Candy Jar (2018)

Wonderful Movie

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

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 just saw this movie on the most popular tab on my Netflix and it piqued my interest, and it looked like something I would enjoy. And did I enjoy it? Very much so.Bennett is charming, Lona is strong. The tandem just works, even if they don't (always) get along. They gave me the inspiration I never knew I needed for when I'm back in school. As a high-schooler in the same position as them, I loved the bursts of reality spread throughout the film. And I could relate with the anxiety, pressure, the expectations. Maybe that's why some people didn't enjoy Candy Jar as much as I did - they weren't the target audience. Moreover, the rest of the characters were also incredibly lovable. Overall, I adore this and I would 10/10 watch it again.

Great movie for a lazy Saturday afternoon. It helps kids to remember don't forget to stop and smell the roses

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.