Movie Review: Smile

This movie was written by Parker Finn. He directed Laura Hasn’t Slept and The Hidebehind, yet he is best known for his new movie Smile which came out on September 30, 2022.

Smile is about a psychiatrist, Dr. Rose Cotter, who witnessed a traumatic accident involving a patient, Laura Weaver. She explained she was experiencing horrifying contingencies. Laura spoke about seeing her art history professor killing himself, and claimed that people are stalking her and smiling at her, however, their smiles make her stomach turn. Despite trying to keep a positive mind after the accident. Dr. Rose Cotter is showing signs of distress and begins seeing the same things her patient encountered. As this “curse” continues to hunt her, she tries to make everyone around her believe this “curse” exists. Days since she experienced seeing her patient’s suicide, she lashes out and people everywhere think she is not in the right mind. As she investigates for clues about why this “curse” is here. Rose discovered a pattern and tracks down a guy who survived this, Robert Talley. He tells Rose that this “curse” feeds off of other people’s trauma and hops to new victims. Every victim has been present in a suicide. Afterward, they get haunted within four to seven days. Robert explained to break his cycle he had to kill someone in front of another person, additionally, he has to spend the rest of his life in prison. In the moment of discovering this ill news, Rose has to choose between death or prison. 

For the most part, I think this movie deserves a 3 out of 5 stars. This 1h 55m movie was a nice way to make time pass. I watched this movie with my family and was ready for another boring movie, but I enjoyed watching it. Usually, I can tell when a jump scare will happen but in this movie, the jump scares created a perfect adrenaline rush. Not to mention the gory scene. The storyline was good and not only did it add to the horror theme but also the mystery and psychological theme. Smile taps into the vulnerability of adults and hints at the emotions of depression, anxiety, mental health, etc. I also love the actors and actresses. Sosie Bacon, who played Dr. Rose Cotter, did an amazing job capturing the emotions and performance of dealing with a lot of trauma and what it can be like with mental health.

On the other hand, the movie could have used some trigger warnings if people are dealing with trauma or thoughts of suicide even though the movie’s plot is about trauma and suicide. There should be warnings if people do not want to relive their past. Also, some people might not have the stomach to handle the gory scenes. Secondly, the ending of the movie was not satisfying. It was easy to predict what would happen. After having 30 minutes left in the movie, I knew how the movie was going to end. I hoped the directors and filmmakers would try to be creative and do the unsuspected but no. Third, it wasn’t the best CGI. It made me laugh when I saw some of the scenes because you could tell it was CGI. Lastly, I realized I said I liked the jump scares but I wish there were more. Some jump-scares were amazing but others were a little cheesy for me.  I also wish the creators use the creepy smile more. I feel like I only saw the smile a couple of times. 

Overall, if you like horror movies and can handle seeing blood, trauma, dealing with suicides, etc… then I would recommend this movie for anyone who has time to kill.