Movie Review: Hurry Up Tomorrow (2025)
From the perspective of a Weeknd fan.
Hurry Up Tomorrow is the definition of a film that will either work for you or not given your stance on the subject matter at hand. Anybody who is not a fan of The Weeknd will be turned off by this film and what it is going for (which is OK to say). But if you’re somebody like me who has been following his work for a long time, I was impressed by this film even if it does have a couple problems that hold it back.
To start this review off, I have to give credit to The Weeknd himself, Reza Fahim, & Trey Edward Shults for their work in the screenplay department. Hurry Up Tomorrow does a great job in presenting us with a dark, powerful story that explores The Weeknd’s psyche/mental state with a ton of thought & depth. Every ounce of his depression, insecurities, and existential dread are dived into without any chances to hold back in providing a personal piece of filmmaking that comes from the heart in every frame. There is also an extra layer of meta storytelling in a way here as the movie heavily uses The Weeknd’s music as an integral element of the story not just to craft his inner conflict as a protagonist, but also making for him to express his true feelings & inner demons as a person in real life, thus adding a lot of emotional weight to said story that will hit for those who are fans of his work. In general, while I can see some people seeing a lot of the writing choices to come off as self-indulgent or on-the-nose, I feel like they were a fantastic way to make The Weeknd prove that he has the ability to be as honest & vulnerable as he can be to bring this clearly intimate story to life through his & Trey Edward Shults’ lens.
I was also consistently stunned by Shults’ work for this film from a directorial standpoint, which contained choices that I was not expecting to see whatsoever. One of them is the amount of emphasis on the visual aspect of storytelling by having some scenes in this film rely more on the imagery to tell the story rather than using a lot of dialogue. I found myself admiring this approach as it allowed for me to not only fully soak in the atmosphere that the movie was going for, but also to get a grasp on what was going on within the narrative without the need for the characters to say anything. There are also a ton of excellent choices in terms of camera work & editing that did an amazing job in capturing The Weeknd’s headspace in a manner that feels appropriately disorienting without feeling too over-the-top in its presentation, particularly in its use of 360 camera spins. On the whole, Shults utilizes every component of the filmmaking along with his ability to combine different tones together to create a cinematic experience that keeps you gripped & engaged from beginning to end without letting you go until the very end.
Altogether, Hurry Up Tomorrow is a wonderfully crafted that has a lot going for it in these regards. As mentioned before, the cinematography by Chayse Irvin is some of the most striking of the year so far and not only packs a lot of terrific camerawork, but also has strong work in terms of shot compositions & framing that makes you fully connect with the characters on an emotional level. The editing, which was also done by Trey Edward Shults, is also fantastic work that keeps the movie going at a steady pace all throughout while having a ton of dazzling choices that make the movie feel properly confounding. The usage of The Weeknd’s songs was a very nice touch for the story, but I also have to give credit to the musical score done by him & Daniel Lopatin, which I found to have a beautifully ethereal 80s feel to it that added a lot to the atmospheric soundscape of the film. Lastly, the sound design for this movie was also great and lures you into the story & world right from the start, with an especially huge shoutout to the sound work during the concert scenes. Those scenes serves as an exceptional hook for the film and a massive part of it does come from the sound design of said scenes.
Now is this film perfect? No. It does have a fair share of problems that hold it back from being phenomenal. The first of which is that there were times where the acting does not come off that great or convincing. In general, I would say the acting in this film is solid, with The Weeknd himself & Jenna Ortega being the clear standouts of the cast. However, Barry Keoghan has some rocky moments in his performance that came off as a bit too hokey for me. He was fine in the movie overall, but I think that many of his scenes in the movie could have benefited from doing an extra take or so because of some of his line delivery feeling off at times. There was also some dialogue in this film that came off as corny, though I wouldn’t say it is the worst dialogue in the world. It’s just a case in which some of it came off as awkward or obvious, although part of me feels like that was the idea during certain crucial moments in the film. Speaking of awkward, there were also some scenes that did come off as… unintentionally hilarious? Thankfully those scenes are very few and far between, but there were a couple that came off like an unintentional comedy (particularly very early on).
Aside from these problems though, I found Hurry Up Tomorrow to be a very good piece of powerful, introspective, personal piece of storytelling & filmmaking where The Weeknd is not afraid to express himself both as a musician and a person in general. Just know that it will be a film that will either work for you or not depending on your feelings & history with him in both manners (which is totally fine).
Hurry Up Tomorrow is out in theaters now!
That is it for the review! I hope you all enjoyed reading it and please let me know if you plan on seeing this film! See you all next time! Later!
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That’s a great review!