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Brief preamble: there is a lot of history packed into the end during the credits so do be sure to stick around.

That being said this is a wonderful film in the grand tradition of sportsmen overcoming obstacles, literally in this case (the high jump bar).

This is a film firmly rooted in family and faith (in keeping with other productions from these filmmakers) so if you've enjoyed their other films you're guaranteed to like this.

Hollywood doesn't seem to be able to make these kinds of movies anymore so it's reassuring to see people stepping into the gap to provide quality entertainment for the whole family. These movies can still be made and SHOULD be made.

Season one is/was great. I'm rewatching it as I type this. And I'm not going to rewatch season 2. Mackie was miscast, as he is in many projects. He's not abysmally terrible in certain roles but he's also not very good in several others, usually when he's forced to play a lead. This is widely known. (He got lucky being cast in "Hurt Locker", let's be honest). Anyone saying otherwise is deluded and huffing copium. What a downgrade to go from the near perfection of Kinnaman to just settling for Mackie in season 2. Who made THAT casting call...and why? One would only need to glance at Netflix's patterns to see them repeating over and over. Their second season curse should be examined, if they cared to acknowledge it, but they'll keep pushing out mediocrity to appease an increasingly irrelevant (and smaller) audience that wants the kind of slop they saddle their second seasons with.

It follows that "It Follows" would be remade eventually but who knew it would be as quickly remade as this, and without any acknowledgement of its predecessor. But such is the re-cyclical nature of modern Hollywood and such are our times. It also has a budget ~13 times of "It Follows". "It Follows" is a 10/10 for me, this a 7/10.

"It follows" starred an as-yet-unknown Maika Monroe and as-yet-uncelebrated David Robert Mitchell (with that much smaller budget, as well) so "Smile" got more press/promotional backing and a wide release. And it didn't boast a star one degree of separation from Lord Kevin Bacon himself. And it wasn't manufactured to max out the jump scares-per-minute quota "Smile" prioritizes. Unfortunately, the average person is more likely to watch this than its creative predecessor but it's worth finding the original before watching this, in my opinion.

But enough about comparisons, if you're a horror fan and haven't seen "It Follows", and don't care to/can't, you'll probably like this. It isn't a slasher, though if that's all you consider "horror" to be. "Smile" is more of a supernatural-esque film about a weird/psychological gangstalking curse.

It says a lot about The Industry, and what kind of movie this is, that The Biz is already releasing a sequel: "Smile 2". All before "They Follow", the purported sequel to "It Follows", has even started filming (if it ever will).

Read into that what you want.

TL;DR I didn't hate this film and I'm maybe going to see its sequel. But I'm looking forward to "They Follow" much much more.

PS Fittingly, just like "Smile", everything I've written above isn't an original take. If you've read anything about "Smile" you already know many pounds of ink have been spilled complaining, like me, over these comparisons. But I must acknowledge those before me who have said similar...