With the rise of social media, the days of the Don Draper style of marketing are long dead. There are just so many different ways to get the word out without using the traditional mediums. With the ever-changing landscape, I appreciate a clever marketing campaign, it's the reason I saw Snakes on a Plane despite snakes being terrifying. Even now, a lot of what you see with companies desperate to go viral is forced and unimaginative, but sometimes it's really clever like today's movie...
Smile (2022)
I don't know why it took me so long to watch this movie, but with the sequel coming out later this month, I figured it would be a good time to watch the original before I get it spoiled from the trailers. We start with Rose Cotter, a psychiatrist played by Sosie Bacon, the daughter of Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedwick. When we meet her, she's packing up her stuff and leaving for the day. The camera is focused on the phone in her office even after she leaves the room, so we know what's coming. A second later it starts ringing, with the camera still focused on the phone. At this point, you know that whatever is on the other of the line will be what drives the entire movie and it's going to be bad news. Unfortunately for Rose, she comes back into her office to answer it.
She gets called because there's a patient in desperate need of help. The woman explains to Rose that there's this entity following her around that can appear as anything, but eventually smiles an unnatural and sinister smile and tells her that it's going to kill her. The patient, Laura, then starts freaking out, screaming that's it here with them and falls back in her chair. After calling for security, Rose turns to see Laura standing there, smiling at her while holding a long piece of glass. Still smiling, she slits her throat, killing herself, and passing the entity on to Rose.
This has some really good scares and some very cool parts. The jump scares are there, but it has some genuine spine-tingling moments. For starters, the smiles are really creepy. I liked how they didn't use effects to make the smiles appear more unnatural than they are. The actors and actresses are making real smiles and looking as sinister as possible. I like that a whole lot more than the Snapchat filters used in movies like Truth or Dare. My favorite scene was when she got a surprise visit from her psychiatrist and then came an unexpected phone call. The payoff leading to the moment where you realize, "Oh shit!" is just wonderful.
If you have followed my ravings for any period of time, you know my main criteria is "Did this movie entertain me." I don't notice or care much about the technical aspects of filming, a lot goes over my head, as evidenced by how difficult my one Film Analysis course was for me. So if I mention something about the way it's shot, it's either really bad or really good. I have to say, I loved some of the transition shots. They were beauty shots of the outdoors, they would start normally but then slowly turn until they were upside down, Reading about them, the director said it was supposed to be like a smile being turned on its head and becoming a symbol of evil. I don't know about all that, but it did look very cool.
It was an enjoyable movie, but I couldn't shake the feeling of "Been there, done that." Once we get passed the curse itself, which I enjoyed, it passes on when you kill yourself in front of someone else, the second act is identical to The Ring, Bye Bye Man, Clown, Drag Me to Hell, It Follows and more. A person is cursed, they spend the next 45 minutes searching for clues, finding someone related to the curse to provide the backstory, the baddie will occasionally show to remind our protagonist, "Hey, I'm gonna get 'chu!" before a final showdown. I understand they're common tropes for a reason but for me, the movie didn't do enough to not feel old hat.
That's not to say it's a bad movie. It's very enjoyable. Smile takes a deep look at trauma and shines a spotlight on how it can take over your life. Even without the curse, Rose is dealing with something huge that she's never quite come to terms with. As the movie goes on, Rose increasingly loses it. Even when she's trying to get people to understand what she's going through, she can't express it properly and it causes her to lash out. She's been carrying trauma and guilt her entire life, and the Smile Monster happily feeds off it until it's ready.
Speaking of the Smile Monster, let's talk about it. It's a little OP for my taste with its ability to get in your head and make you see things that aren't there, but there are ways to beat it, even if one way will land you in prison for the rest of your life. There are a lot of "what ifs," to break the curse that even the director isn't sure would work or not. It's kind of fun to think of ways to beat the demon and how feasible they would be. Like, say you know how the demon operates, and you see someone about to kill themselves, what would happen if you were the only one there, but you close your eyes and put your fingers in your ears so you don't see it? Like, you didn't witness the death, so you should get off scot-free, right?
Quick spoiler I want to talk about for a minute, I didn't care for the ending. I get that everything successful needs to have a sequel or else the world will end, but when the end finally happens, I didn't really feel anything except disappointment. It was cool to see how the baddie takes over you, but I don't think it was earned how we got there. From the way the movie goes, it seems like the demon doesn't take you over until it breaks you and you lose the will to fight. I didn't buy Rose giving up at that moment. I understand how awful it was for her, but she knows the man she loves is right outside and breaking down the door to get in. She also knows that if she dies there, she's passing her death sentence on to him. After everything she's been through, I don't think she gives up there. It reminds me of the conversation between Sam Raimi and the director of the 2013 Evil Dead remake. He wanted to kill off Mia at the end like Raimi did Ash at the end of the first one. Raimi disagreed, saying Mia deserved to live, unlike Ash in the first movie. I can't help but feel Rose deserved to live, or at least to cheat the entity, but you gotta have a sequel.
I liked it, and I'll check out the next one when I get a chance, but it's not something that I'm in a big rush to see. I've seen the formula this movie follows a bunch of times and I'm going to need more than awesome and creepy marketing to make me stick around this franchise for the long term. Still, it has genuine frights, creepy imagery, cool shots and an interesting premise.
7.5 Dr. Chainsaws!
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