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Smile (1975)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 11
Fresh: 11
Rotten:0
Average Rating: 7.6/10
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Michael Ritchie's SMILE is a satirical, behind-the-scenes look at a California teenage beauty pageant, which also exposes American middle-class mores. The competitors (who seem to favor political... Michael Ritchie's SMILE is a satirical, behind-the-scenes look at a California teenage beauty pageant, which also exposes American middle-class mores. The competitors (who seem to favor political maneuvering and backstabbing over talent and poise) provide only part of the story, since the members of the pageant staff are just as interesting--and dysfunctional. These include jury president Big Bob Freelander (Bruce Dern), a straight-laced car salesman; Brenda DiCarlo (Barbara Feldon), the pageant's main organizer; her alcoholic husband Andy (Nicholas Pryor); and even Big Bob's son, Little Bob, who is secretly taking photos of the nubile teenagers with the hopes of selling them to horny classmates. As the week leading up to the unveiling of the new Miss California sparks even more arguments, accidents, and confusion among Santa Rosa's residents, they begin to reveal even greater signs of lunacy. While all of this is going on, the contestants are trying miserably not to buckle under the pressure--or drop their twirling batons. Ritchie's film, a lighthearted critique of American suburbia, pokes fun at the majority of its components, including sexual conservatism, domestic dysfunction, and male bonding (in a hilarious "initiation" scene). SMILE also features a standout performance from Dern in the film's central role. [More]
Starring: Bruce Dern, Barbara Feldon, Melanie Griffith, Annette O'Toole
Starring: Bruce Dern, Barbara Feldon, Melanie Griffith, Annette O'Toole, Michael Kidd, Geoffrey Lewis, Nicholas Pryor, Colleen Camp
Director: Michael Ritchie
Director: Michael Ritchie
Producer: Michael Ritchie
Screenwriter: Jerry Belson
Composer: Leroy Holmes, Charlie Chaplin, Daniel Osborn
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Reviews for Smile
like a season of I Love the ‘70s condensed into two hours, and in its intimation that this is a uniquely disposable culture it's decades ahead of VH-1
One of those inimitable small films that squares with human experience in genuine, funny and memorable ways
Fun spoof of the beauty pageant industry. The kid with his sexual metaphors is the best.
The kind of film that immediately attracts the phrase 'wickedly funny'
Latest News for Smile
December 26, 2007:
Choreographer Michael Kidd: 1919-2007
Choreographer Michael Kidd -- responsible for some of the best-known dance sequences in film and stage -- succumbed Sunday to cancer at the age of 92. More...
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