The Birthday Cake

This film was genuinely unclear, underwhelming and lacked clear direction. Also noting you can't understand one word that Uncle Angelo speaks throughout the entire movie (which I found to be ridiculous and unnecessary). Some genuine stars cast here as well as stating its a combination of 'Layer Cake and The Godfather' in the movie description (absolutely reaching) it was all too promising but what an absolute let down in the end. Some poor audio too which didn't help. Giving it two stars as it was entertaining in some moments and nice to see some familiar faces however ultimately it missed the bar.

Realistic take on crime families a raw and gritty film with a vintage feel and way of storytelling, big indie vibe that used to be a staple in Hollywood before the transformer marvel era that has made art like this film hard to sell. This would have been box office gold in 95, but art is not appropriated these days. Gotta love the ramble and flow and concept of this whole film.

Different vibe from most of this genre which took a while to get used to. But as it progresses you get drawn in and the suspense builds in anticipation of something nasty unfolding which it does. Van Kilmer was great and still exudes on screen charisma.

Great Cast! But… The acting, script, cinematography, music…. Horrific. An embarrassing film for all who were involved. A real cinematic steaming pile of sh*t!

Could bearly hear the dialogue over back gound noise, extremely bad audio mix, 1/2 way through the movie, didn't care what was going to happen, too bored. This is plain crap, I don't have anything to add

Best gangster movie in many years, I am very confused why the rating is so low on this website.

How did so many talented actors wind up in this film that probably doesn't even deserve to be in Walmart's 3 dollar bin?

Absolutely dire no idea where the ratings come from, Val Kilmer?

Is this a mob movie? Is it a coming of age movie? What is this? Well, you'll never know because neither the film's writer/ director or script bother to explain any of it. It's just a series of scenes put together with revolting characters revolving around a young man Gio who's just trying to deliver a cake to his Uncle Angelo's (Val Kilmer) house to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his father's untimely death. Death from what? His cousin is MIA and his family wants to know his whereabouts. Why? Because he made some Puerto Ricans angry. For what? The film doesn't explain a single "plot point". Then there's a twist ending involving the titular cake. Why did that happen? What was the motivation? It ends in a confusing scene in a church with a gratuitous cameo by Ewan McGregor and roll credits. This is inept filmmaking at its worst. It doesn't have a single redeeming quality and not even any unintentional laughs. It's just a bad film. Poorly written, poorly filmed and acted. The characters are waking stereotypes and apparently the film's writer is racist against Puerto Ricans. Don't even bother to watch this mess.

If you don't like this movie, you might be a moron.