About the film (courtesy of Paramount Pictures):
After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter ( Sosie Bacon ) starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can’t explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality.

Even though no one had the decency to give this disclaimer, I’ll take care of it right now. Any seemingly outright and deliberate hostile aggression towards glass products during the making of this film was purely necessary and essential in order achieve artistic prominence. Why did I just make this seemingly off-the-wall statement right at the start of this review? Between the excessive breaking of glass and slowing rotating cinematography, my focus on Smile was all over the place, not unlike the pieces of inorganic solid transparent material that undoubtedly littered the set.

Smile bills itself as the new face of fear. The term “fear” is used quite loosely in my experience. As a horror film, for seasoned fans of the genre, Paramount Pictures does not deliver on the bill of goods they’re attempting to peddle, especially given the fact that it has been given an R rating for strong violent content and grisly images, and language. Yes, these aspects are present, but only in very small doses and rarely does it further the story or solidify the theatrical experience.

Sosie Bacon is the main star as she gives a passable performance is the heroine in distress for much of the bloated, just under two-hour, runtime. Smile stumbles around while inserting placeholder supporting characters played by the likes of Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner, Caitlin Stasey, Robin Weigert and even Kal Penn. Very rarely do we find these interactions between cast to be anything worth taking ownership of and investing in. Instead, you’re just kind of like, “okay, now let’s get to what matters.” And it’s not that there are bad performances to blame this feeling on, it’s just more of a general indifference.

Smile does not stand out in its storytelling, acting performances, visuals or most of all, the overall execution. There is nothing new or unique that will make you want to come back for more, or hell, even stay until the end, if I’m being completely blunt. The thematic experience is “just okay,” at best.

To borrow from another ominous, but fitting tagline for this film, Once you see it, it’s too late. Now having seen Smile in its entirety, I can’t help but wonder if this was a warning for those willing to pay top rates to see this. I’d definitely label it as more of a matinee selection, then maybe you’ll find a bit of value in your choice.

You can check out Smile in theaters now, just don’t expect to be completely enamored due to the positive and aggressively frequent marketing blitz. Pass it on (that’s yet another tagline, by the way…).