Metacritic Film

Smiley Face

Starring Anna Faris, Adam Brody, John Krasinski, John Cho, and Jane Lynch

MPAA RATING: R for drug content, language and some sexual material

First Look Pictures
Comedy
88 minutes | Color
USA
Released In Theaters November 16, 2007

Jane F., an unsuccessful slacker actress, is having a bad day. And it’s getting more outrageous and comically surreal by the minute. Jane’s misadventures begin when she treats herself to a batch of cupcakes left unattended by her psycho roommate that prove to be not as innocent as they appear. Soon, she is trying to cross town so she can repay an unforgiving drug dealer, attend an audition, and somehow replace the precious cupcakes. Bumming a ride from her roommate’s friend--who is totally infatuated with her--she sets out on a long, strange trip. And when the original manuscript of the Communist Manifesto falls into her hands, things really get out of control. (First Look International)

WRITTEN BY
Dylan Haggerty

DIRECTED BY
Gregg Araki

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

71 / 100

Critic Reviews

90	Village Voice Nathan Lee On the plus side, 100 percent sober when I watched it, I can say with some authority that Dylan Haggerty has written an eleventh-hour candidate for the funniest movie of 2007, that Gregg Araki has directed his finest film since 1997's "Nowhere," and that Faris, flawless, rocks their inspired idiot odyssey in a virtuoso comedic turn.
80	LA Weekly Staff (Not credited) Uproarious pothead comedy.
80	Los Angeles Times Gregg Araki's delirious Smiley Face is an unabashed valentine to Anna Faris, an opportunity for the actress to show that she can carry a movie composed of often hilarious nonstop misadventures.
75	The Onion (A.V. Club) It's a fittingly loose, shambling little nothing of a comedy that's occasionally inspired, but at least a draft or two short of its potential. Still, it's a pleasure to watch Faris--a gifted, likeable comedian who tends to be the best element of many terrible movies.
75	TV Guide Working from a script by TV actor Dylan Haggerty, Araki manages to capture what he's been trying to say all along about the lives of the stoned and indifferent with the kind of effortlessness those earlier attempts sorely lacked.
70	The New York Times Matt Zoller Seitz Despite its laid-back script, “Smiley Face” is as prankishly political as Mr. Araki’s “Doom Generation,” evincing a deep unease with the media-saturated capitalist nation that Jane crawls inside her bong to escape.
70	Film Threat Zack Haddad This movie is all over the place. One giant discombobulated stoner trip that goes from one obscure adventure to another. And you know what? It is quite a fun, odd journey.
63	New York Daily News This is a midnight stoner movie if there ever was one.
60	Variety A sterling space cadet performance by Anna Faris floats the genial if slight pothead comedy Smiley Face, a distaff "Dude, Where's My Car?"

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