Review of Cake (2014) by Tadesse T — 23 Jan 2015

Barnz hits the mark with the quiet dignity found in Aniston's suffering, however struggles to maintain a clear intention with this film. Barnz provides so much angst from every direction in this film that it almost becomes a chore to watch after 30 minutes. This film depicts sufferers of intense physical pain as well as the emotional pain over multiple characters suffering from the lose of children, spouses, and friends. This film heavily focuses on the effects of drug abuse, alcohol abuse, suicide, multiple suicide attempts, self-destructive visions those past away, divorce, financial struggles, unsupportive therapy groups, and tops it off with a 10 minute implausible story about a teenage runaway hitchhiking to become famous in Hollywood. The saving grace of this film is the intensely supportive relationship of its two main stars, Aniston and Barraza.

Aniston once again proves that although she is more than capable of successfully pulling off big-budget hollywood comedies, she is equally capable of delivering moving introspective roles. Aniston's role in Cake is one we have not seen of her since her performances in The Good Girl as well as Marley & Me. Aniston is electrifying in this role, not once does Aniston state that she is in pain. Aniston so convincingly plays a strong character attempting to mask her pain that she allows the small details of her performance to tell her story. The quiet pain seen in Aniston's eyes, her crosshatched skin, her unkempt appearance, as well as the subtle hesitations in her every movement and moan convey the painful struggle of seemingly simple tasks. If not for an overly multiplex of a plot, this performance is easily Oscar nomination worthy.

Adriana Barraza delivers an outstanding performance both as a rock for Aniston as well as through her own personal development as a character.

Kendrick and Worthington deliver competent performances but fail to reach the emotional depth needed by their roles. Both actors fail to deliver the core of their characters through the undertone of their lines and rely on narrative.

TT.