4 stars out of 5
I was slightly skeptical about this sequel, knowing Sosie Bacon could not reprise her lead role. But noticing that writer/director Parker Finn was back, and having enjoyed the first installment so much, I didn’t stay away long from Smile 2. Plus it’s spooky movie season!
Plot, you want to hear the plot? How about a GRAVE PLOT huh?!?! OK, OK, this movie picks up 6 days after part one ended, Sosie’s ex still has the smile curse and, long story short, it soon gets passed on to pop star Skye Riley. The timing is especially bad because Skye is back for her big comeback tour after some well-publicized substance abuse problems. Showbiz mom Rosemarie DeWitt has little patience for her daughter’s increasingly erratic behavior.
Naomi Scott is terrific as Skye. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Scott has some real-life experience being a pop star, and she does her own singing here. The character is a mixture of Gaga plus any number of troubled chart-toppers. And the plot serves a neat dual purpose: It’s a wicked satire of pop culture, but also allows Parker Finn to repeat the conceit of the original film while telling the story in an entirely new way.
Though I enjoyed this all the way through, early on I was thinking, “This is not quite as good as part one.” Finn’s occasional upside-down camera, which seemed original in the original, seemed same-old in this sequel. Try some different cinematography tricks, pal! But Finn seems especially good at endings, and skewering old horror tropes, so as the madness ramped up I happily revised my opinion to “This is absolutely as good as part one!”
Without any spoilers, I’ll say that Finn leaves things here in such a way that it’ll be a completely different part three and potentially extremely fun. After that, I hope he’ll leave the Smile series behind and tell us all-new tales, which Finn seems eminently capable of.
being underrated is overrated
Jack Silbert, curator