Smile 2

Bravely answering the question “what if Perfect Blue sucked?”, Smile 2 goes all-out in trying to get around the emptiness of its central metaphor and the failure of the franchise’s signature conceit to inspire the slightest bit of dread. We’re talking long takes, intricate dance numbers, Scott giving her all and then some in the lead, and even the camera flipping in a natural motion, and the result is a film of distraction, where it occasionally feels almost engaging but then someone smiles and you remember the film thinks you’re dumb enough to find this scary. Better than the first!

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