Smiley Face
Anna Faris, John Krasinski, Roscoe Lee Browne
Directed by Gregg Araki
First Look Home Entertainment 2008
85 minutes
Many have tried to make a good pot comedy and very few have succeeded. Smiley Face is one of those few stoner movies that actually works and boy does it work. Smiley Face is a great little pot comedy DVD because Anna Faris is most excellent as a stoned blonde having a few crises on a given day.
It works because it goes beyond the usual pot movie clichés and totally surprises with many really original funny bits that are believable as a stoner’s experiences. It works because it is not just another stupid stoner movie or stupid movie stoner or movie stoner stupid … something like that.
This DVD is not going to go down in movie history as a classic but it is one of those “that was really cool” movie experiences you kind of want to repeat a few months later or share with some friends.
Smiley Face begins, sort of, when wannabe actress Jane (Anna Faris; Scary Movie 3 and 4, Brokeback Mountain) takes one bong hit too many, gets the munchies, and eats her roommate’s cupcakes only to discover they were laced with pot.
Now stoned and stoned even more Jane must get pot to bake replacement cupcakes, go to an audition, pay the electric bill, pay the pot guy, and bake the cupcakes before the menacing yet sci-fi fan roommate returns. Sounds fairly simple, doesn’t it? Well then, add a bag of government pot, a guy who has a case of really unrequited love for Jane, and the Communist Manifesto.
Smiley Face rests entirely on the shoulders of Anna Faris and they are more than strong enough. She also has a lot of really good material from writer Dylan Haggerty while director Gregg Arakis makes sure the movie doesn’t get out of control.
A comedy only works if it is well balanced and this one could dance on a pin.
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