Hurry Up Tomorrow: Más allá de los reflectores

The title Hurry Up Tomorrow is incredibly appropriate-because the entire time I was watching it, I just wanted it to hurry up and end. Calling this a "film" is generous; surviving it felt more like a cinematic endurance test.

The plot is laughably shallow, padded with so much pointless fluff that the pacing is downright painful. Abel Tesfaye, a.k.a. The Weeknd, essentially plays himself-and not well. His acting is so stiff, it's almost impressive. Sharing scenes with Jenna Ortega only makes it worse; she effortlessly outshines him at every turn, making his performance look like a high school drama rehearsal.

To make matters worse, the whole movie is drenched in ego. There's a scene-I'm not making this up-where Jenna's character actually analyzes the deep themes of his music. It tries to present itself as some kind of profound artistic statement, but really, it's just a 100-minute commercial for his new album.

Abel, please-stick to your day job.

What a waste of time that was. Self-indulgent storyline with plugs for the latest songs. The last 15 minutes appear to have come from a different movie and are completely nonsensical. The earlier part is a major snoozefest with shaky camera work and repetition. Not sure how this was ever greenlight but presumably due to star power. At some point during the movie, someone says to Abel that he should avoid acting and stick to what he does best. Shame he did not follow the advice - that would have saved everyone their time and money. It looks like it will bomb in the box office which is understandable. Avoid.

Prefacing this by saying i am a huge fan of the weeknd, and was willing to give this film a chance after the idol. That being said, this film just felt wholly unneeded? It might be better than the idol, sure, but that's not saying much. But it didn't really DO anything, narrative wise, development wise, etc. The best way i'd describe this would be it feels like a long music video, with nice shots, and (maybe too many) songs, but lacks any real substance to it... i will say i appreciated some parts, especially when there was a dive into abel's introspection in the dream sequences. But the issue was, it really just didn't dive deep enough to feel meaningful, and ultimately fell flat.

Abel's acting is an improvement from his last stunt but it's not saying much. Coming from a place of love for his music and craft, i think he would be much more successful behind the scenes rather than in front of it (at least for now). Overall? I would watch it if you want to get a few laughs in from unintentionally funny scenes, and if you are a big fan of the weeknd, it's worth a shot.

You are significantly more likely to enjoy this movie if any of the following are true: You are a Jenna Ortega stan. You love The Weeknd and his music. You like ethereal movies where metaphors and symbolism are the main draw. You don't mind visual storytelling with minimal actual story.

None of the above are true for me. I think Jenna Ortega is a highly talented actress and does not disappoint with this performance. The Weeknd also does a good job, although it's hard to tell since he's playing himself. And they are two of the realest celebrities out there, never afraid to stand up for what's right.

As for the movie overall, I found it overly slow and pretty boring. The story is super basic and could have been told in half the time. The visuals are cool but feel pointless. It will really depend on each viewer if the visuals and music are enough to make this an enjoyable experience.

(1 viewing, early screening UltraScreen 5/14/2025)

I honestly thought The Weeknd had hit rock bottom with The Idol, but this movie proved me wrong. I went in with low expectations, and it still managed to disappoint me on every level. This isn't a film - it's an overlong, pretentious disaster masquerading as art.

About 60% of the runtime feels like a glorified music video, 30% is pointless, dragged-out dialogue, and the remaining 10% is the camera spinning in circles like someone just discovered how a gimbal works. And The Weeknd? He plays himself - crying, sweating, sulking - in literally every single scene. I swear he made this movie just to show he can cry on camera. Mission accomplished, I guess.

Jenna Ortega is a great actress, but here she's completely wasted. She spends most of her time dancing to his songs, giving cringe "Genius lyric breakdown" speeches while he's tied to a bed. Yes, that's not a metaphor. That actually happens.

The film desperately wants to be deep and meaningful - a psychological journey, maybe even a metaphor for regret and fame - but it ends up being shallow, incoherent, and unintentionally hilarious. There's a viral clip where The Weeknd yells, "Shut the f** up, God!"* in the flattest delivery I've ever heard. It honestly feels like they just used the first take and called it a day.

I started taking notes halfway through. That's how bad it got. I won't even bother with spoiler warnings - you can't spoil garbage. Trash is trash.

The only joy I got was seeing people actually walk out of the theater during the second act. That gave me a weird sense of solidarity.

Bottom line: If you're not a diehard Weeknd fan who's willing to defend anything he does, don't waste your time. Unless you want to experience what it feels like to get emotionally bludgeoned for two hours by a weeping pop star - then by all means, go ahead.