Smile 2 (2024)
8/10
Like its predecessor, Smile 2 is a nail-biting horror film with a memorably creepy central trope, but writing that serves as a double-edged sword. Like the cursed protagonist, we’re never quite sure what’s real or not, which helps the viewer empathize with someone feeling like they’re going insane. Conversely, it can be frustrating, and an excuse for bad writing, to watch a lengthy chunk of a film only to be told certain scenes never happened and were all in a character’s mind. In Smile 2 it mostly works because this is an entertaining film that improves upon the original, through the classic sequel strategy of raising the stakes.
Writer-director Parker Finn manages this feat via the ingenious trick of shifting the Smile Entity’s target from an “ordinary” person to a celebrity, by definition the subject of great public attention: pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott). When we first see her, Skye is preparing for a concert tour after a much-publicized struggle with substance abuse and a car crash one year prior that killed her then boyfriend, actor Paul Hudson (Ray Nicholson). Skye’s already fragile mental health begins to seriously deteriorate when she becomes the latest person cursed by the Smile Entity, which feeds on trauma and aims to drive its victims to suicide.
Unlike therapist Rose Cotter in the first Smile, Skye’s fight against the entity and descent into madness takes place in the unforgiving spotlight of celebrity. Skye faces constant pressure to live up to the perfection of a manufactured public image and aspirational figure, her every misstep broadcast to the entire world. Smile 2 evokes the personal struggles under intense media attention faced by celebrities like Princess Diana and Britney Spears. Skye’s style recalls early Lady Gaga, her fame that of Taylor Swift. Her struggle with the Smile Entity — which appears to others as addiction and/or mental health issues — is an inescapably public one.
Scott’s performance is a highlight of Smile 2. The actor’s most high-profile work thus far, none of which I’ve seen, has included failed reboots/franchise starters (Power Rangers, Charlie’s Angels) and a commercially successful Disney live-action remake (2019’s Aladdin). As Skye she’s a revelation, fully bringing viewers onboard the emotional journey of a character who as a mega-watt celebrity could have felt unrelatable. Her singing and dancing talents are considerable, allowing viewers to buy Skye Riley as an amalgamation of Spears, Swift, and Gaga. That makes Skye’s actions all the more impactful, particularly in the film’s disquieting finale.
Internal logic of the Smile films remains shaky, since it’s always possible that everything we see is just in the cursed protagonist’s head. Is Morris (Peter Jacobson), a nurse tracking the Smile Entity’s actions, even a real person? I suppose that—to quote Linkin Park—in the end, it doesn’t even matter, since the entire point of these movies is that the protagonist never knows what’s real and what’s not. There’s an instant classic scene in which the Smile Entity attacks Skye through the form of her backup dancers. On a purely conceptual level, that’s more interesting than more straightforward old-school slasher series like Friday the 13th, owing more to “rubber-reality” films like Wes Craven’s Nightmare on Elm Street.
The ending of Smile 2 further escalates the series as an audience of thousands of people suffers trauma that allows the Smile Entity to infect them all. Here’s hoping Smile 3 develops that plot further into a horror movie for the ages.