Jane is a regular pot user who today has to fit an audition and paying her electricity bill into her usual routine of getting high. Seems easy enough but when the temptation is too great to eat her flat mates cupcake's she quickly discovers they are made with a huge amount of weed. Unbelievably high, Jane believes she can pay off her dealer, remake the cupcakes, get the audition and make it in time to pay the electricity bill. Of course she believes that – she is high.
Someone gushed about this film at me in general terms so I added it to the list to see without knowing much about it other than it was quirky and funny. The plot is pretty straightforward and it could be from any stoner movie since it involves one odd scenario after another, all of which are made odder and harder by Jane's mental state. The film starts with a lot of energy and imagination and it is engaging for the first 30 minutes or so. After this period though the novelty value of the presentation does wear off a little bit and it starts to get a little stale; the plotting doesn't really matter but it keeps moving along. The laughs are key and they are also hit and miss. The tone of the film is a bit more "stable" than the wilder and OTT nonsense of other stoner films but the downside of this is that the wilder OTT laughs are absent. There are plenty to be had but mostly the film is "amusing" rather than hilarious. It looks good though and the fact that the delivery "feels" a bit smarter than it actually is did make me be patient with it and relax into it a bit more than I would generally with the genre.
A big part of it is down to Faris, who is really good in this. OK it is not the hardest most complex character to play, but her comic timing is bang on and she really gets the delivery right for the material. She is by far the driving heart of the film. In support are lots of faces you'll recognise which is an odd thing but it doesn't distract too much and everyone works pretty well; Krasinski, Cho, Trejo, Browne, Lynch and a cute (but otherwise pointless) appearance by Natashia Williams. For those reading the cast list while considering watching, please don't be put off by Carrot Top – he is a walk on (and more importantly "walk off") appearance.
Overall Smiley Face is a cute entry in the stoner genre. It is imaginative and quite funny for the majority and it is done with a lot of harmless charm. Of course it isn't really enough of any one thing to be as good as it could have been, but it is still pretty amusing and engaging – thanks in a big part to a pitch perfect performance from Faris in the lead.
