I Want Candy

Released between 300 and Mr.Bean's Holiday, this British production never really had a chance at the Box-Office despite a clever plot, amusing trailer and presence of sex siren Carmen Electra. The film didn't score to well with critics either, comments such as "It's a dire sex comedy" and "a crude, leering poorly timed farce" where pretty much commen place. Still is the film bad enough to warrant a battering on all fronts (no pun intended)? The answer is no. The plot is a clever enough little idea, two geeky film students in attempting to sell a film pitch end up agreeing to make a porn flick for the wrong people. They are offered the service of Candy Fiveways (Carmen Electra) the worlds most famous adult film star, but even with this supposed blessing, they still have to defeat the obstacles that include suspicious parents, a lack of cash and their general inexperience behind the camera. I want Candy is still waiting on a US release and so marks one of few films we get first. The film is heavily flawed but there's a charm that carry's this picture and despite being a movie with more sex toys, lesbian love scenes and innuendos than you can count it's really quite good natured. The young cast are pretty solid and whilst I don't expect to see either Tom Burke or Tom Riley become the next Hugh Grant, both might just manage in this business. Both convey a sense of excitement and dread concerning their problem, but overall the balance really feels quite nice and realistic. More often than not we are encouraged to laugh at the pratfalls Tom and err...Tom find themselves drawn into. That grows harder as the picture goes on, indeed the audience felt a lot of sympathey for the two lads on more than one occasion, and that can get in the way of belly laughter. Electra doesn't really have any acting chops to stretch but the former Baywatch babe is a likable candy, a women who despite her career and physical attributes is intelligent and something of a film buff. In many ways Electra grounds the picture and offers as many good jokes as anybody else, probably around half a dozen or so. Pirates Of The Caribbean star MacKenzie Crook offers up a few decent chuckles as the boys teacher, and Jimmy Carr manages a neat cameo as a dodgy video store clerk. The script is a bit hit and miss particularly during the middle section of the movie, I found myself laughing more at the beginning and end. That's not so say the script isn't inspired in sections, I really was caught off guard by several of the gags but to many jokes where predictable and a fair bit of the material feels recycled. Director Stephen Surjik who directed the second and vastly weaker Wayne's Worlds should be pleased enough with the final outcome, it matches anything else on his CV in terms of quality. The production looks pretty cheap and I expect the explanation for this is also the simplest. The film can't have been made on a mega budget, indeed with US release still uncertain it's fair to say the amount of money pumped in could well be miniscule. The cinematography is weak and the film looks made for T.V, which will always distract no matter how sharp a script the film boasts. The film is bound to have a lot of people recoiling in their seats as the cringe inducing scenarios pile up. Having to listen to your mum and dad having sex whilst your locked in their en suite may be bad, but thats only a fraction of the embarrassment the boys have to suffer. Last year I watched a movie called The Moguls which starred Jeff Bridges and had a similar plot to this project. I Want Candy emerges as far the better flick, and so anybody who got a kick out the first film will almost certainly enjoy this one.

This is a great British comedy about a couple of film students (Joe and Baggy) who try and get their script "The Love Storm". After going to a few production companies they arrive at an adult film company run by Doug (Eddie Marsan). Joe decides to make the movie into an erotic movie and tries to hire the biggest name in porn - Candy Fiveways (played by Carmen Electra).

Surprisingly there is no nudity in this film but there are quite a few funny scenes. One involves an actor and lets just say thank god for wet wipes. Another involves an Asian babe and ping pong balls. Jimmy Carr and Mackenzie Crook provide some decent scenes between them too.

This is a real British feel good comedy and provides all that is needed for this type of film. I give it 8/10.

I went to see this movie with few expectations, reasoning that even if it was awful there would be lots of pretty people to look at. It was actually really entertaining and genuinely funny throughout, and in lots of different ways. The posters make it look like it will be a soft porn romp, but apart from a few underwear shots, its all very clean. I wouldn't necessarily say take your mother, but it is a very enjoyable film. You really get a feel for the characters, and it is the interactions between them that really makes the film what it is, even with the minor characters, Crook in particular plays a great role as the hippy-ish, pretentious college teacher, who even though he pops up rarely in the film steals the scene every time. Even Carmen Electra, who you wouldn't have thought of as a dialog actress puts in a really believable performance as a the porn star with both a brain and a heart. It's not often I laugh out loud at a film but I did at this,lots. Give it a try and you'll be amused, especially in what is a fairly poor week at the box office.

I Want Candy is a smutty farce about two film students who are supposed to make a 2 minute short for their college project but instead end up making a hardcore porn film starring Candy Fiveways (Carmen Electra) at one of their parent's home.

Tom Riley and Tom Burke have early roles, Burke looks almost unrecognisable as the fresh faced wannabe director. Both are likeable as the naive young men who want to break into movies.

Eddie Marsan stands out as the thuggish producer who does not want to make art. He wants to win the Golden Cock awards.

The film is not as raunchy as the publicity implies. It is a little rude, predictable and also uneven.

I went to see this movie without any expectations and not really knowing much about it and I really enjoyed it, I came out feeling thoroughly entertained. And I rarely laugh out loud in the cinema.

I think the reason people have been disappointed is that the advertising has been misleading - pictures of a half-naked Carmen Electra - when there isn't much of this in the movie itself. So if you want a soft porn movie with scantily clad women this isn't for you. But if you want great light hearted entertainment it is.

Admittedly the storyline is not a complex one, but after a long week that's exactly what one needs on a Friday night. I was thankful for being entertained without having to try.

The mixed cast works well. Great performances from two unknown leads supported by established actors such as Eddie Marsan and Mackenzie Crook carry this movie through. Overall, a great British feel-good movie which doesn't take itself too seriously.

Look out for the bathroom scene!