“About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley begins to experience increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and pressures of fame, she must face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.”
SCORE: 7/10
tl,dr: Campy horror sequel that’s worth the watch. Knows what it is & doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. A good, bad movie if you will.
Assuming you’re here to decide whether or not to watch this movie, figured it’s best if we start with a quick recap of the first movie, Smile (2022). There’s a psychiatrist who starts seeing a lot of weird shit (smiles) after her patient kills herself in front of her (while smiling). Psychiatrist lady goes slowly insane over the course of a few days, but eventually decides to kill herself alone in her childhood home which would effectively kill the parasitic host. Unfortunately, her ex bf tried to save the day – bingo bango the curse continues since he witnesses her suicide.
Now that that’s covered, Smile 2 picks up ~6 days after the first where psychiatrist lady’s ex boy toy is almost out of time. The opening scene is more of a prologue, but ties the two movies together pretty seamlessly as we meet our new protagonist. The story centers on popstar Skye Riley (sounds like an adult movie star name) played by Naomi Scott who I’ve never heard of before this film. Skye is battling her own demons, recovering from a substance abuse problem, a dead fiancé, and a cancelled world tour (in that exact order). In the trailer she details meeting Lewis Fregoli (Lukas Gage) at his apartment and he “wouldn’t stop smiling at me”. Side note: you may remember Lewis/Lukas from White Lotus Season 1 where he willingly gets his anus fondled by Armond in Hawaii (not to be confused with the English chap with his uncle in Italy in Season 2) (Lot of weird butt stuff in that show now that I think about it). Skye Riley, by nature of being the main character in a horror movie, is clearly going to have a run-in with the demon.
Look, this movie isn’t great cinema. Nobody with a brain is watching Smile 2 and expecting to see Oscar worthy performances. Is it a bad movie? Yea probably. Did I enjoy it? Yes, even though I had to answer approximately 100 questions from my in-laws while watching it. It knows what it is, and does it well. There are cheap jump scares, some plot holes, and a bad Shyamalan twist but it’ll keep you locked in for the couple hours of runtime. You may laugh, you may cry, maybe you’ll be scared – who cares, I’d watch this movie over La La Land or whatever the hell that black and white, probably silent film was that had a dancing dog. Also Skye Riley’s music kind of slaps? Did they make these songs just for the movie? Nothing close to Stillwater’s performance in Almost Famous (2000) but I was nodding along to a few of the hits.
Spoilers / Reaction:
- In the opening sequence, what in the world was the ex bf from the first film thinking? He was trying to pass the curse/demon onto the drug dealer by killing his brother in front of him …. and then shoots him? Incredible failure on his part but an excellent opening scene nonetheless.
- Lewis Fregoli (drug dealer guy) death scene had me on the edge of my seat like the fellas with the one arm guy in Hot Tub Time Machine (2010). It was clear what was coming, but not how. There being a samurai sword in the apartment (unsure if signed by Randy Jackson, might have been) and he didn’t use that to commit seppuku was an oversight by the director.
- I can’t be the only one who watched this and thought, is this all just a marketing campaign for Voss water? Skye drinks like 25 bottles of water in this film and not once is it something other than Voss.
- I love a good surprise cockshot in a movie. You’re always expecting maybe a little breast or something, especially in a rated R movie; but BOOM the pervert Alfredo’s hog right in your face out of nowhere.
- The gala for underprivileged youth scene should have been hard to watch: a pop diva’s slow descent into madness in front of a group of innocent people, a grandma accidentally being RKO’s onto a dinner table, etc. I started chuckling thinking about the only other time I’ve seen a teleprompter fail like this:
- I’m not sure how I feel about the budget Shyamalan twist of her friend Gemma not being real, her killing her mom not being real, Morris not being real, etc. It’s such an easy cop out that they “cover” by Morris saying something to the effect of “you won’t even know what’s real and what’s not” earlier in the film. Oh, so you can just show us whatever tf you want and then take it back? I was shocked at first, and then angry.