#REVIEW: “HURRY UP TOMORROW”

By Mr. Will Wong

Meant as a companion piece to global superstar The Weeknd‘s record-setting sixth studio album of the same name, HURRY UP TOMORROW is a psychological Thriller that sees Abel Tesfaye playing a fictionalized version of himself. Trey Edward Shults (Waves) directs this highly-stylized odyssey, blurring reality from drug-induced fantasy.

Abel is spiralling from a breakup with his girlfriend (Riley Keough), unable to reach her despite leaving her many messages. He must gather the strength to continue touring with the encouragement of his best friend and hype guy Lee (Barry Keoghan). Mirroring a real life 2022 incident where he lost his voice mid-show in L.A., forcing him to cancel, Abel experiences loss of his voice while overcome with grief from that all-consuming relationship. This time around though, Lee can’t seem to persuade him to go on. While fleeing the arena, Abel runs into the mysterious and on-the-run Anima (Jenna Ortega). The two lost souls connect in that Anima and Abel both are running from pain and trauma, but things quickly take a downward turn as the former reveals her true self in the face of desperation and panic.

The Film is a collaboration between Shults, Tesfaye, and Reza Fahim who co-write this together. It does however, feel like a lot of competing ideas, all culminating in something that reads a bit too aware of its star’s vanity. The placement of Music comes off a tad too intentional at times, versus helping immerse us into Abel‘s world and the story.

HURRY UP TOMORROW is plagued by a lack of insight, rhyme or reason to what exactly is plaguing Abel and Anima respectively. We get a lot of action, but not enough character development and motive. The ambitious film takes big swings, but ultimately struggles in navigating its different tones evenly. Though it still somehow does manage to captivate its audience enough to entertain for 105 minutes, even if some laughs come unintentionally.

We should have learned our lesson after The Idol, but we do see Tesfaye show a bit more range and ability than that last effort. This truly is made for the fans, hence Tesfaye and his talented Co-stars should escape this unscathed.

Cineplex Pictures release HURRY UP TOMORROW Friday, May 16, 2025.