User Reviews

I Want Candy is the story of two aspiring film-students who find themselves making a porn film in Leatherhead.

Looking at the poster for the film, I was expecting this to be a dumb British version of the all-too familiar teen comedies that pollute our screens every summer (American Pie, Dude Where's My Car?, Not Another Teen Movie, etc.). How wrong I was. It's not the greatest film ever made, but it doesn't try to be.

Surprisingly, there's no nudity in the film whatsoever and the references to sex and porn are handled with a modicum of taste - again, not what you would expect.

Eddie Marsan (Gangster No.1, Vera Drake, The Illusionist) is excellent, as usual, as the sleazy film producer whilst Mackenzie Crook blesses us with his presence as a lecturer who desperately seeks kudos from the students.

My two criticisms of the film would have to be the typical Hollywood ending (which, like Carmen Electra, didn't really suit the sleepy Leatherhead suburb location) and the poor characterisation of Baggy (one of the two male leads).

I would probably recommend this film to friends - if only for the very funny bathroom scene.

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.

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 Want Candy" is a classic British comedy. A breath of fresh air. It is well written with great performances (Carmen Electra especially is a revelation as porn goddess Candy Fiveways and shows just what a great actress she is) and great production values. Stephen Surjik's film is a welcome addition to the pantheon of comedies dealing with the war between the sexes. Along the way the script makes several incisive points about the infiltration of pornography in modern life during the 21st century, and asks probing questions such as, who exactly is exploiting who? "I Want Candy" is a classic. It's a triumph!

Are you kidding us?

Yes, I am.

"I Want Candy" is terrible.

There is one great piece of gross slapstick involving a male actor who gets a bit... er... carried away, but other than that I don't think I laughed once. I like a good sex comedy as much as the next guy, but this is not a good sex comedy. It is terrible. Awful, awful, awful. Shame on Ealing Studios being associated with such nonsense.

On the bright side, Michelle Ryan does look very nice.

I Want Candy is all about two young film makers, Joe and Baggy, who are striving to get their moving making career off the ground. However they soon find out that its more difficult getting into the trade than expected and hence chance their arms at the adult film industry. The two personalities of the characters are completely different - one confident and good at talking himself out of situations, the other naturally more reserved who comes out of his shell as the film progresses. Both though are played with amiable gusto by the two actors and there is plenty more people you'd recognise - Mackenzie Crook stars as a lecturer desperately trying to fit in, Felicity Montagu and Phillip Jackson enjoy their roles as Joe's staid parents and Jimmy Carr has some nice lines as the local video shop cashier - oh, and of course Carmen Electra. Though not laugh out loud funny, the comedy gently bubbles along and there's lots of good lines to be had which make you chuckle to yourself. Also, for a supposed 'sex comedy' the scenes are performed tastefully and there's probably only one scene that would have made it into an American pie-esquire film, involving an unlucky cameraman. Yes, the film has stereotypes, from the Eastern European sound guys to the gangster bosses and the first 20 minutes seem slightly slow, but there's lots to like about this film. The actors gel nicely with each other, the laughs from the different situations are plentiful and its a genuinely good British comedy that keeps you entertained.

For every great film there must, somewhere, also be a turkey. For every Citizen Kane, we also get Little Man. And so it seems is the case for British comedies. Shortly after the fabulous Hot Fuzz, surely the best British comedy since Life of Brian, we get the dreary, predictable and not very funny I Want Candy. The film follows two film students who, desperately trying to make their first great movie, decide to make a porn film with the help of some fellow students. They manage to persuade an American female porn star, who just happens to be visiting the UK at the time, to take the lead in their film, which in turn helps them persuade a dodgy porn producer to finance their project. And that's about as deep as the film goes. Tom Riley and Tom Burke play the two students and are supported by Carmen Electra as the porn queen and Michelle Ryan as the film's production manager (romantic sub-plot). All of them give OK performances despite a script full of bad innuendos, boring sight gags, and wafer thin plot. The film is not supposed to be a cinematic work of art, clearly, but bad writing that has more than a hint of influence from those god awful 'Confessions of...' films of the 1970's makes this a cinematic experience to forget.

