Hurry Up Tomorrow

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.

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.

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.

It's an okay movie, but not what I was expecting story-wise. I do get why a lot of diehard Weeknd fans will like it, and I don't want to take that away from them, but coming from a semi-fan who really enjoyed the album, it could've been a lot better. A lot of fluff could have been cut to make a much better ending. And I'm not just talking about unimportant scenes, there are several moments where characters just stand and do nothing for like, 6 seconds or so. Basic information even slight fans of the Weeknd should know is spoon-fed, while critical information about the entire movie has to be pieced together as the credits roll. It is pretty emotional, it just could have been executed so much better. Also, if you at all suffer from epilepsy or dizziness, do not see this movie. There's no warning but there's a ton of bright rapidly flashing lights and fast moving camera angles.