Hot and freaky. This seems to be the way of all things horror with any kind of budget to blow lately. Blumhouse, now the established Daddy has to keep hitting the ball out of the park unless the likes of Shudder should catch up with them (and based on this, they should be firmly looking over their shoulder).
Hence we are presented with a glitzy overproduced template and of course, an only nearly new premise. Why the celebrity idolatry is required to tell the story of an event that could happen to literally anyone likely to be in its path at the time is unclear, but it does ring faint bells as recently as anything AHS related has delivered with the aid of the likes of Gaga and Kardashian (jury is still out).
Really, Smile 2 is preaching to its teenage choir again here. The first was a genuinely creepy affair (at times) which also suffered narratively and delivered a disturbing edge-of-the-seat story which took audiences by surprise. Without its originality frock to fall back on, it's the same old clothes with just the one trick it continues to play. Someone grinning inanely at you is creepy, sure, but so is a clown standing at the end of your street holding a balloon, but doing nothing. You wouldn't make a movie about it, would you? You, yes you there at the back holding the 'IT' sign, put that down. It isn't clever, you're only embarrassing yourself.
Sometimes, just one of something is enough and this is a case in point. I'd rather have something original from those who are clearly able to produce them, rather than this amiable copout they're plying us all with here. It's not bad, so to speak, but nobody is really challenging themselves here. And I really mean nobody. The performances are average but I've seen better unravelling almost everywhere else. Weighing in at a smidgen over two hours also belies a lack of understanding for its audience, with scenes that are overlong, or in some cases, just better left on the cutting room floor. It's missing a healthy portion of tension too, compared to the first stab. A decent fright night date movie, but geared, quite rightly, for the more casual horror movie fan.