Jennifer Aniston Drinks and Pops Pills in First Trailer for 'Cake'

We've been down this route with Jennifer Aniston before; the one where he takes on a completely stripped down role in an indie feature and turns everybody's head with her acting. That was more than a decade ago with The Good Girl, a film that earned her an Indie Spirit Award nomination and other accolades. Earlier this year Aniston began generating some festival buzz for Cake, which sees her once again stripping down the glamor (rather than just stripping down as in Horrible Bosses 2 or We're the Millers) in taking on the darkest role of her career.

But is the film any good? Well...that's up for debate. While the reviews were split after it premiered at Toronto, the real proof may be that producers failed to find distribution, ultimately being forced to start their own company to release it.  Rarely is that such a good sign. Aniston plays Claire Simmons, an emotionally crippled woman who begins obsessing over the suicide by a member (Anna Kendrick) of her support group. Meanwhile, the self-absorbed Claire begins having an affair with the dead woman's widower, played by Sam Worthington. Adriana Barraza, William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, Lucy Punch, Chris Messina, Britt Robertson, Mamie Gummer, and the late Misty Upham co-star with Daniel Barnz (Beastly) directing.

We've seen a complete transformation in Aniston as she's embraced her risque side in R-rated comedies, but dramatic roles have been few. The thing is, she's actually pretty good when given the opportunity to branch out into more serious work. Cake may not be the film that gets her any awards contention but it may open the door to other opportunities. After a one-week Oscar qualifying run next month Cake will open in January.



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