Movie Review: SMILE 2

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: October 18th, 2024 / 04:29 AM

SMILE 2 movie poster | ©2024 Paramount Pictures

Rating: R
Stars: Naomi Scott, Rosemary DeWitt, Kyle Gallner, Dylan Gelula, Ray Nicholson, Lukas Gage, Peter Jacobson, Drew Barrymore, Raúl Castillo, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Iván Carlo
Writer: Parker Finn, based on characters created by Parker Finn
Director: Parker Finn
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: October 18, 2024

SMILE 2 is a clear case of a sequel that’s superior to the original. Writer/director Parker Finn, back from the 2022 SMILE, not only avails himself of a bigger budget but also displays better storytelling and scare chops this time around.

One of the big problems that the original SMILE had was that it played as if its audience had never before seen a viral curse movie (THE RING, THE GRUDGE, FINAL DESTINATION, etc.), which made for slow going.

In contrast, SMILE 2 begins with the title “six days later,” assuming that we know the events of SMILE, including how its supernatural “parasite” operates. Mike (Kyle Gallner), who was infected at the end of the first film, has correctly deduced what’s wrong with him. He’s since decided on a plan of action.

Meanwhile, pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is rehearsing for a comeback tour a year after she was seriously injured in a car accident that killed her boyfriend (Ray Nicholson).

Skye had substance abuse issues before the accident and doesn’t want anyone in her entourage to know that she’s taking Vicodin for the physical pain she’s still experiencing. So, Skye sneaks out to the apartment of low-level dealer Lewis (Lukas Gage) to get a few pills. Lewis now has the curse, and passes it on to Skye in gruesome fashion.

This gives SMILE 2 and filmmaker Finn a much bigger, more colorful playground. Whereas the protagonist in the first SMILE, a hospital psychiatrist played by Sosie Bacon, had a small circle of family and friends, Skye is a public figure.

Not only does she have her mother/manager (Rosemary DeWitt) and personal assistant Joshua (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) hovering around, there are hair stylists, makeup artists, costume fitters, backup dancers, choreographers, fans, rehearsals, meet-and-greets, charity events everywhere. Also, Skye is trying to repair her relationship with erstwhile lifelong best friend Gemma (Dylan Gelula).

All of this allows SMILE 2 to engage in glittery spectacle, with shots that pay homage to Bob Fosse (if Fosse made horror movies) and production sequences that tip the hat to Lady Gaga et al. It’s dazzling to look at, and costume designer Alexis Forte (also back from SMILE 1) deserves major kudos for some striking looks.

Because the demonic entity can create hallucinations for its host, the potential for jumps is everywhere. These are better timed than those in the first film, and there are some memorable ones.

As a director, Finn mixes long, intense close-ups with wide shots, moving between what Skye is feeling and the sense that she is being observed by an outside force.

Scott first of all makes us believe that her Skye is a music icon. She also plays astonishment, terror, rage and vulnerability with conviction. It helps that her character is largely pro-active, trying to learn what’s happening to her instead of just being in denial.

There are still some elements that don’t work. There’s the matter of the opening sequence, in which a character death seems to be against the rules we know and which are reiterated for us here. It seems like it shouldn’t be able to pass along the curse, and we spend about the first third of the movie waiting for a mythology twist that never comes.

It also would be nice by the end to know more or less what aspects of what we’re watching are “real,” especially if there is going to be a SMILE 3, which is heavily suggested.

But mostly SMILE 2 is energetic, eye-catching horror that adds a sense of fun to the usually gloomy viral curse ‘verse.

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Superior to the original

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Article: Movie Review: SMILE 2

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