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Rating:  - A winner
Anna Faris's virtuoso performance as doper-slacker actress "Jane" is only one of the several virtues that separates "Smiley Face" from the scores of forgettable films churned out annually in Hollywood aimed at a youth market. Those other virtures include solid direction, exceptional art direction and lighting, and an overall bloom on the production.
Written in a format mimicking -- and highly infulenced by -- television's "Seinfeld", this movie is less a story told than a collective of individual events and circumstances one might find in a 90-minute version of the great comedy that appeared on NBC during the 1990s. And, like any 90 minute version of "Seinfeld" would certainly be, this film is very funny, engaging, and totally unpredictable.
Anne, the heroine, is a stoner, a California college graduate and actress whose life revolves around getting a buzz. She lives in a suburban apartment with a platonic male roommate and has multiple adventures in this 90-minute comedy. Among those are blowing the utility payment on grass, going a trip to the dentist with a pal, an interlude with police, and getting her hands on the original copy of the Marx-Lenin Ccommunist Manifesto. She does all this while stoned and often hallucinating.
If this sounds like a riot, that's becuase it is. This film, which has a plot thinner than a piece of bathroom tissue, manages to engage its viewers all 90 minutes by moving quickly between episodes in this poor girl's life and using unusual camera angles, art renderings that often speak to her, and a lively script. The art direction, in particular, is both highly effective and very imaginative. I wouldn't call this film unique in image manaagement but it is most unusual. To add another bit of individuality, the film focuses on a female slacker, a species pretty much unheard of in mainstream Hollywood.
If you enjoy contemporary urban comedy, you will almost certainly like this movie. If that's you, buy, rent, borrow or steal this film for some fun tonight. It won't stay in memory long but it's a hoot while it's going on for Faris's wonderful role-playing, magnificent if modest art direction and great lighting make "Smiley Face" a winner.
Rating:  - People, This was a great movie!
I can't understand why so many people have panned this movie. Anna Farris did a great job of playing someone who was way stoned. The movie was a fun adventure. Are you all pissed 'cause it isn't Casablanca? It's not supposed to be; it's a day in the life of a stoner. You get it now? I love this movie.
Rating:  - I wish I never opened the package
I love the idea of a stoned person doing funny things and I thought this would be right up my alley. Not so. This is not a funny movie. I regret opening the package because I won't be able to return it now. There is no script, plot, or humor. Waste of good money. I have indicated one star because I can't mark no stars.
Rating: - Worse Movie I've Seen in a Long Time
Smiley Face
This movie is so bad, I stopped the DVD and read a book.
Rating:  - WORTH SEEING FOR ANNA FARIS'S PERFORMANCE ALONE!
I caught this film on cable and even though this film doesn't really go anywhere, I still found it mildly enjoyable because of Anna Faris's hysterical performance. Faris portrays a "pothead" who after smoking up her whole bag of weed decides she is going to eat her roommate's "special" cupcakes laced with weed that he is saving for a party. The rest of the film is Faris trying to get through her day and put everything back to "normal". I haven't laughed this hard at a stoned person since my last viewing of a Cheech & Chong movie! I don't know if I would buy this film, but it's worth a look on cable.
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