Cake (2014)

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.

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:

chronic pain | loss of wife | drug addiction | suicide | sex with a gardener | 

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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

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

While she is unsupervised in the therapy pool, Claire attempts to drown herself. Any reputable rehab center would have had a lifeguard on duty and certainly would never leave a disabled woman alone on the deck.

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Quotes

[from trailer]
Claire Bennett: Get off my property
Leonard: I can switch places, I would, it wanted to tell you
Claire Bennett: GET OFF!
[she starts attacking him until Roy breaks up the fight]

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Connections

Featured in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Jennifer Aniston/Bill Gates/Mario Batali (2015)

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Soundtracks

Dig It
Written by Hal Borne and Johnny Mercer
Performed by Fred Astaire, Paulette Goddard and Artie Shaw and His Orchestra (as The Artie Shaw Band)
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

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.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Website

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

23 January 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cake

Filming Locations:

Eagle Rock, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$916,179, 25 January 2015

Gross USA:

$1,951,776

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,433,850

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