This film brought back memories of the short time I spent in film school when also I had thoughts of my crew and I making it. Of course real life intervened. I was thoroughly entertained and transported back to my twenties. Thanks.

The writers of this blatant copycat film should hang their heads in shame - for 'I want Candy' is an exact duplicate of 'The Girl Next Door' released 3 years prior. What? You thought we wouldn't notice - that we'd forget in 3 years. Everything, from the characters to the situations and story, is more or less an exact copy of a much better film.

Films like 'I want Candy' make me physically feel sick to the stomach - I want us Brits to make films that inspire the rest of world cinema, not 'knock it off'. I cannot imagine anyone with the right frame of mind liking this movie after they have seen 'The Girl Next Door', a much better directed and far better written film.

If you haven't seen this film - DO NOT WATCH IT.

If you have seen this film, enjoyed it, and not yet seen 'The Girl Next Door', I advise you to watch it as it is a much better film if somewhat underrated.

Here's a film that delivers exactly what it sets out to achieve, it leaves that nice feel good impression on the audience. It's light fun and this film will entertain groups as well as individuals. It's far from Spielberg stuff but it offers a fresh and fun approach to a genre swamped in woeful products. I had very few expectations for a movie based on filming a porno but with the lower prospect came a pleasing revelation. 'I Want Candy' is a truly good film.

The plot is simple, two college students decide to develop a class film but unfortunately receive funding from a group of gangsters, who's one goal is to film Candy (Carmen Electra). The story although predictable provided just enough humour to keep the audience entertained, three moments in particular had my eyes watering. One disappointment for me was Jimmy Carr being handed very few good lines and his character was very forgettable.

The two lead actors I knew very little about but both showed good charisma and ability in their roles. Carmen Electra and Michelle Ryan also provided respectable performances and did not just offer the 'fit factor'. I particularly enjoyed the three young actors acting as crew members as the were hilarious from start to end, (the scene where his trousers were falling down whilst holding the camera had me in stitches).

I really enjoyed the filming location and brightness, its a big change from the classic gritty grey British colours which make's the country look dull and ugly.

To conclude, if one was ever in need of a lift or just fancies a good watch 'I Want Candy' will not disappoint.

I thought this movie was dreadful. I just got back from seeing this and i must say i wasn't looking forward to it in the first place. I thought it would be a crappy remake of American pie which i did think was funny (the first 2 anyway). This, however, was not in the same league as any of the American pie movies. From the first few minutes i was almost asleep...trying to be funny time after time and getting no laughs from the audience. It was just trying to be something that it wasn't. With only one funny scene in the whole movie which i must say, to my knowledge anyway, was quite original and i laughed at that but for the rest of the time i was asleep. Probably one of the worst movies i have seen in a long time. I do not recommend this movie...i wish i had gone and seen Norbit instead

I Want Candy wasn't a movie I was extremely looking forward to. In fact despite a relatively funny trailer I was actually dreading it at times. You see teenager comedy isn't exactly what I'm into, I find the whole American Pie scene very overrated despite only being 16 myself. Just could never get into the whole idea of sex comedies unless they were really inventive and witty. A shame that very few of these sex comedies have an ounce of originality between them. However it is a pleasant surprise to say that I Want Candy is actually a damn funny and well made movie. Sure its lacking in terms of originality, and I suppose I could complain that the ending wraps things up just a little bit too neatly, but the movie is consistently entertaining. Contains some pretty damn good performances and doesn't scrimp on the laughs either. Its a comedy that has enough dramatic weight to go alongside its great sense of humour. The other surprising fact is that despite it being a 15 (R in USA) the movie doesn't actually contain any nudity or that much swearing. Maybe people might see this as a negative, however it still works and it proves that the comedy doesn't need to rely on these things. Of course its got some rude bits to keep people entertained and keep with the porno theme of the movie, but it never relies on them like a lot of sex comedies have done in the past.

