Movie Review: Cake (2014)

The movie stars Jennifer Aniston, Adriana Barraza, Anna Kendrick, Felicity Huffman and Sam Worthington.

My wife ended up with a free Red Box rental yesterday afternoon and decided to pick up this movie because she’s a big Jennifer Aniston fan. I had never heard of the film before and wasn’t sure what to expect from it, other than the fact it sounded like it would be very depressing. However, after watching it, I had to admit the movie was considerably better than I thought it would be.

One thing that really surprised me about this movie when we started watching it was the way it didn’t end up following a cliché, predictable plot. There were times when this film looked like it was going to turn into a love story, with Claire (Aniston) and the dead woman’s husband (Worthington) finding a way to get over their grief and fall in love with each other. Instead, the movie took a less traditional approach and never let them be anything more than friends. In fact, the only thing that even came close to a love scene in this movie was the quick, emotionless sex scene with her and the gardener.

Another thing I found I liked about this movie was the way it kept the ending somewhat of a mystery. Because of her chronic depression and painkiller addiction, I wasn’t sure what exactly was going to end up happening to her. There were several moments in the film when it seemed like Claire was turning a corner and was improving only to have her get caught in a downward spiral again. As a result of that, I wasn’t sure if this was a movie that would see her get better or would end in her killing herself.

For her part, Aniston deserves quite a bit of credit in her portrayal of Claire. It wasn’t an easy role or a comfortable subject and there aren’t many actresses that could pull it off as well as she did. In fact, up until this point, I was always a bit on the fence when it came to my opinion of her, mostly because most of her movie roles weren’t anything overly challenging. After seeing this film, I am admittedly impressed with her.

As I expected, this is a somewhat depressing dramatic movie. However, partly because of the way it was written and Aniston’s performance, I did feel it was a movie that was worth taking the time to watch.  If you haven’t seen the film before and are in the mood for something different, I recommend renting it.

My Grade: A