'Cake,' starring Jennifer Aniston, could have used more layers
Jennifer聽Aniston聽plays a severely depressed woman dealing with聽chronic pain in Daniel Barnz鈥檚 鈥淐ake,鈥� one of those movies designed as聽an Oscar make-over for its star. It didn鈥檛 work in this case.聽Aniston聽was not聽nominated for Best Actress, perhaps because the film is聽so聽obvious about聽what it鈥檚 up to.聽
As the pain-killer-popping Claire, covered in prosthetic聽scars,聽Aniston聽is playing a tough-tender type whose closest bond is with聽Silvana (Adriana Barraza), her Mexican housekeeper, who dutifully聽drives her on errands and even to Tijuana, Mexico, to score cut-rate pills. (If聽anybody deserved an Oscar nomination, it鈥檚 Barraza.) The scenes between聽these two women are more believable and finely observed than the ones聽between Claire and her ex-husband (Chris Messina) or between her and聽the husband (Sam Worthington) of a woman (Anna Kendrick) in Claire鈥檚聽support group who killed herself. 鈥淐ake鈥� could have used more layers. Grade:聽C (Rated R for language, substance abuse and brief sexuality.)
