Year of Release: 2024
Director: Parker Finn
Starring: Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Ray Nicholson, Dylan Gelula, Raul Castillo, Kyle Gallner, Drew Barrymore, Zebedee Row, Jon Rua
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
Watch it on Paramount Plus
Synopsis and Review
Writer/director Parker Finn is back, following the critical and commercial success of the first "Smile". The sequel has benefited from a bigger budget, which has expanded his stylistic and narrative choices as well. This time around the narrative focuses on Skye Riley, a well known pop star, who is back in the limelight, and about to start her comeback tour, following a brutal car accident, from which she barely escaped, and which claimed the life of her boyfriend/partner. Skye at the time was also dealing with addiction, from which she has recovered, though her mom Elizabeth and her assistant Joshua, keep a close eye on her. While going through her dance routine for her concerts, Skye has some pain issues, also a result of the car accident. Due to her issues with addiction, she hasn't been able to get prescriptions for painkillers, but has found them through a dealer friend of hers, someone she's known since high school, Lewis. She goes to his place looking for additional vicodin, but finds him in a completely stressed and out-of-his mind mental state. He's incoherent, and after freaking out, bares a sinister grin, before killing himself right in front of her. She flees his apartment, but starts having horrible nightmares and hallucinations, where people are baring a creepy grin/smile at her. She also gets texts from an unidentified source, claiming to know what is happening to her, and what happened with Lewis. As her visions/hallucinations keep getting worse, and following a public meltdown, she agrees to meet with this person, who turns out to be a male nurse by the name of Morris, who explains to her, that there's a demon who is like a parasite that has latched on to her. This entity will keep tampering with her mind, eventually killing her (before jumping to someone else, another host). Skye is terrified, but after another gruesome episode she agrees to the plan Morris has suggested. However much to her surprise, not all is what it seems.
"Smile 2" is a worthy addition to the canon that Parker Finn established with the first feature. The larger budget has enabled him to enhance his stylistic approach to the storytelling, and also smartly craft a narrative where the boundaries between what is real, and what is a hallucination are that more refined. The film, which can also function as a dark interpretation on mental illness and guilt, smartly weaves reality and the illusions the entity creates in Naomi's life almost as a single thread, creating progressively more challenging situations for Naomi, as she tries to make sense of all that is happening. It's all the more praise worthy for Parker Finn the fact that he avoids showcasing the entity, as that eventually takes away the ambiguity of everything he's been staging throughout the narrative (what is real, and what has been an illusion). The disturbing aspect of the film lies precisely in the fact that the unexpected occurrences that take place, happen to those who surround the protagonist, and she can't control anything that is unfolding. By the time the entity does make its appearance, it's something that is almost anti-climactic, since its power was defined by the fact that it was unseen, and apparently everywhere, controlling everyone. The film could have benefitted from additional character development, as Skye feels slight, the same going for the supporting characters, of which Elizabeth the mother, had some potential to be further explored. The cast is impeccable, particularly the trio of Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt and Peter Jacobson. They bring these characters to life and make them palpably exist, particularly Naomi Scott, who has a chance to really stretch her skills and sink into a substantial lead role. The production team is equally solid, including Charlie Sarroff's cinematography, Cristobal Tapia de Veer's score, and Alexis Forte's costumes. Highlights also go for the special makeup effects which are truly memorable. Worth watching.
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