“Smile,” the big screen debut from director Parker Finn, is a psychological horror film starring the likes of Sosie Bacon (“Mare of Eastown”), Kal Penn (“Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle”) and Kyle Gallner (“Jennifer’s Body”). This film has an “It Follows” type story, where whoever sees “The Smile” will soon die. Jump scares galore and the really interesting premise makes “Smile” an excellent horror film for the Halloween season, right? Well actually, no.
What “Smile” does do right is executing its jump scare elements. These moments are for sure scary, and the tension that builds up to them is also really well worked into the film. For the most part, the film is completely conventional, until it derails into a mess of overdone themes, desperately trying to disturb, but fails as it ends up being laughable. When it comes to some of the non-jump scares, the film takes inspiration from tons of movies like “Hereditary,” and it does not make much of an attempt to hide this. It feels like a bad rehash.
The story is not necessarily bad, but the writing does not do it any justice, and is more corny than the candy kind found in most bags on Halloween. Some of the dialogue is just bland and becomes more and more uninspired throughout. It can get a little bit predictable, just like the story does. The narrative changes from a tale of a psychologist going through a nightmare to somewhat of a mystery, and it is not presented the best way.
The acting is not all bad, but instead is just middle of the road. Bacon does the best out of all, but considering she is the lead, the rest of the characters seem underperformed and do not stand out, though they are not likable enough to bother.
The film may be well-shot, but the music is a little goofy and only works sometimes. This film deals with heavy topics such as suicide, which are also not handled the way they should have been.
From a psychological horror standpoint, the film is not bad. It shows the breakdown of a character’s mental state and makes it not only creepy to watch, but also entertaining. Some of the scenes are a bit frightening. The humor of the film adds a pretty nice touch to it, when the movie tries to make the audience “Smile” it works. However the audience may also find some moments to be unintentionally hilarious, like the party scene, a standout moment which shows the movie’s lack of seriousness. That scene also helps show the editing, which can get a bit wishy washy but for the most part is really good.
All in all “Smile,” while having its problems, has one thing going for it: watchability. The film also manages to keep one engaged with it, but still, its problems are hard to look over. However, the film is kind of a fun time because of how it is not always taking itself too seriously. Though “Smile” may be an okay film for a movie night with friends this spooky season, those looking for a great horror film will view it with a frown instead.
Image from Paramount Pictures via YouTube
