An R&B star’s personal pet project, a movie essentially about himself and his genius, doesn’t automatically need to be a pretentious piece of self-promotion. But it is in the case of Hurry Up Tomorrow, that’s all it is and any concerns about telling a compelling, thoughtful story about a musician’s psychological battle with himself are nonexistent. A companion piece to Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye’s sixth studio album, the film is designed as a way to retire or kill The Weeknd moniker once and for all. Good, because after this it might be a good idea for Tesfaye and everyone involved to get as far away as possible.
Red flags right off the bat. Our viewing was preceded by a music video featuring Tesfaye and it’s a genuinely beautiful piece of music, heavy with piano. Tesfaye has a Michael Jackson-like presence, and voice, when he performs. It’s when he comes alive. When the video ends, signalling that Hurry Up Tomorrow is really about selling albums first, it’s also the last time Tesfaye is a welcome presence. His feature debut as an actor after a small cameo as himself in Uncut Gems and starring role in the awful short-lived HBO series The Idol, Tesfaye’s best scene in the film comes when he has a gag in his mouth and he’s literally forced to listen to his own music. He looks distressed, which is fair because I felt the same way by that point.
Tesfaye plays Abel, a fictionalized version of himself, a depressed, insomniac musician who experiences a mental breakdown when an ex-girlfriend breaks up with him. He can’t handle it, and indulges in drugs, partying, and liquor to amp himself up to perform. He’s enabled by his manager and glorified hype man Lee (Barry Keoghan), an old friend who sacrificed a lot to be by his buddy’s side. Meanwhile, a mysterious woman, Anima (Jenna Ortega), is fleeing after burning down what appears to be her childhood home.
Abel’s lonely, Anima’s lonely, these two seem destined for one another. Their eyes meet during a concert when Abel’s voice fails him due to all of the stress he’s under. Later, they run into one another backstage and decide to spend a glorious night together at the Santa Monica Pier, hiding their faces under masks to preserve their anonymity and to cut loose. It’s a magical encounter, the stuff romantic comedies are made of.
Pretty quickly you pick up that Hurry Up Tomorrow is a cinematic ego trip by Tesfaye, who co-wrote the screenplay with director Trey Edward Shults and Reza Fahim. The solution to just about every problem encountered in the film is to just listen to The Weeknd’s music, take in the lyrics and really feel them because they plumb such incredible emotional depths. Abel and Anima share an evening together where he plays an unfinished song for her, and it’s just SO POWERFUL that she breaks down in tears. It’s like he was speaking just for her, y’know?
One night isn’t enough to change years of learned behavior, though, and things take a turn for the toxic pretty quickly, and then something akin to Misery. I get it, Hurry Up Tomorrow isn’t as grounded in the physical world as it is the psychological, with Abel fighting against the devil on his shoulder. But this thin exploration of Abel’s toxic masculinity is always couched by painting The Weeknd as a special, remarkably profound performer and it always scans as grossly self-serving.
Promos have labeled Shults a “visionary” filmmaker, and I get why. To pump up his cred also pumps up the cred of Hurry Up Tomorrow, but he doesn’t show it here. He employs lots of whip pans, and favors extreme close-ups so we can see Tesfaye and Ortega’s eyes well up with tears real good, but this is the stuff of a music video director making their first feature film, not a veteran directing his fourth. I would say Shults has made 50% of a good movie three times (Krisha, It Comes at Night, Waves) and has transitioned to making 0% of a good movie once.
There’s a reason why Lionsgate is dumping Hurry Up Tomorrow out there with little fanfare or buzz. It’s superficial, poorly acted, and invites parody, and if this is The Weeknd’s way of moving on into another stage of his career, let’s hope it involves music a lot more than making movies.
Hurry Up Tomorrow opens in theaters on May 16th.
