"Smile" (2022) starring Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick's offspring

I’m waiting for Smile, Nope, and Trust Me Darling (I could be wrong on that title) to stream. I was sucked in by promos, but I watched The Black Phone and it was very well done. Captured the era perfectly, and I loved all the kid actors.

Well, I decided to take a gamble and go see this this afternoon. I knew it could go either way, but wow—what a fucking disaster. I cannot believe critics are heralding this as the best horror film of the year (that title belongs to "Pearl", or maybe "X"). Paramount has hyped this flick to death, and it seems to paying off, but the film is not worthy of it.

It is loaded with trite dialogue and some of the worst acting I've seen in any recent theatrical film. Jesse T. Usher and the actress who plays the lead's sister were especially abysmal. Even Kal Penn was bad in his thankless role, and the finale devolves into a laughable, grotesque face-off with a monstrous demon who takes the form of a giant woman (played by a man) writhing around through an abandoned house. The special effects at the end were horrendous.

Sosie Bacon was easily the best thing about it, and even her performance was decent at best. The only other positive was Kyle Gallner, who has gotten exponentially hotter with age (and is the only other cast member who has some acting ability). If you want a good horror movie, take my advice and go see "Pearl" instead. What a disappointment.

I saw it not expecting much and liked it more than I thought I would. But I thought Barbarian was much better than X. I haven’t seen Pearl yet.

X wasn't very good and Nope doesn't interest me. Smile looks creepy as fuck.

OP are you ever able to choose a restaurant? Are you able to wipe yourself?

I cannot believe Sosie Bacon is only 30 years old. She looked like she was 45 in this movie.

R4 X was a solid slasher movie and used its inspirations/references in a fairly clever manner. Smile shamelessly apes It Follows (and The Ring) without doing anything remotely interesting with those concepts. Despite a couple of creepy scenes, I found it a real slog to get through.

'Smile’ scares up best box office since August, while ‘Bros’ flops

So The Ring meets a girl who smiles. Got it.

It beat the gay movie so many on DL hate, so I'd expect a lot more gushing over it here.

I HATE horror movies with every fiber of my being, and yet I also have a morbid fascination with them and usually end up reading all about them. Like now. Stupid brain.

I probably will never watch this but I do want to give props to then filmmakers for a jump scare in the commercial that really got me and that was so bizarre and unique: when the heroine is freaking out in the front seat of her car and a woman in cute pink sweater taps on the window - and then her head swings impossibly and grotesquely into view. That was nuts!

That got me too,rande

Is it a remake of the 1970s satire about beauty pageants?

R13 Which was a very funny film, by the way. Well worth a watch.

smile

It started streaming and so I watched it. I am a big horror movie buff and I liked it. I mean sure, it is a bit formulaic, but it’s fine for what it is, and provides some good moments of dread.

It’s very important in a good horror flick to be invested in the protagonist and the writers and Sosie provide that.

Of course it has its flaws. There are a few of those “crazy things people do in horror no one would ever do in reality” moments, but they’re few and far between, and Sosie’s character mostly does sensible things. Some of the scares are pretty obviously coming, and I predicted more than a few ahead of time.

But I think most horror buffs will be more than satisfied by the picture. It’s set up perfectly for a sequel too.

There's no reason for those eyebrows.

Sosie is only 31 years old, but she looks nearly as old as her mother. She looked ghastly in this movie—gaunt and wrinkled. I would've guessed she was 40 if I hadn't known otherwise.

Very gimmicky but not unwatchable. The nepo lead offered a strong and sympathetic performance, based on her performance I would describe her as talented. She does look old compared to her peers who have surgical intervention. 30? Is middle aged.