By Robert Scucci
| Published
There’s something just so satisfying about watching a child predator get what’s coming to him, and if you grew up taking a little too much pleasure in Chris Hansen saying his famous catchphrase, “why don’t you take a seat over there,” on his To Catch a Predator series, Hard Candy might just be the revenge flick you’re looking for. Always tense to the point where your toes curl up, but not without a dark sense of humor, Hard Candy turns a would-be victim of online grooming into the kind of vigilante that you’d never want to cross – even if you’re just an innocent bystander who happens to be completely unaware of what’s at stake – because she doesn’t have any time at all for your BS if you get in her way.
While I admit that it’s hard to have the stomach for films like Hard Candy, it wins serious points as an effective thriller for never once breaking the tension in a way that assures you that everything is going to be okay (spoiler alert: you’re gonna throw up).
Hayley And Jeff, A Match Made In Hell
Hard Candy spends a majority of its run-time focusing on Hayley (Elliot Page) and Jeff (Patrick Wilson)– the former being a well-read and endlessly curious 14-year-old girl, and the latter being the 32-year-old photographer who has been chatting with her online, eager to finally meet up. Hayley, who seems so sweet and innocent at first, suggests that they go back to Jeff’s place after meeting up at a cafe, while Jeff tries everything within his power to contain his excitement about bringing a minor home with him to do god knows what to her.
After surveying his house and getting the lay of the land, Hayley fixes drinks for herself and Jeff, and eggs him on to bust out his camera so he could engage in a photo shoot with her, just like he had done with other girl models her age in the past. Hard Candy shows its teeth when Jeff loses consciousness because Hayley drugged him, and has plans to torture him into admitting that he’s responsible for the disappearance of a local girl her age named Donna Mauer.
Hayley, though she’s barely a teenager, is wise beyond her years when it comes to the psychological games she plays with Jeff as he pleads for his life while she tears his place apart looking for evidence that would incriminate him in Donna’s missing persons case. Switching back and forth from sweet and gentle, to calculating and terrifying, Hayley is brought to life by Elliot Page in ways that will keep you up at night wondering what horrible things have happened to her in the past to make her finally snap and take matters into her own hands.
A Simple Game Of Cat And Mouse
Though Hard Candy’s narrative framework plays out like a Breaking Bad bottle episode with a bare-bones cast and simple setting, Patrick Wilson and Elliot Page’s performances are so electric that you can’t help but be enthralled from start to finish because of how emotionally conflicting (and draining) its premise actually is.
As a girl dad myself, I found myself rooting for Hayley the entire time because her treatment of Jeff is clearly coming from a dark place that no teenage girl should ever have to experience at this point in her life, leading me to believe that she’s right to subject Jeff to the torture he’s experiencing.
Conversely, Jeff has moments throughout Hard Candy when he comes off as a sympathetic character (because who wants to believe that Patrick Wilson is the bad guy?), leading you to believe that he might not be the predator we’re all assuming he is, and that Hayley is pursuing the wrong guy. The conflicting dynamic between Hayley the captor, and Jeff, the victim, never eases up, and you don’t get the payoff you’re looking for until the final 10 seconds of the film after over 100 minutes of escalation.
Not Easy To Watch, But Worth The Struggle
If you’re made squeamish by the kind of subject matter that Hard Candy so brazenly explores, this might not be the movie for you. But if you want to be pushed to your limit while watching the events that take place inside of Jeff’s home unfold, you’re in for a treat because there’s not a single moment of relief that this film has to offer.
As of this writing, you can stream Hard Candy for free on Tubi.
