{"id":1692,"date":"2015-07-14T20:06:58","date_gmt":"2015-07-15T00:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=1692"},"modified":"2026-10-06T16:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T20:01:16","slug":"cake-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=1692","title":{"rendered":"Cake-2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cake-2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Daniel Barnz<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Jennifer Aniston<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #257<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"80017263\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed July 14, 2015<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cake (2014) is a film about a woman suffering from chronic physical pain and depression that she constantly battles after a terrible accident that she was involved in.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Aniston gives a wonderful performance as Claire Simmons, a grumpy, sarcastic, bitter victim of unimaginable loss. Aniston’s performance is the best part by far.<\/p>\n

It is interesting to note that Aniston Executive produced this film.<\/p>\n

Similarly, and somewhat sadly, Reese Witherspoon had to produce her own 2014 film (Wild) centered on a female role for both women to showcase their powerful acting chops.<\/p>\n

Too few films about women are made these days unless they use female star power, which is too bad.<\/p>\n

Claire has been through hell and back.<\/p>\n

As the story opens, Claire sits angrily in a support group filled with other women with problems. One of the women, Nina, (played by Anna Kendrick) has just jumped off of a freeway overpass to her death\u2014a giant photo of her glares jarringly at the other women.<\/p>\n

When Claire probes the details of the death and uses a sarcastic tone, the lead counselor, Annette (played by Felicity Huffman), politely asks her not to return to the group.<\/p>\n

Claire returns to her well-maintained Los Angeles home, where the audience meets her well-meaning housekeeper and confidant, Silvana, played by Adriana Barraza. Barraza herself gives a powerful performance.<\/p>\n

Nina appears throughout the remainder of the film in visions as Claire debates suicide.<\/p>\n

Let me discuss Jennifer Aniston’s performance in particular. I thought it was amazing and she was shamefully overlooked for an Oscar nomination.<\/p>\n

She was superior to at least<\/em> a couple of the other Best Actress nominees from 2014 (Felicity Jones immediately comes to mind).<\/p>\n

Her character, Claire, starts as a bit of a shrew but gradually becomes sympathetic as the story layers out and the audience learns what makes her tick.<\/p>\n

We don’t know how she ended up in her predicament at first. We know she was in a terrible accident, but it slowly takes time for all of the details to emerge. We only know she is in pain and angry.<\/p>\n

Claire’s relationship with Silvana is interesting.<\/p>\n

They spar; Claire takes Silvana for granted at times, but throughout the film, a close friendship emerges between the women. In a touching scene, they hold hands as they sleep.<\/p>\n

Two scenes in particular are heartbreaking and honest. A man played by William H. Macy emerges on the doorstep of Claire’s house, and she is engulfed in rage at his appearance.<\/p>\n

The power that Aniston emits in this scene is unrivaled. In another scene, she sees a portrait hanging on her living room fireplace mantel, given to her by a friend; she bursts into tears and sobs.<\/p>\n

At this point, the plot makes more sense, and we feel Claire’s raw pain.<\/p>\n

The subject matter of depression and suicide is not a cheery one, and Cake delves deeply into this territory.<\/p>\n

The film is a bit of a downer, slow, and, at moments, drags a bit, and teeters on the verge of a lifetime television movie (yikes!), but MUCH better than that thanks to Aniston’s compelling portrayal.<\/p>\n

With a lesser actress, the film might have felt watered down and safe.<\/p>\n

Some light moments fail. For instance, when Claire \u201cblackmails\u201d Annette and bribes her with vodka for Nina’s address, it feels trivial and silly.<\/p>\n

Thanks in large part to a gripping performance by one of Hollywood’s underrated talents, Cake (2014) takes a film on the border of being one-dimensional to a more dynamic level through its leading lady.<\/p>\n

A supporting cast of similar talents helps the film rise above the mediocrity it might have been with lesser casting choices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cake-2014 Director Daniel Barnz Starring Jennifer Aniston Scott’s Review #257 Reviewed July 14, 2015 Grade: B+ Cake (2014) is a film about a woman suffering from chronic physical pain and depression that she constantly battles after a terrible accident that she was involved in. Jennifer Aniston gives a wonderful performance as Claire Simmons, a grumpy, … Continue reading Cake-2014<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,192,11666],"tags":[2517,2874,11890,2803,4601,2083,2003,12737,2894,1917],"class_list":["post-1692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2014-films","category-dramas","category-los-angeles","tag-adriana-barraza","tag-anna-kendrick","tag-bruce-gray","tag-chris-messina","tag-daniel-barnz","tag-felicity-huffman","tag-jennifer-aniston","tag-misty-upham","tag-sam-worthington","tag-william-h-macy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1692"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24728,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1692\/revisions\/24728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}