Film Review - Smile 2 (2024)

Smile 2 is the sequel to the surprise 2022 film Smile and this time Naomi Scott stars as Skye Riley a pop star looking to mount a comeback tour after surviving a car accident which killed her boyfriend (Ray Nicholson) but after visiting a friend one night she begins to see people smiling back at her in a sinister way and those smiles aren’t exactly ones from grinning fans either.

Smile 2 was a movie that I was looking forward to as I really enjoyed the first film and this sequel does not disappoint at all, Parker Finn who wrote and directed the film gets to strut his stuff here having not only gone through the experience of making the first film but also now knowing he’s making a film for theatres instead of streaming (which is where it was meant to go before getting a theatrical release) and there a lot of exciting moments that definitely put a smile on my face.

Also Naomi Scott is excellent here as the pop star with troubles in her past which begin to come back to the surface due to having the Smile syndrome passed onto her, I’ve liked this lady in everything I’ve seen her in since 2017’s Power Rangers except when she was Princess Jasmine in the live action remake of Aladdin in 2019 and while part of me still doesn’t like the fact she was Princess Jasmine and played a boring version of the character she is very very good here.

The other cast members are good as well, Ray Nicholson definitely has his father’s Batman/Shining Smile and it shows in one scene, Rosemarie DeWitt is good as well as Skye’s mother/manager while Peter Jacobson is good as well as Morris a mysterious man ala Jacobs Ladder who might be able to help Skye get rid of the smiles that haunt her.

And so that was Smile 2 and it is a great time at the movies like the first one was and a welcome balm to my movie going after the debacle that was Joker 2, 3 and a half out of 5.