Movie Review ‘Smile 2’ tops the original in good, scary fun

If you haven’t seen the end of Smile (2022) in a while, you may spend the first seven minutes of Smile 2 (2024) a little confused. As the onscreen legend says: “Six days later.” Just let it go. The next 120 minutes are going to be a ride.

Pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is about to launch her latest world tour after some time away recovering from a drug and booze-fueled accident. She needs a little something to get her through rehearsal and inadvertently becomes the latest recipient of the Smiling entity. The stresses of the tour, her stage-mom manager (Rosemary DeWitt), and personal relationships would already cause an epic spiral by anyone who wasn’t doing rails of a backstage groupie and chasing it with a few bottles of Jack and Ciroc. For a high-strung recovering addict, Smile 2 is a roller coaster of red herrings, violent hallucinations, and an explanation that sounds straight out of a Zak Bagans Travel Channel Paranormal documentary.

To say more would ruin the fun.

Parker Finn, who also wrote and directed Smile, is clearly working through some serious, deep seated psychological issues and transferring them to the screen appears to be deliberate immersive therapy. He has a very keen sense of tension and release, drawing out each scene to a “natural” conclusion with pointed unease and razor-sharp timing. He frames most scenes with intimate headshots denoting the claustrophobic confines of an unraveling Skye.

Naomi Scott, whose character is a cinematic Lady Gaga without the meat suit, embodies the brittle persona of a person in tenuous recovery. She can also chug 500 mL bottles of Voss water like a champ. She moves like her character is made from silk and water, whether dancing with crisp precision in rehearsals or running for her life. At no time is her terror not a palpable living thing.

There is a lot of music in Smile 2 which adds a layer of realism and stress, as Skye is pulled in multiple directions for practice, fittings, and appearances. Weaving the personalities of soft-spoken, big stick-carrying mother, coldly distant best friend (Dylan Gelula), and perfect toady personal assistant Josh (Miles Gutierrez-Riley), there’s no doubt Skye’s undoing may have been inevitable.

Finn’s visuals are stunning and every injury can be physically felt in the audience. Exercise plates, compound fractures, and broken glass are visceral and shocking. They aren’t ha-ha funny, but that bubbling giggle of release is satisfying.

Maybe that was just me.

I enjoyed Smile despite its flaws and missteps which I was happy to overlook and I feel the same about Smile 2. Not since Abigail have I had so much fun watching characters internally splintering in confusion and madness. I do not have a favorite between the two as they both are carefully orchestrated chaos engines. Well-written and immensely entertaining, even at 127 minutes, I can heartily recommend Smile 2.

Smile 2 (2024) is Rated R for swears, suicidal ideations, nose candy, boozing, self-harm, stalking, broken bones, enucleation, stabbings, car crashes, needles, and that damned creepy smile.