Quick Review: Hurry Up Tomorrow (2025)

A deep film that doesn't have much to say

Introduction:

I’m a huge fan of The Weeknd and I really love his music. Hell I’m even seeing him in concert this summer because of how much I do love the music. Something that has stuck out with with me about him is his music videos mainly from the After Hours era and you tell Abel has a passion for filmmaking and could create something special with his music with it. When this film was announced though, I was a bit cautious because of his last venture with Sam Levinson with The Idol. However seeing that Trey Edward Shultz was involved with this project, it did leave me a bit hopeful for the project as I’m a huge fan of his 2019 film Waves. It seemed like with a collaborator like him, this could be a duo that could deliver something special. After watching Hurry Up Tomorrow, while there was some creative decisions that worked in the films favor, I think the overall product doesn’t really come together all that great in the end.

Review:

To start off, the visual look of the film looks really nice and is fascinating to look at. There’s a lot that the film is doing visually that I think helps make it distinct enough. I also really liked the opening of the film. The beginning concert scene I thought was a good way in captivating the audience and making them want to watch more of the film. In terms of performances I do think that Jenna Ortega was a highlight here. She continues to prove herself as an amazing actress and even in her weaker films, she can still give a good performance. Even despite the memes from Abel’s acting that have been coming out, he also does have his moments in the film that I think show the potential he has as an actor. One last thing to note is the music is overall good. Considering I already like the album, I did enjoy the music and some of the score that played through the film.

Unfortunately though, once the beginning of the film is over, the rest of the film is very underwhelming to sit through. I think the biggest problem of the film is that it tries being deep with the themes and concepts that it’s grappling towards, but it never really offers anything interesting and intriguing for there to be any care of what’s being shown. The movie is clearly a companion piece for the album of the same name and I wish it did so much more in saying or doing something unique. I think of other films of the same merit like Pink Floyds The Wall and Daft Punks Interstella 5555. Those films really work in complimenting their respective albums and offer a experience that feels special. But with this, it didn’t feel like this film could do the same with its album. While the music is good, the film lacks uplifting the music in that sense.

I’ve mentioned the performances and while Jenna’s is good and Abel does have his moments, the characters that they have lack any charm and ultimately feel like flat characters and with a movie that’s trying to be deep and say something, this does not work here. Then you have Barry Keoghan which honestly I think he is heavily miscast in his role of the film. The performances he’s doing did not work for me and felt out of place for what he was trying to do.

As the film goes on, it just lost me more and more and once we get towards the last 40 minutes, I really lost interest in the film. The film is trying to commentate on Abel’s character, but it comes off as a lot of people have been saying “pretentious” and “self indulgent” and while that not have been what he was going for, it’s going to look that way for a mainstream audience that the film is marketed towards.

I really struggle to say anything else because the film is just bland overall. This is clearly a passion project for Abel and I wish I did have more positive things to talk about considering how much passion he did have for the project. I just wanted more out of this at the end of the day.

Final Thoughts:

While there’s elements in the film to appreciate, Hurry Up Tomorrow doesn’t really come together all that well and it left me wanting more to love about it. It’s something that even though there’s interesting elements to look at, it’s overall a forgettable film that doesn’t really have anything to offer.

Rating: 4/10