO's "Angels in America," keeps his true colors effectively muted throughout the bulk of their face-off, but it is Page who astonishes.

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88

out of 100

Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Hard Candy is impressive and effective. As for what else it may be, each audience member will have to decide.

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88

out of 100

USA TodayMike Clark
Hard Candy, a highly original psychological thriller/revenge fantasy, can be bitterly hard to take and uncomfortably intense, but it's well worth consuming.

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83

out of 100

Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Hard Candy is extreme - a battle of the sexes that glides from tricky to angry to shockingly ugly.

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70

out of 100

VarietyTodd McCarthy
A spectacular performance by teenage thesp Ellen Page elevates this disturbing slice of designer shocksploitation into a film that's impossible to dismiss on principle.

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70

out of 100

Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
To give the film its due, the direction is expert, the writing is shrewd, the cinematography is stylish, and the performances are extraordinary... Hard Candy is also sadistic in its own right, relentlessly ugly, entirely heartless and eventually unendurable. It's torture.

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40

out of 100

Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
Maddeningly exploitative, the film takes a provocative subject -- pedophilia -- and wraps it in a sterile, vacuum-sealed package, devoid of meaning.

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30

out of 100

The New York TimesManohla Dargis
During the ensuing narrative unpleasantness and visual incoherence (meaningless choker close-ups, pointless slow motion), Hayley subjects Jeff to a range of torture, all in the name of, well, what? Despite the two fine performances, it's hard to say.

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