FilmJudge - I Want Candy

REVIEW

I Want Candy
2007
Certificate: 15 | Runtime: 90 | Director: Stephen Surjik
Starring: Tom Riley, Tom Burke, Carmen Electra

Student film-makers Joe (Riley) and Baggy (Burke) realise the only way to get their film made is to turn it into a porno. They seek out famous American pornstar Candy 'Fiveways' (Electra), and convince her to star in their film. However, the making of the film is a secret, and Joe and Baggy need to hide it from their families. They also have absolutely no idea how to make a porn film.

I Want Candy is a very unfocused film. It has its moments, and occasionally it's pretty funny, but there's too much padding and the film takes an age to start properly. It's a bit like last year's Alien Autopsy, insofar as you could take its funny 15 minutes or so, smash them together, and the film wouldn't lose anything.

Both leads are likeable; Riley has good comic timing, and he clearly relishes the moments when Joe's swagger is suddenly crushed. Burke is very different, delivering a somewhat deadpan performance. The two of them certainly combine well. Elsewhere, Michelle Ryan is very engaging as Lila, a friend of the boys, while Eddie Marsan is terrifically slimy as a bullying porn producer. Even Electra herself isn't too bad; it's not a challenging role at all, but she looks and sounds the part.

The main problem with the film isn't the performances though, it's the writing. For starters, actually getting to the making of the film itself takes over a third of the runtime. The film's tone is actually rather innocent and quirky too, but Marsan's character is so nasty and brutish that he seems to come from a different film, and this darker element doesn't sit well with everything else. There are also a couple of elements of the plot that aren't properly explained.

In terms of humour, the film is also a mixed bag. There are some good chuckles and even a few belly laughs to be had, but they are spread in a rather haphazard fashion throughout the film. It tries to adopt the effortless smutty humour of American Pie in places too, but this doesn't work and seems out of place because the rest of it is actually rather safe. To use a Peter Griffinism, the closest the film gets to any real sexual content is the odd bit of 'side boob'.

As the film tries to conclude, it also tries to adopt an emotional side that it hasn't really earned. To have feelings and emotions gush out in the last 10 minutes seems somewhat forced. And the conclusion itself is relatively rushed as well; the heroes get their rewards and the villains get their just deserts in the space of about 25 seconds.

This isn't quite another Sex Lives of the Potato Men, but it still misses the mark far more often than it hits it. There's a rather cautious and almost embarrassed air about the film too, almost as though it tries desperately hard to be a bit cheeky without delving into anything overly naughty or sexual.

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