Cake

The audience can feel Jennifer Aniston’s pain in Cake, although not always for the intended reasons.

Aniston is terrific as a woman struggling to manage her chronic pain, although she’s undermined by a script that tends to trivialize her character’s plight through a series of melodramatic contrivances.

Aniston plays Claire, a bitter and socially isolated woman addicted to prescription painkillers because of pain in her back so constant and severe that it forces to her lay horizontally in the passenger seat of her car.

Her sour attitude makes her a target for ostracism by everyone from her support-group leader (Felicity Huffman) to her physical therapist (Mamie Gummer) to her husband (Chris Messina). So she’s relegated to living alone and ranting to her housekeeper (Adriana Barraza), who visits her home a few times a week.

She begins obsessing about a woman (Anna Kendrick) from her therapy group who committed suicide, even going as far as to visit the dead woman’s husband (Sam Worthington) and young son in a desperate attempt at catharsis. Gradually, the details of her affliction are revealed, including an underlying emotional burden that might be an even greater contributor to her perpetual malaise.

Aniston admirably goes against her glamorous reputation here, capturing the vulnerability in a character that provides a challenge both physically and emotionally. Her portrayal is filled with a level of sincerity and emotional depth we haven’t often seen from her.

The film argues that her condition justifies her cynicism, just as her discomfort influences her every word and action and dominates every minute of every day, turning her into a pill-popping nut case. Under the direction of Daniel Barnz (Won’t Back Down), there are some powerful sequences, especially when Claire hits rock bottom, but the result isn’t convincing in the way it tries to position her as both victim and villain.

Cake is a compelling character study hampered by a heartfelt screenplay that makes a heavy-handed attempt to elicit sympathy and struggles to find humor amid its serious subject matter. It’s unfocused and not especially insightful into Claire’s affliction, despite efforts to shine a spotlight on those who suffer. Where Aniston finds poignancy, however, the film too often wallows in pity.

Rated R, 102 minutes.