Smile (2022)

On the one hand, Smile is a solid and unnerving horror movie with some impressive imagery that was used well in a viral marketing campaign. On the other hand, it’s an all-too-familiar deadly curse tale that disappointingly had one or two key visuals revealed in the trailer. I like it, and it walks a tightrope over some very dangerous territory, but it comes very close to complete failure thanks to a number of key issues.

Sosie Bacon plays Rose Cotter, a psychiatrist who is traumatized when a patient commits suicide in from of her. That death turns out to be another in a long line of connected violent ends, with each witness to such an event then going on to take their own life within about a week. Quickly becoming paranoid and disturbed, Rose tries to get to the bottom of the mystery, helped by a friendly cop/ex-boyfriend named Joel (Kyle Gallner). Are people somehow passing along a mental health issue, or is there something more powerful at work?

Written and directed by Parker Finn, Smile is not a horror movie to choose when you want uncomplicated and fun entertainment. Considering the subject matter at the heart of it, viewers should be wary of selecting it as a viewing choice if they have recently lost someone to suicide. Finn seems to give himself an out though, an explanation for events that eventually leads us from the medical to the supernatural, but there remains an ambiguity throughout that many might not appreciate. I don’t think it’s intentional, it is the nature of the material, but some will find this much darker and more disturbing than others, for reasons not necessarily intended by Finn. Consider yourselves duly warned.

Unfortunately, having tried to carefully navigate through a foundation so fraught with danger, Finn doesn’t do nearly enough with his central concept. The few good scares, and some are really good, are spaced out through a runtime of nearly two hours, but every main sequence could have had so much more packed into it. Just think of the many ways a smile, or being told to smile, could twisted and turned into something menacing and scary. Finn isn’t interested in anything beyond one or two main ideas though, sadly, so you don’t get any extra tension or surprises.

What you also don’t get is a good lead. Bacon is okay in her role, but she doesn’t feel as watchable or compelling as at least a dozen other actresses I could make right now. That wouldn’t be so bad if the whole film didn’t rest on her shoulders, but it pretty much does. Gallner is always good to see, and does well with his fairly small amount of screentime, and the likes of Jessie T. Usher, Robin Weigert, Caitlin Stasey, Gillian Zinser, and Kal Penn are all wasted to varying degrees, many not given nearly enough time to show us more of their character than the tropes required by the script.

There ARE quite a few good moments though, and the strength of the central concept makes up for a lot. There’s also some design work in the third act that had me thinking of Junji Ito (which is never a bad thing). The good outweighs the bad, even if the film never comes close to reaching full potential, and I recommend it to horror fans who don’t mind the occasional interaction with slick mainstream fare.

7/10

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Netflix And Chill: Shaft (2019)

You know the name. Shaft is the cool cat that we've been digging since he first appeared in cinemas back in the early 1970s. Richard Roundtree played the role, and memorably. A reworking of the bad mother (shut your mouth . . . but I'm talkin' 'bout Shaft) appeared in 2000, with Samuel L. Jackson taking on the main role. And now we have a film that features both of those actors playing the role, although the former isn't onscreen for long, while introducing a new member to the family (played by Jessie T. Usher).

Usher is JJ Shaft, a young man who hasn't seen his father in many years. That's because his mother (Maya, played by Regina Hall) decided to leave, in order to keep her son safe from the kind of trouble that his father would attract. But when JJ needs help to investigate the death of a good friend, he ends up tracking down his father, John Shaft (Jackson). Bones are broken, bullets fly, women start to find the danger arousing, and Shaft and Shaft Jr hurtle towards a grand finale that will require the help of someone equally capable. Grandpa AKA John Shaft, Sr (Roundtree).

Shaft is an enjoyable comedy, with some decent action beats that don't skimp on the gunfire and bloodshed, but that is something that will upset a lot of fans. It's not something that bothered me, however, mainly because the main incarnations of the character that we have seen before were rarely the butt of any jokes. Usher plays a man brought up in a very different world, and with a very different attitude, but the secret to getting things done is usually adding on a bit of that patented Shaft badassery. And it's fair enough to highlight the fact that the classic traits of the character wouldn't necessarily be as appreciated today as they have been in previous decades (although they're only really unappreciated here by other people who have not spent a decent amount of time in Shaft's world).

Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow have put together a decent script, allowing the leads to have some very entertaining moments together, and peppering many scenes with dialogue that both works for the characters and also proves amusing enough. It feels like a good pairing, with Barris having a few more movies under his belt and Barnow having a decent selection of TV shows under his.

As just mentioned, Jackson and Usher work well together. The former is his usual persona, Usher spends a lot of the movie playing catch up (although he does have one or two tricks up his sleeve, and has more skill than is immediately apparent). Roundtree still has his full serving of charisma, which makes his limited screentime all the more frustrating. The villains are decent enough, and Titus Welliver delivers a great little turn as The Man, the immediate boss to JJ who doesn't ever give him an opportunity to reach his full potential. The ladies may be sidelined for a lot of the runtime, but that doesn't stop both Hall and Alexandra Shipp (playing Sasha, a good friend to JJ) doing their best with what they're given. Both manage to stand out in a fill overflowing with testosterone, as does Luna Lauren Velez, in the role of a potential lead/criminal named Bennie Rodriguez.

Director Tim Story keeps everything moving nicely. This is a 110-minute movie that whizzes by. There's a great soundtrack (although it's missing one classic cut), some entertaining set-pieces, and a central investigation with a couple of twists and turns, despite the fact that most viewers will be able to point to at least one of the main villains within their first few scenes. And Shaft is still also very much Shaft. As is Shaft. JJ, on the other hand, well, he needs a lot of work. But he might be able to find his own Shaftiness by the time the end rolls around.

There are already mixed reviews appearing for this, and just as many advising viewers to stay away. Don't listen to The Man. Give it a watch and make your own mind up.

7/10

Get yourself a funky soundtrack here.
Americans can get a Roundtree triple-bill here.