Hurry Up Tomorrow (2025)

Hurry Up Tomorrow is perhaps not the sort of film that I would go to see but I thought as it featured Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan that it might have something worth seeing. The film sees Abel (The Weeknd) trying to get back into contact with his ex but is in the middle of a tour. Meanwhile Jenna Ortega plays Anima who starts the film by setting fire to someone’s house she then goes on her way to his concert and in the middle of a song their eyes meet and before we know what’s what, they run off to a fun fair to have a good night. The next morning he is about to leave for the next stage of his tour and she batters him over the head and they have a philosophical debate about what his songs mean.

The Weeknd might be a good singer and performer but he isn’t very good as a leading man and when the film goes into weird mystical moments he doesnt help us understand what is supposed to be happening. Jenna Ortega is easily the best thing in this film and after really enjoying her performance in ‘Death of a Unicorn’ earlier in the year, it felt like she deserves better than what the movie gave her. She managed to make her character seem interesting because of how unhinged she got in the second half but I think that the fact her character is interesting is more to do with Ortega than the screenplay itself. I would like to have seen more of Barry Keoghan, he is Lee who is Abel’s manager and he appears in the first part of the film but when Abel and Anima go on their little journey, he disappears and don’t come back until the end. The highlight of the film is the fight between Lee and Anima which is short but quite intense. 

The main issue with this film is that it is very pretentious. I think that the film thinks it is smarter than it actually is. There are some moments where the visuals are a bit weird and dreamlike and there is one moment which came across quite like a David Lynch film but its handled by someone who doesnt understand the mechanics of a David Lynch film. The film does try to invoke ‘Misery’ by having Abel tied to the bed whilst Anima tries to play his songs. This second half of the film is so much stronger but the film can’t quite shake the pretentiousness off because at the end the hotel room is set on fire with no sign of Anima or Abel so there is the question as to whether it happened or whether it was in his head.

There is nothing wrong with taking a usicain and try to make something of their music and try and explore what is in it but to be honest the film lost me with the weird dreamlike moments. The film works best when Ortega and Weeknd have scenes together because they do have some good chemistry. If you are a fan of the Weeknd then this film might be worth seeing but I’m struggling to see them like it. I could be wrong. Not worth the time really.