Cake--better than I anticipated... (film, script, scenes, action)

[loves2read]

Saw this today with a friends--my husband didn't want to go...
I am not an Anniston fan but have seen other movies she has been in and have seen almost every nominated film -- thus wanted to see if I thought she was cheated of nomination--

yes--I do--
she was in almost every frame of film and for the most part was truly believeable as someone in chronic pain
I thought she was as good or better than Felicity Jones in "Theory of Everything"--or Rosamund Pike in "Gone Girl"--her role was just too over the top IMO and she was too frantic in it to be as coolly evil as the character is supposed to be...
Haven't seen Coittard--and she is always excellent or Julienne Moore--neither has come to my area and both of them have better resume than Anniston w/quality performances--so either of them likely to do better just on law of averages--

Reese Witherspoon was good and definitely carried the movie but "great"??? don't think so--movie didn't rise to that level--more on good made for tv flick...

I was in car accident couple of years ago and thankfully escaped any serious, lasting injuries but had lot of seatbelt/air bag trauma--
my knees especially since we had newer car with lower airbags that deployed--
so I know (for a short time) what it feels like to be in pain all over

While the script left many of her choices unexplained--or at least not overtly explained--it was pretty easy to put the pieces together if you knew what the start of her problem was...
but the movie doesn't make it easy to do that in the beginning and you are left on your own for much of her train of thought and decisions

just thought she obviously had lot of money in order to live like she did -- but not really an explanation for where it came from--
independently wealthy/family trust fund??? big insurance settlement (that didn't seem that likely)
maybe on her husband's insurance but unlike many people in her situation money didn't seem like an issue as much as where/how to get her pills

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by loves2read

While the script left many of her choices unexplained--or at least not overtly explained--it was pretty easy to put the pieces together if you knew what the start of her problem was...but the movie doesn't make it easy to do that in the beginning and you are left on your own for much of her train of thought and decisions

Just saw this and agree with you on this part. They probably did that purposely. The film WAS much better than I expected. Aniston did a wonderful job in portraying her character.

she obviously had lot of money in order to live like she did -- but not really an explanation for where it came from--independently wealthy/family trust fund??? big insurance settlement...

Spoiler

When she's hospitalized in the second half of the film, she mentions to the nurse that she was a lawyer and says that she and her husband met in law school.

[Gilah G.]

Sorry,
I thought this movie was forgetable.
I prefer her in comedic roles..i couldn't help but feel it was Rachel on downers acting this whole film out.
Cake just didn't do it for me.

[Tobiashen]

Originally Posted by loves2read

I am not an Anniston fan but have seen other movies she has been in and have seen almost every nominated film -- thus wanted to see if I thought she was cheated of nomination--

yes--I do--
she was in almost every frame of film and for the most part was truly believeable as someone in chronic pain
I thought she was as good or better than Felicity Jones in "Theory of Everything"--or Rosamund Pike in "Gone Girl"--her role was just too over the top IMO and she was too frantic in it to be as coolly evil as the character is supposed to be...

Haven't seen Coittard--and she is always excellent or Julienne Moore--neither has come to my area and both of them have better resume than Anniston w/quality performances--so either of them likely to do better just on law of averages--

Reese Witherspoon was good and definitely carried the movie but "great"??? don't think so--movie didn't rise to that level--more on good made for tv flick...

I was in car accident couple of years ago and thankfully escaped any serious, lasting injuries but had lot of seatbelt/air bag trauma--
my knees especially since we had newer car with lower airbags that deployed--
so I know (for a short time) what it feels like to be in pain all over.

I am not an Aniston fan, either, and I didn't see "Cake," but the trailer and the clips were convincing to me -- her crying scenes were very believable, and I had never seen her look "so bad that she looked good," as in "for the part."

I think she missed the boat (or took the luxury cruise) in acting -- I always wanted to see her in an action film as a tough, streetwise cop or detective or something really, really gritty. I think she would be a natural. She could even do a historical western, and I'd see it as long as she played rough.

Agree also with the bolded above; Rosamund Pike's character WAS just too much, and I'm a fan of horror, but I think this just went too far psychologically and there were too many holes for me. That film ruined her as an actor for me; I will always remember her as this character, and I know that's immature, but it's so stuck in my mind that every time I see her, I want to stop looking.

[The Big Lebowski Dude]

Enjoyed Cake when I saw it earlier this year. JA was excellent in this dramatic role, and 100% believable as someone who's physically suffering from pain throughout the film. This movie actually has the best acting I've seen from JA, and I'm not a JA fan.

Never got into "Friends" back in the day, and the only other movies I've liked her in were the hilarious comedies Office Space and Horrible Bosses 1.