Thursday, September 29, 2022
Smile
Hospital therapist, Dr Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon), suffers a traumatic experience as she observed her hysterical patient’s bizarre self-inflicted injury. Thus begins this mystery/psychological horror thriller. Cotter begins to exhibit all of the same symptoms of her seemingly mentally ill patient. Is what she sees & hears just hallucinations? Is it a curse? Is it supernatural or demonic? More creepy than scary, this film is contrived & predictable, which is not unexpected for the genre. You can count on a number of jump scares. No one believes the victim, not her fiancé, her family, her colleagues, her therapist, nor her ex, who coincidentally is cop investigating her patient’s death. So the protagonist must go it alone to solve this mystery & try to save herself. It’s weak in story but if you just want a few startles & a little gore, you might have an okay time. Bacon does do a good job as the traumatized victim. I️ can only imagine the film’s auditioning process: show me your creepiest smile.
Alien gives it 2 “Mustache” stars out of 4.
