Candy

I thoroughly enjoyed the limited series. If you need long action sequences a la Marvel, you might get bored. But the story is compelling and even engrossing nonetheless. The late 70s and early 80s setting was masterful. Clothes, cars, decor, fads (eg jogging). My high rating of an 8, however, is largely due to the acting and cinematography. There are several iconic scenes that I watched more than once. The two male leads were great. Co-star Lynskey (Betty Gore) was even better. Then there was Biel. Wow. What a performance. I never considered her to be a bad actor before, I just never considered her. At all. No more. Can't wait to see what she does next. Lastly kudos to the producers for making this a 5 part series. A movie wouldn't do it justice. But more episodes and definitely more seasons would've been overkill. Just right.

Jessica Biel should have had more acting accolades over the years. She is a really good, charismatic actress, and it boggles my mind how an actor blessed with such good looks and talent remains to be on the B-list. Jessica excels in this one; she is totally convincing with all of the subtleties required of the character. Melanie Lynskey is great as always, and it's very satisfying to see her currently on several projects, coming out of her past supporting stint in "Two and a Half Men." She has definitely held better than the famous but troubled Charlie Sheen. I have never been a fan of Justin Timberlake, but this is the first time I see him as a capable actor. The scenes with him and Jason Ritter (corresponding real-life husbands of the leading actresses) are a hoot. The art direction in this show is also outstanding, right down to the details of what you would encounter in the late 70s and early 80s suburbia. One complaint is about the final episode in which the show begins to lose its luster with a boring depiction of a courtroom drama. Overall, it's a mixed bag, but I would recommend this short 5-episode series for Jessica Biel's endearing portrayal of a psycho killer.

It's hard not to compare and contrast 'Candy' with 'Love and Death', they are about the same crime and were released within (essentially) the same year.

From what I have read, I believe Candy was focused more on the actual facts of the case and recreating history. In Love and Death, I believe it was more based on the emotional side of it.

Many will disagree, but I ate with Elizabeth Olsen, I found her strange portrayal of Candy amazing. The perfect amount of church lady and devil. Plastic and very real.

Jessica did a wonderful job, and this might be awful to say - who am I to judge anyone - the IRL Candy or Jessica freaking one of the prettiest women in the world Biel? But I found Jessica's intense life like portrayal made it almost hard to watch.

Both did a great job. Wish I could switch out some characters for others!

First episode: wow very well made.

Biel is good, I like her here more than in 'Sinner' I must say, Melanie Lynskey had my heart since "Heavenly Creatures' and Pablo Schreiber surprised & convinced me in 'Lorelei'. Super cast so far.

I'd binge if they were all out.

(The 90s movie "Killing in a small town' is also recommendable btw!)

7 stars for now - could turn into 8 after Friday.

What I find confusing is a second mini series with Olsen as Candy coming out this year. Aren't there any good scripts anymore?

I watched this last year and thought it was good but after watching love and death which did a great job of really showing the human side and had a lot more emotion this doesn't seem like a good representation. In this version Candy seemed cold and calculating, in love and death you could see how the murder could be more impulsive and emotional, maybe it's to do with the writing and maybe it's to do with the actresses playing Candy, Elizabeth Olsen seemed much more well rounded and showed a human side that I think is more relatable and Jessica Beal's Candy seemed cold and narcissistic. It's pretty weird they did two versions of this story so close together, both are good but love and death was the winner for me.