The actual movie isn't perfect. There are flaws. For example the beginning is pretty dull, until they actually start casting the movie does actually struggle to get any momentum. Sure there is fun to be had in those scenes and the humour there is pretty nice and subtle. But its just not what you'd expect from this sort of movie and it could end up actually boring quite a few people. Matters aren't helped by Jimmy Carr who is possibly the most overrated comedian going at the moment. His scenes are funny a times, but the actual actor himself I found more irritating than anything else. However after you get over the mild set back of the beginning and if you ignore the well wrapped up finale the bits in between are just a blast and can get some great laughs.

The performances themselves are generally brilliant. I never though I would be able to praise Carmen Elektra, however she really did surprise me. She manages to deliver a half decent performance here, surprising as all she has to do is really be the eye candy and say a few lines. But her performance is nowhere near as excruciatingly bad as she has been in previous movie, Epic Movie just one of those awful movies. The two leads, Tom Riley and Tom Burke are really likable as Joe and Baggy. Joe might come across as irritating at some moments and Baggy perhaps whines a bit too much in the middle section, but in general they're pretty believable characters and they do some great performances. Michelle Ryan of Eastenders fame does a surprisingly good job as the love interest, at least she'll come out of Eastenders alive and might actually be seen in quite a few movies after this performance. Credit also has to go to Mackenzie Crook in a hilarious performance that reminded me so much of one of my own teachers.

Now then I have to talk about the actual humour of the movie. Now despite a pretty subtle and dull at times beginning the humour really gets going when the porno theme kicks in. We've got an explosive ejaculation sequence that had me crying with laughter, a disturbingly funny bit with a pear, and a bit to make you gaga involving pubes and some butter. But the movie is more than your average sex jokes, its got some genuinely funny lines in there as well and moments that can make you laugh. Its a movie that is full of traditional British humour but has some sex jokes thrown in as well for your own pleasure.

Overall I Want Candy is a great surprise and a British comedy that is one to remember. It won't be to everyones tastes of course, but for the most part its a great laugh featuring some surprisingly decent performances.

I WANT CANDY follows two hopeful lads from Leatherhead trying to break into the movies who stumble upon the opportunity of a lifetime. Frustrated by their arty film teacher (Mackenzie Crook), wannabe producer Joe (Tom Riley) and his talented but neurotic director friend Baggy (Tom Burke) head to London to sell what they know is a script made of gold. the movie is great fun, nice to watch such movies at tea time... characters are damn cool n cute looking.. all in all neat British movie.though the character carmen electra is in the movie the movie is purely a family comedy...i don't knw what others talk abt this female called carmen electra,according to me she is one among sexy actors in Hollywood...

Two film students head to London with their script which they believe will be the first step to Hollywood, they hook up with a dodgy film producer who agrees to finance the film, provided they can get porns hottest star Candy Fiveways (Carmen Electra).

I Want Candy' it must be said is quite a sweet and charming film in a 'The Full Monty' kind of way, sadly though unlike that film, the laughs are few and far between it must be said, I think I went a full hour before a proper laugh, a very amusing scene that all I shall say "required wet wipes"! The only selling point this film would seem to have is the chance for men to see Carmen Elektra in various sexy outfits and states of undress, something I'm sure you could see say in a Playboy DVD, if she has one that is, not that'd I'd know about that sort of thing! Lightweight fluff all in all with a serious lack of laughs I'm afraid.

5/10

I don't really know how I managed to watch the whole film. Actually I don't think I've ever seen a movie this horrid to the end, but I guess I just had a hope for a small glimpse of Carmen's tits. The acting was eren't all that bad, but that won't help if the script is this awful.

It's kinda ironic how the whole movie basically adapts around the theme of some students trying to make a great movie...

the jokes were so off it embarrassed me, and believe me, i'm not a man who can't handle childish or stupid humor once in a while, but childish humor has to be written at least with the smallest bit of intellect to work.

