Review of Cake (2014) by Foxgrove — 21 Feb 2015

Despite an un-prepossessing title Cake is an absorbing and surprisingly moving little film that in the main eschews obvious sentiment and cliché. It tells the story of Claire Bennett, a young woman suffering from chronic back pain following a car accident that also killed her young son.

The film affords an actress ample opportunity to knock it out of the park and comedy queen Jennifer Aniston is certainly up to the task. She portrays Claire as both angry and unlikeable, but still manages to elicit empathy for her plight.

The screenplay doesn’t lay all its cards on the table from the outset so one is always alert to what this woman’s back story is. The revelation when it comes is not really a big surprise as such, but the drip feeding of information certainly keeps one watching.

Supporting characters are well delineated even if the scenes with Sam Worthington are probably the most conventional. Ultimately, though, this is a film that is totally reliant on the credibility brought to the table by its lead actress and Aniston is devastatingly good.

Her scenes with Adriana Barraza in particular are especially captivating. Underrated as an actress Aniston is not only one of the best comedienne’s working in films today but here proves her dramatic chops also.

It may be a role that had one eye on Oscar, but in this case it would have been totally deserved. I haven’t seen Moore’s ‘Still Alice’ performance yet (although the trailer makes it look like a TV movie of the week), but as far as Witherspoon, Cotillard, Jones and Pike are concerned, my vote would have unquestionably gone to Aniston.