An overtly indulgent self-importance undertaking that holds you hostage for practically two hours, “Hurry Up Tomorrow” is The Weeknd’s newest try and show he can Capital-A Act. Abel Tesfaye, nonetheless smarting from the extensively mocked “The Idol,” returns with one other soulless, self-serving inventive car, this time disguised as a characteristic movie.
Timed to the discharge of his album of the identical title, which dropped final month to lukewarm evaluations, “Hurry Up Tomorrow” is billed as a multi-platform creative assertion. However actually, it’s only one lengthy remedy session for a pop star who appears determined to reframe his public picture. Directed by Trey Edward Shults, an indie filmmaker with actual expertise who you’d hope would possibly rein in a few of Tesfaye’s worst instincts, the movie as a substitute doubles down on his most indulgent tendencies.
Tesfaye performs a fictionalized model of himself: a worldwide famous person mid-tour, grappling with burnout, inventive exhaustion, and existential dread. His character is slipping into isolation, battling regrets and second-guessing the that means behind his music and persona. He’s surrounded by a forged of enablers, handlers, and sycophants, but extra alone than ever. The movie tries to discover his crumbling psyche whereas he troopers on via a bodily and emotionally draining tour, mirroring the real-life 2022 incident when Tesfaye misplaced his voice mid-show and needed to stroll offstage.
That second may need earned him some goodwill again then, however right here, it’s rehashed and inflated right into a full-blown martyr narrative. The entire film appears designed to justify his choice and wring sympathy from the viewers. Dude, we get it, you blew out your vocal cords. It occurs. However turning it right into a grand, operatic assertion on ache, fame, and redemption? That’s a stretch.
Co-written by Shults, Tesfaye, and “The Idol” co-creator Reza Fahim, the movie seems like a stitched-together fever dream of half-formed concepts. The pacing is glacial, the dialogue clunky, and the emotional beats hole. It’s clearly a Tesfaye-controlled manufacturing (Stay Nation funded the movie), giving him full inventive management and it reveals. Nobody right here was saying no.
The third act introduces Jenna Ortega as an obsessed fan who confronts Tesfaye’s character, accusing him of operating from the emotional core of his music. Her character, sadly, is underwritten and decreased to a symbolic machine, much less an individual than a remedy mirror. What follows is a collection of bloated, meandering monologues and surreal vignettes that try and unpack the psychological price of fame. Finally, the movie culminates in one of the vital cringe-inducing moments in current cinema: Tesfaye, alone on display, sings a ballad instantly into the digicam in a single, unbroken take. It’s presupposed to be cathartic. It performs like ego worship.
And that’s the elemental drawback, “Hurry Up Tomorrow” desires to be uncooked, introspective, and therapeutic. However it by no means earns that emotional payoff. It’s not self-examination; it’s self-congratulation. If you happen to’re on the lookout for a greater instance of a musician wrestling with demons in a significant means, attempt “Higher Man,” the Robbie Williams biopic. That one had coronary heart. This one simply has narcissism and an inflated sense of function.
“Hurry Up Tomorrow” is what occurs when nobody within the room tells the star he’s not being profound. Tesfaye desires you to applaud his ache, validate his journey, and indulge in his voice prefer it’s a non secular awakening. Gimme a break.
HURRY UP TOMORROW is now enjoying in theatres.