I Want Candy Oh dear. The best comment I can make about this film is it is watchable at best. Its basically about two film students who get cajoled into making a porn film featuring the industries leading lady, Miss Candy Fiveways.

Everything bout this film is basic. It's a story I've kinda seen before, and done marginally better in the Girl Next Door, the actors look like they are on auto pilot, its not very funny, there is no hidden depths and not even any nudity! Carmen Electra stars as Candy Fiveways, which must have been a real stretch of her acting talents. About as big a stretch as last time I saw her on film, which was bouncing up and down wearing lingerie in Scary Movie.

Two annoying British Actors who I have never heard of before, and particularly never wish to again, gurn up the screen on every occasion as the two best friends, Jimmy Carr plays himself as an annoying Video Shop host, and Zoe Slater from Eastenders pops up as the token love interest. Im not even going to comment on MacKenzie Crook.

Like I said, it's watchable at best. But please try to avoid.

I Want Candy (2007) is a movie I recently watched on Amazon Prime. The storyline follows an aspiring young film team who is given an assignment to make a unique short film. With no budget they ask the wrong people for money and make promises they can't deliver. They are left to beg for the assistance from a woman who no longer wishes to act and is ready for the next step in her career. The young film crew will need to go to extreme measures to cast this film let alone make it.

This movie is directed by Stephen Surjik (The Umbrella Academy) and stars Carmen Electra (Scary Movie), Tom Riley (The Nevers), Tom Burke (Only God Forgives), Eddie Marsan (21 Grams), Mackenzie Crook (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Felicity Montagu (Bridget Jones Diaries).

Well, this movie disappoints on every level. In a movie with Carmen Electra you're optimistic it may at least have some good scenes mixed with some off brand comedy. This film has neither. I did like Carmen Electra's introduction, which was appropriate and entertaining. The jokes and jabs back and forth throughout the movie were just okay. The highlight of the film was the bathroom scene and with the parents. This film gets a 3 for that scene alone since there's nothing else about this film that's memorable. Overall I would score this a 3/10 and recommend skipping it.

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.

The pretentiousness of the acting in a throwback 70's England, the accents, it is too apparent that they are there to "normalise" a lack of freedom. The English accents are phoney, and I am referring to the leads, and they're English! There aren't and never were stereotypical "gangster like cultures" in England; seeing the mock up in belittling youngsters with "you're surrounded with evil in some industries; keep quiet and under the influence of the monopoly that is running the movie industry in England" will only result in every truly refreshing pro establishment youngster that can conceive reality appropriately being fooled into submitting to the paradigm that following Ealing Studio mighty formulas will help weaving reality with social engineering, resulting only in social engineering prevailing, of the type they want to enforce in England even. All the emphases, all the mannerism, have been conceived by writers that know how to project in writing a "switch", a literal switch to turn on and off vomiting; youngsters in England will get a headache and a sensation of vomit from every cinematographic effort intended to induce vomit within this movie, and there's plenty of them. Young English people in this movie, those supposed to be students getting out of an art college, are directed to assume 70 year old people demeanour, but of 70 year olds that were living in the 30s! That odd vomiting sensation again, and again. There's an odd effort to project a conformity, to propagate how people in their place remain in their place; can you believe "writers that make it in England" are only producing this garbage? We've given them computers, affordable word processors; they can cut, paste, rearranged and modify at will, a luxury filmmakers of the 20's didn't have, but this is all they can come up with? It stinks, and you know it's done on purpose. Parents in the 21st century imitating Carry On characters?! What gave the writers the idea that is a paradigm that is well perceived or marketable? It is neither in fact! The Carry On franchise had parodies for the time the were made; in a 21st century context their parody doesn't apply; pass me a strong paper bag. Youngsters in England aren't that insecure; that interpreting a wayward son of a parent with a "blooming" business means approximating the worst possible middle class hero available in England is just wanting not to have more people filling up the cinemas.

