Purely Joyful Movie!

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Don't listen to the crappy reviews. This movie is PHENOMENAL.

Despite a daring performance from Jennifer Aniston (though ultimately one-note) the movie fails to take off. It's the screenplay. It's the unrelenting darkness and pessimism. Maybe fewer hallucinations and more flashbacks to happier times would have helped.

I never thought much of Jennifer Aniston as an actress, she always makes her character essentially Rachel from Friends and Hollywood has always cast her accordingly. That is not the case in Cake. Aniston shines as Claire Bennett, a woman constantly enveloped in pain, both physical and emotional. Rather than deal with her problems, she tries to hide from them by abusing painkillers and being a complete and total b***h to everyone. Following the suicide of a member of her support group (which Claire is asked to leave due to her negative impact on the group), Claire eventually begins to heal after befriending the woman's family and having hallucinatory conversations with the dead woman.Aniston shows another level that few thought she had in this role much like Charlize Theron in Monster. Aniston really becomes a woman for whom every single step is pain. Adriana Barraza also delivers an excellent performance as her housekeeper Silvana, who does everything she can to help Claire heal. Sam Worthington, Anna Kendrick, Britt Robertson, Felicity Huffman, and a brief appearance from William H. Macy round out a solid supporting cast in this surprisingly good drama.

The main thing Cake really has going for it would be the strength of Aniston's performance. She's already proved her solid comic timing in Friends and the stream of so-so romcoms that followed. Here, she uses comedy to heighten the drama and heartache of her caustic character. She makes it an uncomfortable watch, as you genuinely believe she's in pain throughout the film.Unfortunately, the screenplay lacks a coherent sense of direction; the scenes featuring Anna Kendrick's character constantly feel like a distraction, like moments that simply get in the way of the story, and and the film really wasted its opportunity as one of the few films covering the topic of chronic pain by bumbling into yet another film about grief. However, it does give Aniston some wicked one-liners, and a few scenes are very moving indeed.