Smile (2011)

To me, this movie is perfection.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Hmm, not great at all. The acting is not all that good and the story itself is not motivated enough. Too many unanswered questions. Quite forgettable, actually. There are way too many other good movies out there to sit through this.

This is probably one of the few times I'd say a film is the worst I've seen but simply put it is. From the direction to the script to the acting to just about everything is absolutely terrible.1. To start the script has a severe lack of logic, in one scene when the group finds a dead body the one character suggests they go to the police. Then another character says they shouldn't because he believes the police will think they're involved in this person's death. Now that's a lot like saying if you go and report a crime to the police you'll get arrested for reporting a crime or as if they're actually going to the police to say "Hey dudes, we killed someone and we'd like you to come check out our awesome crime scene." As if the police would say. "Cool man, if we like it we'll arrest you." Also in the third act the very same character after being rattled by one of his friend's death develops a knack for asking the most annoyingly dumb questions one after the other almost without taking a breath and his behavior in that particular situation makes no sense what so ever.2. To elaborate on the direction the film is shot in Morocco and judging from the establishing shots there's some nice scenery but during the dialog scenes most of the time the only thing we see are close up shots of faces and no scenery. While these close up shots are usually suppose to be about emotions the actors display virtually none. In fact the acting is so wooden you can use it to make a rocking chair.Overall, this film truly is the worst film I've seen in a while. Armand Assante is one of my favorite actors hence the reason I sought this film out. He probably just did this film for the paycheck even though he only plays a small part in this film despite getting top billing. I recommend to not even give this film a second thought, it's a waste of time either way.

I liked this movie a lot. It had a unique filming location, unique actors (one of the guys was a dork though, you will know when you watch it lol) and a unique plot. I especially liked the ending. It is an overall very entertaining movie. It sort of has the feeling of an 80's Italian horror movie. Not the same cookie cutter movies that all seem to be the rage lately. I am not sure why this film does not have a higher rating, it is much better than many of the 6 and 7 start rated IMDb horror movies, I suspect that directors and actors are rating up their trash movies so people will watch them. Give the movie a chance. I think most horror fans out there will enjoy it. No it is not a work of art but yes it is very entertaining and "interesting".

Recently I have been back to my hometown in Italy for a short vacation and just yesterday I decided to hit the cinema to watch this Italian production called "Smile", looking forward for some healthy summer thrills over my back (moreover yesterday I was the only spectator in the dark room to watch it so it could be really creepy!)As an hardcore horror fan, I'm always hopeful to see the "reborn" of Italian horror considering that in the past several of our directors delivered to the world nice pieces of horror and, though I was not particularly amazed by Smile trailer, I decided to give it a chance.The chance started to break down after the first 10-15 minutes and the situation worsened until the end of the movie. How to describe "Smile"? I would say it's a mixture of poor ideas (most of them already seen in other movies with a much better production), stupid dialogs and situations, even poorer "special effects" (if there are any...) and silly acting (sometimes I have the feeling the actors don't believe that much in what they are doing).Anything to save? A few. The location, shot in Morocco, was potentially good and attractive, plus the actor Armand Assante was the only one who, with his few seconds presence, gave to this movie a bit of "horror feeling".I give to this movie 2 instead of 1 because I appreciate the effort that, anyway, has been done to create a horror genre made in Italy but unfortunately there is still a lot of hard work to do to guarantee the audience with a more satisfying vision.