Tesfaye has referred to Hurry Up Tomorrow as his most personal project to-date. He developed the film with director Trey Edward Shults (It Comes at Night, Waves), who also co-wrote the script with Tesfaye and Reza Fahim—co-writer of the doomed HBO drama The Idol. As Tesfaye has relayed many times, Hurry Up Tomorrow (the movie) was gestating long before Hurry Up Tomorrow (the album) was in the works. But the catalyst for both was a pivotal moment in Tesfaye’s career: In September 2022, early into a sold-out concert at California’s 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium, the singer heard a pop! He’d lost his voice, and had to cancel the rest of the show.

The Weeknd in Hurry Up Tomorrow meets the same fate, and, as it really did for Tesfaye, the event sparks a breakdown. The film’s depiction of Abel’s deteriorating mental health also revolves around his Riley Keough–voiced ex-girlfriend, whom he calls and texts obsessively. At one point, before hitting another giant stage, he sobs and swears at her voicemail as his glam squad tries to get him ready for the imminent show. The camera swirls around the scene, unsteady and swift. This is one of what I can only call a tormenting number of 360-degree shots in the movie. I tried to write them all down, but my hand began to cramp.

As we watch the Weeknd perform, party, and sulk in the leadup to blowing out his voice, Shults splices in footage of Ani (Jenna Ortega), a disturbed Weeknd fan who drives cross-country to attend his show after torching her childhood home. (Why? We are never clued in.) Shults, who also edited the film, spends a great deal of time cutting back and forth between the two characters. The tension builds seemingly forever, but the moment when they finally meet, lock eyes, and abscond together is comically abrupt. “I saw you,” Abel says to Ani, who has bolted backstage at his concert. “Yes,” she says. And then they’re off. Shults spends so much time on ambience that most of the film’s character interactions feel neglected and rusty at the joints. Given that Ortega and Keoghan are highly talented actors who can enliven the limpest material, this feels more like a more foundational issue in the writing and directing.

What’s funny is the Weeknd isn’t so bad at playing himself. He’s certainly improved since his last acting role as sleazy producer Tedros in The Idol. Tesfaye can shed a tear and play a prick without sending the entire scene into a screeching halt. The core issue with Hurry Up Tomorrow is its very conceit, most of which I can’t explain greatly without spoiling the film’s final act. Still, the trailer alone reveals that the Weeknd encounters a crazed fan who puts him through some kind of hellish situation in a luxury hotel room. Make of that what you wish.

To an extent, Hurry Up Tomorrow shares DNA with Misery, the Stephen King novel turned Rob Reiner film that raises complex questions about fame, pop culture, and the extremes of fandom. Unfortunately, these ideas are just kind of slapped on the surface of Hurry Up Tomorrow, which fails to penetrate deeper into the lives and motivations of its characters. The exception nearly arrives in the closing minutes during a high-stakes scene that had the potential to transform the whole film into a ruthless satire. But the punches were pulled, and Tesfaye remains precious about his long-held persona. Caught up in the sentimentality of his own fame, the Weeknd just can’t heed his own curtain call.