[warning: contains at least one bit that some may consider a spoiler]

If you want to avoid the crush of 007 fans this weekend, but also want something a little more serious than animated penguins, try a taste of Candy. Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish and Geoffrey Rush star in a tale of star-crossed lovers hooked on heroin. It's kind of like Romeo and Juliet, but on smack.

Candy doesn't break much new ground compared to past drug films such as Drugstore Cowboy, Less Than Zero or Traffic. We see how devastating heroin can be physically and emotionally; how far drug addicts will go for a fix, selling or screwing anything for a quick buck; and how hard it is to quit.

So the real reason to see this film is for the performances. And it's reason enough.

Relative newcomer Abbie Cornish is great as the film's namesake, Candy, a beautiful, seemingly bright young woman in love with bad-boy poet Daniel, played by Heath Ledger. Candy wantonly follows him down the path of drugs, thanking him one moment for the ecstasy, then scorning him the next for trapping her in a life of addiction.

A quick aside: if her name sounds familiar, it's because Abbie is the accused homewrecker responsible for the disintegration of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe's marriage. Read what my distinguished colleague The Evil Beet has to say about Ryan's connection to Abbie here.

Back to Candy, Geoffrey Rush plays an unabashedly gay college professor/drug dealer who provides money, safe harbor and home-concocted heroin to the young couple whenever they need it. Can I say enough good things about Geoffrey Rush as an actor? No, I can't! Ever since bursting onto the scene with Shine, I've been amazed by almost every one of his performances. (YES, that INCLUDES House on Haunted Hill and Mystery Men!)

Finally we come to Heath Ledger. Though the film is named for his on-screen wife, this is really Heath's movie. It's Daniel's journey; finding love, learning to be responsible, trying to kick heroin for the woman he loves, and ultimately discovering that loving her means cutting her loose.

Another quick aside: Candy is a terrific follow-up film for Ledger after Brokeback Mountain. But just as I thought he'd put movies like A Knight's Tale behind him and was ready to graduate to more serious drama films, I see Ledger is set to play the Joker in next year's The Dark Knight, a sequel to Batman Begins.

Now I realize that everyone loved Batman Begins, and with superhero flicks all the rage in Hollywood, theoretically this won't be some trite role. But come on! Isn't this just a thinly disguised remake of 1989's Batman? Am I really supposed to believe that Heath can give us a better take on the Joker than Jack Nicholson? (And truthfully folks, nobody did it better than Cesar Romero!)

Back once more to Candy. What sticks with me most is a line by Geoffrey Rush early in the film, a warning to the young lovers:

"When you can quit, you don't want to. When you want to quit, you can't."

Candy opens November 17th.

  Watch the Trailer

Ethan Morris: "Not always right, but never in doubt." Go ahead and write him.

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