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.

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.

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)

A soft 5/10. Abel Tesfaye's Hurry Up Tomorrow flirts with greatness but gets caught in its own spin, literally. The overused spinning camera becomes more distracting than dynamic and pulls from an otherwise intimate movie that gradually finds its own rhythm. The small cast works well and the slow-burn structure kept me guessing what kind of movie it really was until it clicked into place. It tries a little too hard to feel surreal and there's definitely some ego stroking going on by The Weekend. A few memorable moments.. It's Trey Edward Shults and feels like it. It's ambitious, uneven, and intriguing.

In the first half I was prone to say wow, this is not as bad as I expected. The cinematography was pretty decent, I liked the colors and the references (for example The Shining's hotel lobby). Plot was nearly inexistent, and it's a shame because it had lots of potential going on. I never had the chance to see more about the girl in his phone, I never actually learned the story behind Ortega's arsonicism. Nothing more than poor edging.

In the interviews, Abel is talking a lot about his traumatic event of losing his voice, but this plot was at best secondary, and i was disappointed of that too.

Overall, I really really love Abel and his music but his movies not so much.