Candyman (Costa Botes, 2010): New Zealand/USA

Reviewed by Byron Potau. Viewed on DVD.

If you’re mindset is that all your documentary needs to make it complete are a few interviews with quasi celebrity Weird Al Yankovic it probably needs a lot more than that. As the documentary, Candyman, about Jelly Belly jelly beans inventor David Klein, struggles to fill its feature length running time it becomes apparent that the film would have worked better as a small dessert rather than a full meal.

The film tells the story of David Klein’s rise and fall as inventor and spokesman of Jelly Belly jelly beans to the forgotten eccentric man he is today, no longer even acknowledged in the history of the Jelly Belly company.

The film suffers from too much fluff. A good five to ten minutes is spent on former President Ronald Reagan’s love of Jelly Belly jelly beans, and the aforementioned Weird Al Yankovic interviews which have no special significance outside of Yankovic’s like for jelly beans. You could have inserted just about any celebrity in this role who had nothing to do that weekend. Here are a few suggestions: David Hasselhof, La Toya Jackson, Alan Thicke. How about Amy Fisher? What does the Long Island Lolita think about Jelly Bellies? You don’t care? Neither do I.

Some of Klein’s eccentricities are amusing and interesting, like using side streets rather than freeways so he can see something different, but other times it almost seems forced and pointless, like his writing notes on paper plates and flinging them in the air in his house.

Director Costa Botes attempts to explore Klein as a Willy Wonka of his day, showing different candy ideas, many of which didn’t succeed, creative marketing strategies that helped his Jelly Belly idea get off the ground, and Klein’s extreme generosity, he gives up a large portion of his company to help out a family member, but the film really hinges on the point of Klein’s decision under pressure to sell his company, becoming forgotten in Jelly Belly lore, and his son’s, the film’s producer Bert Klein, desire to restore his father to his former glory as the Jelly Belly creator. This decision, however, feels glossed over and unexciting, a fatal error considering this should be the film’s centerpiece. We never really get a sense of what went on in that meeting, the pressure Klein was under, or the urgency of the situation. We just know it happened and see what resulted from it.

With the lack of conflict, and all of the filler the filmmaker felt he needed to add it seems the film would have done much better as a short film. You simply don’t need a feature length film to remind everyone that David Klein invented the Jelly Belly, which is ultimately the point the filmmakers seem to be making.