Smile 2

Cast View all

	Naomi Scott	Skye Riley
	Rosemarie DeWitt	Elizabeth Riley
	Lukas Gage	Lewis
	Miles Gutierrez-Riley	Joshua
	Peter Jacobson	Morris
	Ray Nicholson	Paul Hudson
	Dylan Gelula	Gemma
	Raul Castillo	Darius
	Kyle Gallner	Joel
	Drew Barrymore	Drew
	Zebedee Row	Alexi
	Robert Jekabson	Yev
	Sean Stolzen	Maksim
	Jon Rua	Anton
	Vladimir Duthiers	Vladimir Duthiers
	Kristine Johnson	Kristine Johnson
	Margot Weintraub	Young Fan
	Christopher Bailey	Dunbar
	Xhloe Rice	Gothy College Student
	Caitlyn Classey	Fan
	Ivan Carlo	Alfredo
	Mila Falkof	Smiling Girl
	Christopher Sky	Skye's SUV Driver
	Jarrett Austin Brown	Intoxicated Man
	Erika Chase	Girl in Bar

Crew View all

Director	Parker Finn
Writer	Parker Finn
Producer	Marty Bowen, Jonathan Fass, Parker Finn, Wyck Godfrey, Isaac Klausner, Robert Salerno
Musician	Cristobal Tapia de Veer
Photography	Charlie Sarroff

Trailer

Edition details

Personal

Notes

My quick rating - 6.7/10. Another one from the “oops, forgot this existed while it drowned in my watchlist” pile—Smile 2 is a standalone sequel that wastes no time diving back into its twisted rules. Director Parker Finn once again kicks things off hard and fast with a long, chaotic “one take” opener that’s as gory and frantic as anything from the first film. It’s an effective way of providing continuity, like the entity tapping you on the shoulder and saying, “Remember me?” Yeah, we do. Unfortunately.

This time, the unlucky host is Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), a global pop sensation whose life is already overwhelming without supernatural smiles creeping into her entourage. The pop music backdrop is a clever move—it gives the film a flashy, neon-lit stage to contrast the grisly stuff happening behind it. Scott sells the role, even if Skye is written as an entitled diva. In fact, she’s the shining star of the movie, turning what could’ve been a shrill stereotype into a performance worth watching on its own.

The gore delivers more than the first one, with some well-executed kills and creative sequences that prove Finn knows how to get under your skin. But the movie leans a little too heavy on cheap jump scares and loud stingers, which start to feel more like a prankster with a foghorn than a malevolent cosmic entity. The creepy, creative moments land stronger—those sequences where the camera lingers too long or a smile shows up where it shouldn’t. That’s the good stuff.

The downside? Just like the first, Smile 2 stumbles at the finish line. The ending feels contrived, designed to force the absolute worst-case scenario rather than earn it naturally. There’s even a twist baked in, though I won’t spoil it, that adds a little extra bite but doesn’t mask the fact that the story still refuses to explain much about the entity itself. For a rare sequel I actually enjoyed more than the original, it’s frustrating that neither entry knows how to stick the landing.

That said, the increased budget does show, even if it didn’t exactly equate to bigger box office numbers. The production feels slicker, with a polished aesthetic and bolder set pieces, though the core strengths remain the same: strong performances, creepy tension, and trauma lurking just beneath the surface. It’s a promising series so far, one that feels like it’s building toward a third film where (hopefully) the rules of this curse get fleshed out and wrapped up in a way that’s more satisfying.

Overall, Smile 2 might rely too much on startle tactics, but between the gruesome creativity, a few excellent set pieces, and Naomi Scott’s magnetic performance, it lands as an above-average sequel. I liked it a bit better than the original, though for different reasons. Still, I hope the next one gives us fewer jump scares and more answers.

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