Cake (2014)

Claire becomes fascinated by the suicide of a woman in her chronic pain support group while grappling with her own, very raw personal tragedy.

Director:

Daniel Barnz

Writer:

Patrick Tobin (screenplay)

Stars:

Jennifer Aniston, Adriana Barraza, Anna Kendrick

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 5 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jennifer Aniston	...	Claire Bennett
Adriana Barraza	...	Silvana
Anna Kendrick	...	Nina Collins
Sam Worthington	...	Roy Collins
Mamie Gummer	...	Bonnie
Felicity Huffman	...	Annette
William H. Macy	...	Leonard
Chris Messina	...	Jason Bennett
Lucy Punch	...	Nurse Gayle
Britt Robertson	...	Becky
Paula Cale	...	Carol
Ashley Crow	...	Stephanie
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo	...	Arturo
Camille Guaty	...	Tina
Allen Maldonado	...	Buddy

Storyline

The acerbic, hilarious Claire Bennett becomes fascinated by the suicide of a woman in her chronic pain support group. As she uncovers the details of Nina's suicide and develops a poignant relationship with Nina's husband, she also grapples with her own, very raw personal tragedy.

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Plot Keywords:

suicide | chronic pain | loneliness | loss of wife | death of wife | 

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Taglines:

Self-forgiveness is a painful path.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, substance abuse and brief sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official Website

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

23 January 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cake: Una razón para vivir

Filming Locations:

Eagle Rock, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$916,179, 2 January 2015, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,873,547, 8 February 2015

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinelou Films,Echo Films,We're Not Brothers Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The screenplay for this film was featured in the 2013 Blacklist; a list of the "most liked" unmade scripts of the year.

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Goofs

Claire's pain appears to be in her legs - it was said she had pins in her legs - and during the swimming sequence, they show a long scar that runs from above to below her knee. If it were this injury, she would not be able to squat down to slip into the pool and if it were as bad as indicated, she would have a harder time walking. Additionally, it wouldn't require her to lay down in the car during her travels.

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Quotes

Claire Bennett: Tell me a story where everything works out in the end for the evil witch.

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Connections

Featured in The 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2015)

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Soundtracks

Let's Get Started
Written and Performed by Dylan Gardner
Courtesy of Big Deal Music

User Reviews

Was hoping for more!

'Cake' starts very promising. The main character is dealing with chronic pain and drug (ab)use. After the suicide of a girl from her support group, she starts to think about ending it herself but somehow her will to live seems to be stronger. I think this is a sensitive topic for lots of people, and it's what fascinated me enough to watch the movie. Sadly, the story starts to drag after a while and loses depth very fast.

Like many others here, I was curious about Jen's performance, because it's always nice to see another side of an actor, especially one who gets a lot of typecasting. I've always thought of her as a terrific comedy actress with an amazing sense of timing. I have to say, her performance didn't really touch me. She didn't do bad with what she got, but I missed some connection to her character. I disagree with other reviewers calling this the best performance of her career.

What makes a movie great to me is the urge to watch it again, which I didn't experience with this one. I didn't feel any emotion even though the theme is supposed to be very touching.