★★★/☆☆☆☆☆
There is no questioning that the media streaming giant Netflix made some significant strides for the genre of teen romantic comedy in 2018. After an initially cloudy start with ‘Dude’, some of their notable 2018 original releases include ‘The Kissing Booth’, ‘Sierra Burgess is a Loser’ and of course the much-adored ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’. Buried in all of this like spare change lost in a sofa, is Candy Jar. Candy Jar tells the story of two warring high school seniors who have a shared passion for debate - and hating each other.
Bennett Russell, the wealthy prodigal son of a state senator, is played by Jacob Latimore. The female lead belongs to Sami Gayle, who plays Lona Skinner. Lona is Hemlock Prep Academy’s token poor kid on a scholarship and is nearly as poisonous as the name of her alma mater. She treats most of the other students with disdain and contempt while justifying it as “scouting potential opponents”.
Initially, her character is quite hard to watch because it is this sort of behaviour that made it all too easy to picture an older Lona going about her life blaming misfortunes on people disliking her for being poor - when in reality it’s because she’s actually just not a very nice person. While I can relate to Lona's struggle firsthand as having been the poor girl in the rich private school and trying to live that Country Road lifestyle on a Kmart budget - I know from my own experience how brutal this can be, but it isn’t a valid excuse to be a prick. Thankfully, Lona has enough character development in the second half of the film to avoid leaving too sour of an aftertaste.
Candy Jar’s true shining moments are from the older cast, with Uzo Aduba and Christina Hendricks playing the respective mothers of Bennett and Lona, and Helen Hunt playing the candy collecting, home-truthtelling school guidance counsellor who essentially acts as a confidante and best friend to both leads - something else high school me can relate with. Whether it be luck or just the general ability to perform to a higher standard, these three deliver the notable one-liners and scenes and ultimately make Candy Jar more tolerable.
The film still manages to be cute and does show a relatively authentic portrayal of teens experiencing first romance, but also the pressure high-schoolers are met with as they make the awkward transition from child to adult and the often overwhelming process of university applications. However, the film seems better suited to a younger demographic than what typically falls in with "teen romantic comedy", and this could be why it hasn't been able to compete with similar Netflix Originals for popularity. I mean, I'm barely out of my teens myself, but it managed to leave me feeling positively geriatric. Candy Jar is available on Netflix