When I first saw that this biopic was about the last weekend of a Playboy model, I was expecting something that only Hugh Hefner would approve of.
“Hurricanna”’s Midwest premiere at the 2026 Twin Cities Film Fest on Oct. 17 surprised me.
What I thought was going to be a slightly raunchy film completely defied my expectations about the inner workings of Anna Nicole Smith’s life.
The movie takes place over the course of 48 hours as model Anna Nicole Smith (Sylvia Hoeks) travels to Hollywood, Florida, with her partner and lawyer, Howard K. Stern (Mark Duplass), for a public appearance at a WBC heavyweight wrestling match. Still grieving after the overdose of her son, she begs her psychiatrist, Khristine (Holly Hunter), to join the pair on a work trip that devolves into a drug-hunting, trauma-ridden disaster.
For the two people that should support the supermodel the most, the power struggle between Khristine and Howard is insane to watch. As an audience member, I could feel the obvious pressure Anna faced to perform and give the public what it wants, while simultaneously empathizing with her refusal to receive formal rehab out of fear of losing custody of her child, Dannielynn.
When asked about her occupation, she simply replies, “I’m Anna Nicole Smith.”
She is forced into this box of performing her only identity: in the public eye she has it all, but in private, she is falling apart.
Her Anna Nicole Smith persona is fueled by chloral hydrate, her “pink,” and a cocktail of other drugs and alcohol, which allows her to numb the pain enough to force a smile. As a grieving mother, she is forced into the spotlight, yet those around her do not see or act on her obvious struggles with substance abuse.
Anna visibly struggles with her mental health throughout the 93-minute film — spacing out, experiencing severe mood swings due to withdrawal and then randomly craving cheeseburgers and waffles. Her sudden cheery mood would then bounce to a traumatic flashback of her son dying, a kudos to Hoeks’ ability to balance that dichotomy.
“F–—g Hurricane Anna,” Howard sneers, referencing the mess Anna has made of her life. Viewers like myself will quickly realize his enabling behavior contributes to her growing drug abuse, but this isn’t the initial source of my dislike of him.
I hated Howard from the moment he sauntered on screen, attempting to hang a massive print of Anna in a sultry pose above Dannielynn’s crib. Howard’s obsession with Anna’s image prevents him from seeing her as the vulnerable human being she is during this period of her life.
Mark Duplass perfectly captures the self-absorbed, punchable lawyer he was cast as.
There is a closeness between Anna and Khristine that appears initially as a friendship, but then way oversteps into some serious ethical violations. Hunter’s ability to portray both the anger she feels at Howard and the overwhelming sympathy she has for Anna makes her character incredibly dynamic; she is willing to go any distance, figuratively and literally, for her famous client.
While Anna finds Khristine’s presence comforting, it is also incredibly intrusive at times. In a somewhat elaborate scheme to get Anna new medicine, Howard and Anna run back and forth between a breakfast diner and a pain clinic while Khristine watches them and soon recognizes what is happening. This brief comical scene is one of few in the movie.
Director Francesca Gregorini captures Anna’s final hours beautifully — she was not just some Playboy model, but also a mother and a human being who was struggling. Her use of color theory by incorporating Anna’s signature pink throughout the film highlights how deeply enmeshed Anna’s drug use became in her personal life.
My only critique was that at times in the middle of the movie, the music was obnoxiously loud and distracted from what was actually happening in the scene. Khristine’s dramatic car montage as she wriggled about in the backseat, sprawling and voguing, was simply too cringey and left me wishing the director cut that scene entirely.
As the film faded to black, a brief message appeared that closed with, “We did our best … For Anna,” and I agree. The film beautifully captured Anna Nicole Smith’s struggles with substance abuse until her bitter end, but it also provided a nod to Howard and Khristine’s attempts to save Anna while maintaining her perfect image.
After spending 93 minutes in the eye of Hurricanna’s drug-induced storm, I felt a deep sense of sadness at how Anna was failed by the people around her.
Grace Woelfel can be reached at woel8456@stthomas.edu.
