Narrowly avoiding a straight-to-streaming release two years ago, the surprise hit Smile opened wide to over $200 million at the box office. Inevitably, the series continues this fall with Smile 2, a satisfactory sequel that picks up both atmospherically and chronologically right where its predecessor left off. After a bravura cold open paralleling a high watermark sequence in the True Detective episode “Who Goes There”, returning writer-director Parker Finn begins setting the table for a similar story in a very different setting. More than most sequels, this follow-up is particularly burdened with recreating the element of surprise from which the original benefited. While it doesn’t outdo Smile in the scare department, it provides another spooky tale set in this demented universe and makes a case for itself as an ongoing franchise.
Smile 2 centers around international pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), who’s about to kick off a worldwide comeback tour a year after a car crash that took the life of her actor boyfriend Paul Hudson (Ray Nicholson). Left with residual pain from the accident, Skye has secretly been scoring painkillers from high school acquaintance Lewis (Lukas Gage), who commits an act of violence against himself similar to the brutal event that kicked things off in Smile. In the days following, Riley begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations that she’s unable to explain to her mom and manager Elizabeth (Rosemarie DeWitt) or her close friend Gemma (Dylan Gelula). With her first show just days away, Skye has to race against the clock to figure out what’s behind the grinning visions that are haunting her day and night.
Much of Smile‘s success as an effective horror outing came from Sosie Bacon’s terrific lead performance and Smile 2 similarly strikes a chord with a female lead bolstered by outstanding acting. Naomi Scott is asked to do quite a bit here, convincingly singing and dancing to several original songs in a way that falls in line with how megastars like Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga likely prep for their elaborate shows. Her Skye is not always the most likable character either and that’s even before the “smile curse” is passed on to her, often impatient and demanding with those on her crew while still saving face with her fans. But Scott roots these imperfections in her character’s unresolved trauma stemming from the fatal car crash that forever altered the trajectory of her life and career. Mental health details, like the depiction of trichotillomania and self-soothing practices, give her performance layers of authenticity that make it easier to get lost in the story.
As can be the case with horror sequels, Smile 2 tries a bit too hard to dissect its conceit and the mechanics of the “Smile Entity” and its curse are fuzzier this time around. Psychologically, it’s scarier when the malevolent force affects relatively smaller occurrences to make the protagonist question their sanity. Compared to its predecessor, this movie opts for more elaborate scenes and subplots of unreality that make it more frustrating for us in the audience to track what’s happening. There are several swaths where we have to subconsciously backtrack and figure out what actually happened to Skye versus what she experienced. Certainly some of this is expected and warranted for a psychological horror film but Parker Finn plays a little too fast-and-loose with some of his storytelling this time.
While both Smile films exceed the two-hour mark (atypical of lower budget horror fare), the pacing continues to be crucial in allowing the psychological dread to build. This time around, it also accommodates a subplot with Peter Jacobson as a nurse with a cock-eyed plan right out of Flatliners; his Taub character from the long-running medical show House would be proud. Like the first entry, Smile 2 is handsomely shot and features an unnerving detuned music score from composer Cristobal Tapia De Veer, in addition to the aforementioned pop tunes. Depending on how Smile 2 does at the box office, we may find this series bearing its teeth in theaters for years to come. As long as Finn has strong ideas for how to keep the franchise fresh, I’m all smiles.
Score – 3/5
New movies coming this weekend:
Playing only in theaters is Venom: The Last Dance, a superhero sequel starring Tom Hardy and Chiwetel Ejiofor, which finds reporter Eddie Brock and his symbiote alter ego on the run from both humans and alien members of Venom’s home planet.
Also coming to theaters is Conclave, a religious drama starring Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci, following a cardinal tasked with organizing the election of the successor to the deceased Pope, who discovers the former Pope had a secret that must be uncovered.
Streaming on Netflix is Don’t Move, a horror-thriller starring Kelsey Asbille and Finn Wittrock, depicting a seasoned killer who injects a paralytic agent into a grieving woman, who must run, fight, and hide before her body completely shuts down.