Sure, it's mushy, but you can't make a movie called Smile and not be at least a wee bit saccharine about your intentions.
Smile (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 13
Fresh: 2
Rotten:11
Average Rating: 4/10
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] mature content involving teen sexuality
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:2005
Synopsis: Exploring the differences in growing up halfway across the world, SMILE is a wholesome and positive look at two divergent cultures and the experiences of young adults in those worlds. In... Exploring the differences in growing up halfway across the world, SMILE is a wholesome and positive look at two divergent cultures and the experiences of young adults in those worlds. In California, Katie (Mika Boorem) is born into a world of wealth and privilege, growing up in a society where her primary concern is her relationship with her boyfriend. Meanwhile, on the very same day, as Ling (Yi Ding) is born in China with a facial deformity, the scales are already weighed against her. Abandoned by her birth parents, Ling grows up in a world of hard work and little chance for escape. When Katie volunteers for a medical program abroad, she comes face to face with Ling and the difficulties she faces, and both girls learn life-affirming lessons about the differences and similarities between them and their cultures. SMILE also features Sean Astin, Cheri Oteri, Linda Hamilton, and more famous faces in supporting roles. [More]
Starring: Jeffrey Kramer, Sean Astin, Mika Boorem, Beau Bridges
Starring: Jeffrey Kramer, Sean Astin, Mika Boorem, Beau Bridges, Linda Hamilton, Cheri Oteri, Yi Ding, Essie Shure, Jia Song, Jonathon Trent, Erik von Detten, Luoyong Wang
Studio: Dark Forest Releasing
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Reviews for Smile
However worthy the sentiment, this one won't leave viewers with a smile.
This drama, which was bankrolled by the people behind the international Operation Smile program, has the best of intentions. But it's so painfully earnest that it becomes insufferable.
Feels like a school project that has its heart in the right place if not the skills to produce something with depth and emotional heft.
Kramer may have felt that American audiences would have wanted to follow an American heroine, but it’s Lin’s story that resonates.
Despite terrific China locales and some capable castmembers (notably Wang), the flick gets bogged down by Jeffrey Kramer's strained scriptwriting and unrestrained direction.
This movie's so filled with admirable intentions that they practically spill onto the screen before it starts.
There's little doubt that a nonfiction film would have been more powerful than this strained drama, which offers a Malibu brat as the audience's point of identification.
Overall, it's pretty elementary stuff, along the lines of a Disney Channel TV movie.
Well-meaning but dramatically lopsided tearjerker bogs down in generic teen angst and domestic squabbling.
Smile is like a dose of cod liver oil: It may be good for you, but it's no fun.
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