Sour “Cake”

I was disappointed with “Cake”. The movie failed. However, it wasn’t actors’ fault. They did a wonderful job with what they were given. Jennifer Aniston’s (“Claire”) foray into drama was a success; I hope that she will continue to act in this area. She provided, I believe, a strong portrayal of a person who was in chronic pain. And speaking of performances, there are two instances that really captivated me. First, Adriana Barraza (“Silvana”) played Claire’s homecare attendant brilliantly. She could’ve been nominated for an Oscar in Supporting Role easily. It was the strongest performance by far compared to all the other actors in the movie. The second question concerns William H. Macy (Leonard). Who the heck decided to bring into this project such a strong performer for three lines or close to it? Really?! That was disappointing. Therefore, I will reiterate here that the fault was not with the actors for ruining for what could’ve been a great movie. The problem was either with the script itself or with editing, if not both. Let me explain.

At the end of the movie, I had way too many questions. How did “Claire” come to live with chronic pain? What happened to her son? How did the relationship between “Claire” and her husband deteriorate?  What was “Claire’s” relationship with “Leonard”? Why did they fight?  What kind of relationship did “Claire” and “Nina” (Anna Kendrick; terrific performance) really had?  They behaved like two people who cared about each other deeply, but I didn’t feel that this movie portrayed it well. These are way too many questions to have. As a viewer, I shouldn’t have this many questions, if any at all. I should have left this movie with satisfaction of some kind; some closure should’ve been shown but wasn’t. Therefore, I had to assume what exactly happened through what I suppose were flashbacks like that of police or ambulance.  If it was me, I would do the following.

I would start with the car accident and show who was at fault and who died. For example, camera could’ve shown dead child, hurt parents, and Leonard standing over the crash, next to his, car crying. How awesome would that be? After that, I would jump 5 years into the future. And we find “Claire” where the movie started. This would provide a grounding to decide for us whether to feel for “Claire” or not. Plus, I would show maybe meetings between “Claire’s” and “Leonard’s” lawyers five years later due to our wonderful court system, or something similar. Furthermore, through flashback, I would show the relationship between “Claire” and “Nina” that “Claire” became so bitchy because of “Nina’s” death, and she wasn’t as full of herself before that, even though she lived with chronic pain. Therefore, there are many ways the story could’ve been told better. The script was subpar because the dialogue between people felt real, but there weren’t much meaning behind them. I should take a look at the script. However, the worst thing that could’ve happened was in the editing room. Let us assume that they filmed a whole bunch of scenes including the crash. But then, they cut most of the important scenes just because of time. And I believe that is where the movie failed. I don’t think I’ve ever watched a movie where I had a whole dozen questions at the end of it. I was very disappointed.

In conclusion, I will say that actors can create strong characters all they want, but if a script is not clear or there are holes in it, then the movie will be a disaster. Actors and viewers will be felt cheated and should be. The “Cake” is a case-study for how not to write scenes and how not to edit and/or film the movie. Jennifer Aniston’s performance was extremely well done. It showed her work ethic. That is bloody marvelous to see. However, a stronger story would’ve have done a better justice to her performance. After all, “Wild” had a well-written script and Reese Witherspoon’s character was supported though there were problems (see my blog about “Wild”). Unfortunately for “Cake”, there weren’t any support for the main character to play-off of to make her character stand out.