England has been placed in trance, with a fascination with celebrities that approximate the lowest common denominator. The humour is silly; a mid 20's character in England isn't making shallow jokes like a chap in his early puberty years. For the producers of this movie, the purpose is to propagate mediocrity in English made movies; before is too late that is, before some movement in England finally wake everyone up and make aware that the establishment, 99.99% of the population that is, shouldn't put up with the self elected leaders which only represent 0.01% of the population, these latter being the anarchists, the anti-establishment. Absolutely everything has been put together with care avoiding any hint of reality; there's a storyline throughout this movie that has been conceived while in a cotton cloud; I feel like vomiting. I suppose this movie might have been made more watchable if everyone in it was going around without arms; that way they would have had much less chances in between takes to hide their eyes and face in shame, especially some of the lead actors; acting is acting, not an imitation of one's regurgitating character. Often the same joke is repeated over and over, a classic "repeat a lie times enough until it becomes true"'; but it doesn't work with bad jokes to start with, not matter the reiterations. Characters in this movie imitate other characters already present on UK TV channels; there is this tangible effort in the "UK movie industry", masqueraded in laziness, to avoid portraying new and really outstanding and entertaining characters, probably because they might be trouble with the severely weak self-righteousness of the monopoly capitalism running amok in England.

This film is in a new genre; definitely not comedy; it's in between drama and horror, but also with a little action, like vomiting action and getting out of the theatre action. Whoever watched the end result with a minimum of brain must have gotten an headache, it is such a sleeper; but wasn't it blatant by reading the script in the first place? England is better than what the junkies directing and writing this junk have had the omen to distribute as a movie. Let me through, I need to vomit; remembering one the scenes has triggered the switch again. 0/5 Even funds from the UK National Lottery have been wasted on this movie -1/5 then! thematrixexpert@yahoo.com

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!

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.

Foreign film-makers seem to be the only ones who know how to make a film. English film makers seem to be masters at mysteries, suspense movies, and thrillers are quite adept at comedies. "I Want Candy" (2007) is a hilariously-funny film about sex--which is done in an open and tasteful way.

Unlike American films, no disclaimers are necessary, and there is no 'sexphobia' here. Carmen Electra effectively delivers sexual titillation--but she also is beautiful, healthy, intelligent and a well-developed female, who actually prefers making a good, old-fashioned Hollywood movie. She's just too smart, and has too-much intellect, to waste herself on the porno industry. In this film, there is no blood and gore, or violence. And, the film does not rely on animation or special effects.

The film is aptly directed by Stephen Surjik. The screen-writer, Peter Hewitt, provides a predictable, but enjoyably-funny script. The film follows the exploits of two young and horny men, who try to break into the movie-making industry, any way they can. The two young man, Baggy (Tom Burke) and Joe (Tom Riley) sell their script, but not before they promise a producer (Eddie Marsan) that they'll deliver a film with top adult-movie star, Candy Fiveways (Carmen Electra). Will they be able to make it in movie land?

Joe's Dad: "...the entertainment industry is an impossible road, full of obstacles...now we admire your ambition, Joe. Ambition is everything...you (have) got to follow your dream. That way--when you fail--you can always say--well, at least you tried..."

The color film is rated R, for sexual content, but the language is very tame. The runtime is 85 minutes of continual laughter (the film is so reminiscent of "Risky Business").

Recommended for adults, I rank the film an 8 out of 10. You will have a good laugh!

I gave an 10 to this film because it really deserve a good score. Not because it's a spectacular film, or a 5* special effects blockbuster, but because it's a simple and effective movie that give us good effortless laughs. If the name Carmen Elektra had produced some "noise" around it, after seeing the "job" done, we can judge by ourselves that her prestige were the less important in the script himself. Is truth that her "beauty" borrowed to the action the real feeling, but the film were much more than that. Very good performance of the main characters seconded by senior others. It's a very good choice to see it at night after a boring working day.I really enjoyed and it's a must see!