Phonearl
Good start, but then it gets ruined
Holstra
Boring, long, and too preachy.
Stoutor
It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.
richard-fieldhouse
Lona and Bennett have been competing since kindergarten, maybe egged by their mothers who seem to have some issues that need to be resolved. And now college is beckoning them - Havard - or Yale - or not. Partly to look good on their CVs they are in the school debate club. But here everything gets very strange as competitive debating seems to have degenerated into a kind of bizarre speed talking contest in which points of evidence are made so fast that scarcely anyone understands.Lona and Bennett are in some ways hugely similar and in others diametrically opposed so boy - girl, black - white, but both with single mothers, both geeks, bookworms, loners, and both very much attached to Kathy, a school counselor whose room is filled with the candy jars that give the film its title.It's an unusual idea but it makes the film fresh and different. For me, the nonsensical debating process was a bit of a distraction, but maybe the very fact that we don't understand what they're struggling to achieve, let alone the actual arguments they make, maybe that helps us focus on them and how they matter more.
Slick11231973
My title states the basics. This movie was PC garbage for the crazy liberals.
larrycothran
Candy Jar is like watching the pressure of a purpose driven life spill out of a young woman's diary onto the screen and then draw you into story to the point you feel and experience what she is going through.I started watching Candy Jar because Helen Hunt and Christina Hendricks were among the cast. That drew me in initially but the acting by Jacob Latimore and Sami Gayle kept me glued to the screen.It's a teen angst, high pressure to get into Ivy League school set up with a more subtle message in the overtones and in the finale. Light hearted, yet poignant as it seeps into your emotions and evokes feelings for and with Lona and Bennett.My favorite movie this year so far.
randyfreemire
My initial draw to this film was that these two characters would be debating with all the intense energy high schoolers are known for. That's a real feat to pull off well, the split second timing and in and outs of the debate topic. Turns out that this kind of 'debate' is based on READING your research as fast as you can for 8 minutes, there was no real debate, very annoying to listen to, and there was no real demonstration of their brillian minds, we have to take that on faith. Huge disappointment, and gave very little for the film to run on.Other than that, it's your typical story of boy and girl that don't like each other until they fall for each other, and over achievers that spend all their time studying, and realize what they've been missing out on their life. Wasn't worth the time to watch. I think these actors had it in them to pull of real debates, but the creator / scriptwriters took the easy way out.
