If ordinary women are largely considered to be under some form of expectation to at least appear to want to smile, one can only ask how a pop star deals with the relentlessness of having to look composed and very welcoming? This performance in psychology is sufficient to break anyone, even in the absence of a dark colored monster throwing their fears and traumas around like it was confetti.
Such is how “Smile 2,” which can be described as a larger and bloodier and definitely more interesting sequel to “Smile” (2022), goes about upping the ante: Instead of a quite unassuming psychiatrist (lent a spacey performance by Sosie Bacon in the original), we are now presented with Skye Riley (a superb Naomi Scott) the pop star, who has a whale of a time a year later on being sober and about to restart her career right after the events of a distressing car crash made her go insane.
The curse remains unchanged: its bearers still suffer from extremely rapid changes of spot when decrying another person’s suicide even after witnessing complete chaos. It’s treasonable to go around convincing people that these suicidal psychosis conditions were brought on by a supernatural force that contorts its unfortunate hosts structural pathways but lets them see visions of the same cute grins but in very wrong contexts.
The tension is relieved in “Smile.” Yes, one may be ripping off the ropes of a savage being, however the struggle is still fueled by an inner conflict of paranoia and self hatred. Going through the film making and marketing of “Smile”, its graphic novel aesthetic and scary undertones were enough for me to overlook its formulaic trauma aspect.
The sequel, Smile 2, is way more thematically ambitious than its predecessor, allowing Parker to stage even more satisfyingly ridiculous kills and ramp up the air of delirium. There are themes surrounding addiction and dependency on something, isolation of a star, and losing oneself to work.
Things start getting hairy for Skye when she goes to the house of her old classmate who’s also drug dealer turned out to be a victim of the smiling curse (Lukas Gage). After witnessing her friend’s appalling act she runs away from him and keeps silent about the whole disgusting affair, while her manager mother Rosemarie DeWitt and her bubbly assistant Miles Gutierrez-Riley constantly book her for different public appearances. Fortunately, at least one person in Skye’s life cares about her: her childhood friend, Gemma (Dylan Gelula).
Finn stays around the scenes where Skye is doing a detailed choreography practice which easily helps one to get lost in the already creative aspect of her work. These ambitions to become stars, however, do not last for long since there are nasty curses and visions (of a dead boyfriend resting somewhere and a leg with bones out of the skin). And because Skye is in the showbiz world, what is worse, her even more violent visions eventually turn into actions performed in front of witnesses which, in a way, is equally disturbing, embarrassing and funny all at once.
Scott, who in real life has history in music, smoothly designs the drama components of the film and gradually transforming from the fashionable image of Grace Kelly into the wild. Skye’s not an avengeful character, but in her benign demeanor, which is cursed, one cannot be faulted for how she displays her loveless and tortured self violently which, of course, is revenge on the very people and even the fans who desecrate and depersonalize her. If they need a drama Queen that would steal the show, she will give them one, and she will smile while doing it.
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