Reportedly inspired by true-life events of a vocal issue on tour, The Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye) teamed up with director Trey Edwards Shultz and The Idol creator Reza Fahim to concoct the fever dream of a script for Hurry Up Tomorrow. Blatantly wearing its influences upfront, Hurry Up Tomorrow desperately attempts to create its environment. Specifically, it tries too hard to create a David Lynch/Nicolas Winding Refn style atmosphere to place The Weeknd playing a fictionalized version of himself. But the results turn into one of, if not the, most self-deluded, narcissistic pieces in movie history. Not that narcissism isn’t a valid form of exploration in cinema, the past is littered with examples, but it takes a unique skill level to pull something this audacious off.

The Weeknd (actually billed as Abel Tesfaye to confirm that Abel is playing the ‘character’ of The Weeknd) starts to experience some vocal cord irritation while amid his worldwide tour. His manager Lee (a delightfully unhinged Barry Keoghan) begs him to slow down on the booze and drugs. Urging Abel to get rest during his downtime, Lee is unaware that Abel finds it hard to sleep at all and is a closeted insomniac, fighting both the fear of losing his voice and the other demons invading his thoughts.

After a trip to the doctor reveals that nothing is physically wrong, Abel starts to descend into a wormhole of doubt, as even he has surmised this is a mental issue. Into this chaos lands Anima (Jenna Ortega), a hookup with severe issues all her own, whom Abel confesses he does not want to be alone with during the night of her tryst. But when the morning arrives and all Abel wants to do is leave without her, all hell breaks loose.

To say Hurry Up Tomorrow is a convoluted mess would be an understatement. The fact that the screening opened with the music video for The Weeknd’s newest song and the majority of the audience didn’t even realize that it was not part of the film until it was over turned out to be prophetic. To be quite frank, Hurry Up Tomorrow is nearly unwatchable to anyone outside of the most obsessed of The Weeknd’s fans who are ravenous for more content. Abel himself is not an actor, and while many singers have transitioned to acting with varying results, I’m not sure anyone has missed this hard since Mariah Carey’s lone attempt in Glitter. In many ways, Hurry Up Tomorrow feels like a long-form music video that’s surprisingly light on the music.

Cr. Lionsgate Pictures © 2025

The best comparison I can cobble together for what The Weeknd is attempting here is the films of Prince back in the latter’s heyday. But the biggest difference here comes in the level of acting ability and charisma. I’m not saying that The Weeknd is lacking in charisma, but his charisma comes from his musicality and performing; he doesn’t appear to have effortless swag at all times. In comparison, Prince had an unrelenting aura about him that allowed him to ooze charisma just by walking into the room and giving a sideways glance. Prince’s charm and devilish nature seemed perfectly fit for cinema, while The Weeknd’s more stoic approach and resting expression that appears listless do not translate nearly as well.

Jenna Ortega is lost here. We know she has the chops, but she seems lost on screen, I suspect due to a clear lack of direction from the script and behind the camera. It seems content to just show up and hang out on screen with The Weekend. The only person who emerges unscathed here is Keoghan, who understood the assignment better than even the writers of this film. His character, Lee, manages to steal every scene he appears in with ease, up until his grizzly end, which may not be his actual ending. That’s because the film revolves around an ending that, as annoying as it is, is perhaps the most predictable part of the entire film.

Perhaps the best way to describe the impact of this film is to relate the bizarre nature of what happened after the screening. As I made my way out of the screening, I met  two fellow critics, none of whom are normally shy with words or opinions, yet the three of us stood there baffled and just laughing at our inability to describe what we saw for a good solid minute. All the while we were surrounded by The Weeknd stans clamoring to grab posters from an unmanned makeshift table out in front of the cinema. This feels like the perfect analogy for how this film will be received.