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This is a cute coming of age store about two very competitive teens in their senior year of high school. Bennett wants to get into Yale, Lona wants Harvard, and both are very good at debate. Their rivalry gets in their own way however and they must learn to work together... somehow.

This movie doesn't try to be more than what it is, a cute story about teenagers falling in love, about growing up, about the pressures of getting into colleges. But rapid dialogue and cute chemistry make this very enjoyable and fun to watch.

A simple movie, enjoyable with some good topics. Watched it on a lazy day. It's a good teen movie but, as an adult can also relate.

For the teen romance crowd, this movie has a good premise with two warring teens in the debate club who inevitably fall for each other. But it's actually so frenetic and fast-paced that half the dialogue you will miss as it whirls from one joke to the next. There's a rhythm to comedy and you have to let moments build and sit. This movie has its own unique rhythm to it, and it's fun in a lot of ways, but I just don't think it worked as well as it could have.

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.

Candy Jar tells the story of Bennett (Jacob Latimore) and Lona (Sami Gayle). They're two compulsively competitive high school classmates, both debate team standouts, both with eyes set on Ivy League colleges. They share similar mindsets, personalities, drives, and aspirations. They seem to be two peas in a pod, compatible and meant to be great friends, or even a couple. Only one problem: they can't stand each other.

Their similarities are obvious to any third-party observer, but they see each other as opposites. They can't agree on anything. She dreams of attending Harvard, while he has his heart set on Yale. See, total opposites.

This whole notion that they can't agree on anything is largely silly and unbelievable. It only takes one chance encounter at a movie for the two to realize that they get along splendidly. No kidding, thinks anyone who knows them. How they took 18 years to figure this out, I have no idea.

Struggling to ingratiate themselves with their classmates is something that makes sense. They're exhausting. They talk a mile a minute and dismiss anyone who isn't on their level of obsession with debate and academics.

When debating, they talk 100 miles a minute, thanks to some strange rule change they mention that led to the competitors emailing all their arguments to the judges and opponents minutes before the debate begins. Now everyone speaks at an absurd rate that makes them impossible to understand and unbearable to listen to. This movie features a lot of debate scenes, so a lot of it is unbearable to listen to.

The moments when Bennett and Lona behave like human beings are actually charming. They have real personalities when they aren't reading frantically from their scripted debate notes. In these moments, we see their contrasting home lives. Bennett's mom is a state senator, while Lona's mom works multiple jobs get by.

We also see that the students share a bond with the school guidance counselor and her candy jar. Even though keenly aware and only moderately obnoxiously vocal about the downsides of sugary foods, they can't help but indulge in a sweet treat during each office visit.

During the course of the debate season, we witness Bennett and Lona run over every one of their opponents, every one except a couple of girls who deploy anecdotal evidence and emotion-based argument tactics.

Lona dismisses the girls and their strategy, convinced that the facts are all that matter. She doesn't see the value in the emotional angle that the girls present.

The main characters never square off against these girls directly, but they scout them since they could be opponents later in the state finals. You can guess where this is going.

There's a fair deal of learning involved in the story. Bennett and Lona learn from each other. They also learn from the emotional debaters, although the lesson is a bit unclear.

Overall, the movie has some potential but doesn't quite fulfill it. These characters are interesting when given a chance, and they needed more of an opportunity to do so.

Although Candy Jar isn't the worst Netflix movie you'll find, there are certainly better movies out there to see.

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.

I was actually enjoying this but had to switch off because of the relentless background which was really distracting and gave me an ear worm long after the film. Clearly it was aimed at making it quirkier but it was the same tune rehashed over and over and it drowned out the performances, which was a shame as the two young leads were very engaging. I wish they wouldn't add music to everything and just trust the performances to carry the film.

This is a drive-you-nuts pointless film with two annoying and abnormal private high schoolers, one male and one female who started a debate club and simply couldn't agree on anything with each other, and both would not back off from their two-member-only debate club for who should be the president of the club, who's more entitled either by birth date or seniority at school. The main purpose was to falsify on their college application with a title of a club presidency.

From the very beginning, we just have these two people blah, blah and blah to disagree on everything, chewing up lot of candy from the candy jars on their private school consultant's desk. We have so many phony and couldn't-care-less people at school, and two blindly support their kid's mothers.

We didn't see anything about the education, the study, the....No, nothing but constantly arguing between these two brats. It's just getting more and more annoying after awhile. This film is not about the generally normal kids in the public school system but two spoiled private high schoolers who never agreed on anything with each other. I just gave up sooner than later since I couldn't care less. Netflix may have a lot of money to burn, but they seem to have lost, more like whatever scripts they got, they'd put them into production, no matter what.

Movie that help passing time ! Not the best but cool to watch for teenagers or with family! Helen hunt is good

I really hope debate isnt really like this. The whole notion that whoever talks the fastest in a debate is ludicrous and annoying. The only character I liked wad the girl who debated slowly telling anecdotes.

And i also felt like the senator mum was quite nice and polite and the other mum was insecure and lashed out for no reason.

Sweet and Smart, part love story, part life lessons Candy Jar is a charmer. A nice turn for both Jacob Latimore (The Chi), and Sami Gayle (Hateship/Loveship), who discover they are greater than the sum of their parts as they vie for a state championship in debate that could lead to admittance into their dream colleges. Light-hearted fare that definitely satisfies your sweet tooth.

The only bright spot in the movie is that Helen Hunt, Christina Hendricks and Uzo Aduba act very well in it. But the script isn't very good, and the message is very muddled. During the debate tournaments, they debate the question, is college worth it; turns out, the writer and director of this movie don't know the answer to that, and don't even try to adequately face it. The same thing with the emotional, anecdotal sanctimonious speeches about race, poverty, and privilege. Is the message of the movie that debates should not be technical fact-based sporting events? This isn't a question of a movie posing a challenging question that doesn't have easy answers; but rather a movie that seems to be saying one thing, and then suddenly saying the opposite in the third act, but without committing to anything anyway. You can easily decide to skip this one. You won't miss a thing.

I thought the two main characters were likable and it was interesting to see how their mothers pushed them towards success (vicariously). The plot became predictable though- I would have liked to see more of the character development at the end.

The feud between the mothers was kind of overdone and didn't really add much to the plot. Overall I would recommend this movie to anyone in high school or college. As someone years out of school I didn't get much out of it but I enjoyed some of the dialogue and felt like it was a quick watch to pass the time.

Like a lot of movies involving high school, this one seems completely clueless of some of the most basic aspects of high school.

For example, "Homecoming" is depicted as a formal dance, like the Prom or Winter Formal. And also as occurring rough the same time that college applications are being sent out.

Homecoming is an event that occurs during the latter part of football season, in the mid-fall. The dance is usually held following the Homecoming football game, and is typically NOT formal dress.

College applications, on the other hand, are normally done in the spring as much as 5 or 6 months after homecoming, after the SAT test results come in. Most students take the SAT in March.

Screenwriters are either unaware of these things or view them as unimportant, despite the fact that they directly relate to the story they're trying to tell.

Similar to many Netflix original films, the best value in this is laughing at it. The show is not funny when it try's to be. Most of the humor seems to be from in-jokes that debate students and over-achievers understand, and even from those standpoints it is not at all amusing. Also, anyone who understands college admissions at all will see the false reality of the way these kids decide to handle their college admissions and the result of their college admission plans. A little research on the writer of this show gives a lot of tells. It is a self-indulgent nightmare made by a debate-star who is not only totally detached from the general realities of college admissions, but as well as the realities of debaters and over-achieving students. Would not recommend as a drama, comedy, or coming of age film. Would recommend as a study in terrible film and for some unintended humor. Not to mention, the title is symbolically, metaphorically, and literally insignificant and non-impactful to the story.

I am not a huge consumer of teen romance movies, so I only really turned this movie on because it was there, but this movie sucked me in from the beginning.

Pros: I was rooting for the characters very early on, and I was rooting for them as a couple pretty much the whole time. I found them believable, and I found their conflict made sense. The humor is down to earth and not predictable. Uzo Aduba and Christina Hendricks both did a fantastic job with really layered characters, and I loved their plotline with their respective kids and with one another.

Cons: Most of the problem is in the last act, but I will attempt not to spoil.

The story wants us to root for characters who say some unkind things about the protagonists (and who don't really interact with them).

The last part of the story feels like it relies on us not knowing how debate works (I don't) and finding it a little weird.

It seems like the movie tries to sell us on the point that making arguments with "feelings" (I think someone actually says "feelings over facts") is better than evidence, which is an odd point for the movie to want to make anyway, but it feels kind of deceptive since we never properly hear an argument given using evidence (because of the whole talking quickly thing). Ultimately, this plotline feels forced and has no real bearing on anything else.

Overall, though, this was a really enjoyable movie.

Watch if you're in the mood for a rom com with genuinely good characters. Skip if you're a fan of debate, or if you don't want to watch a movie that doesn't quite know what it's trying to say.

I am a policy debater and when I saw the movie I was bitterly disappointed. Where are the double breaths? the card cutting? why'd the guy not run an afro pessimism k? they weren't even that good at spreading! More of a generic love story than anything else, and its story line is extremely lacking. Anyway, for y'alls who want to do policy debate - go do it. It is extremely rewarding. Sidenote: going and qualifying to states != free ride to harvard; i mean c'mon where is my free ride Harvard?

The movie has a clear purposeful plot ,, which is something kids in highschools have been facing for years .. but also gives a broad look at life in general and telling us not to always chase the unknown because life has its way at the end if you did what you gotta do and enjoyed it.

The script was sweet ,, the cast was good ,, Jacob Latimore and Sami Gayle did a good job ,, and Christina Hendricks !! Oh my !!! I watched the whole thing because i saw her name on the poster ... she is a wowzer ,, and she was funny too.

Recommended.

I've found this movie really pathetic and boring to the excess. I watch all movies and I watch till the end. This was very hard to watch till the end. The best scene? The appearing of the end credits.

As a high school Junior enrolled in as many AP and honors courses as I can fit into a 7 period schedule struggling to find a spot into a university to have a successful, this movie is accurate; although, it is also dramaticized like many other films today. Many of my fellow students who are intelligent and successful oftentimes have trouble with communication and interpersonal skills, and some of their parents even have them take classes on learning how to interact with others. Our generation has come to a point where society pushes the need for perfection up our throats for so long we forget that it their and hurting many people's mental and physical condition. This movie draws attention to these issues in a lighthearted way that remains relevant. I recommend watching this just to gain an understanding of the stress, pressure, and hard work many high school students must do in order to gain "success".

It's a sweet coming of age story that people can totally relate to. Interesting cinematography with an ok soundtrack.

I thought this was going to be a really lame movie, but it's actually really good and says a lot of things about teens and how (sometimes) they or others put wayy too much pressure on themselves to do well or get what they want. Apparently the lead actress was actually the co-producer of Candy Jar, so that's really cool to see.