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Movies / On DVD / Laura Smiles
Laura Smiles

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Laura Smiles (2007)

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Reviews Counted:15

Fresh:7

Rotten:8

Average Rating:5/10

Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Sep 22, 2006 Limited

Synopsis: A light-splashed meeting between two soon-to-be-married young lovers shows Laura (Wright), a fledgling actress, and Chris (Kip Pardue - "Imaginary Heroes", "The Rules of Attraction", "Remember the... A light-splashed meeting between two soon-to-be-married young lovers shows Laura (Wright), a fledgling actress, and Chris (Kip Pardue - "Imaginary Heroes", "The Rules of Attraction", "Remember the Titans"), a neophyte writer, both engaging and witty. But the good times don't last long; Chris is killed by a passing van. Nine years later, Laura is ensconced as a solidly upper-middle-class suburban housewife with a perfect husband and an 8-year-old son. Everything around her appears staid, distanced, established... however all is not well in suburbia. --© Kindred Media Group [More]

Starring: Petra Wright, Mark Derwin, Kip Pardue, Jonathan Silverman

Starring: Petra Wright, Mark Derwin, Kip Pardue, Jonathan Silverman, Ted Hartley, Hristo Ivanov, Stephen Swan, Rawley Valverde, Anne Estelle Di Maio, Danielle Chon, John Moody, Arie Polluck, Armand Hammer, Scott Chernoff

Director: Jason Ruscio

Director: Jason Ruscio
Screenwriter: Jason Ruscio
Composer: John Davis
Studio: Kindred Media Group

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Sep 18, 2007

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Reviews for Laura Smiles

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1 - 15 (sorted by date)
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Ms. Wright and all her acting colleagues provide very persuasive performances amid the shifting perspectives of Mr. Ruscio’s convoluted storytelling.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
08/08/07
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ruscio would rather add forced narrative complications than get to the actual core of what he's tossing out there, the sacrifices made in the name of relationships, dreams dashed or discarded.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
08/02/07
Mark Olsen
Mark Olsen
Los Angeles Times
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The movie Little Children wanted to be.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
08/02/07
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
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It casts an increasingly hypnotic spell, thanks in no small measure to Wright - a fearless actress (and the real-life wife of writer-director Ruscio) who brings this sometimes despicable, often heartbreaking character to life with every atom of her being.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
08/02/07
Scott Foundas
Scott Foundas
L.A. Weekly

Could have used much more of the sly and subtle humor that only occasionally pops up.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
08/02/07
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film hardly registers as an open-wound document of a spirit more lost than she cares to confront. Instead, Laura Smiles exists somewhere in the middle, frozen by its pretension and incapacity to engage.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/30/07
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
eFilmCritic.com

The film unfortunately ends as just another misguided indie, artily straining for substance.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
07/30/07
David Noh
David Noh
Film Journal International

Unlike many filmmakers who try to stake out the gray area between mundane reality and sleazy surreality, Ruscio maintains a successful balance throughout and gracefully brings the two together in a delicately ambiguous final scene.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
07/27/07
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Part domestic drama, part thriller, Laura Smiles is so ambitious that its ultimate failure is more depressing than anything in its dark script.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
07/27/07
Matt Zoller Seitz
Matt Zoller Seitz
New York Times
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Ruscio's script is grim and darkly funny, but the big attraction is Wright's right-on performance. She's an actress waiting to be discovered.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
07/27/07
V.A. Musetto
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's an interesting profile in self-destruction until the script becomes unhinged itself and has Laura doing things that are not so much outrageous as hilariously stupid.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
07/27/07
Jami Bernard
Jami Bernard
New York Daily News
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Laura Smiles teaches us that you can't escape misery, least of all in Jersey.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
07/27/07
Paul Schrodt
Paul Schrodt
Slant Magazine

The movie’s muddy, overexposed look is tough on the eyes, but its unrelentingly bleak take on the land of supermarkets and car dealerships is not without its share of dark humor, and it thankfully eschews easy answers.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
07/26/07
Joshua Land
Joshua Land
Time Out

It would be difficult to come up with a more clichéd indie film than writer-director Jason Ruscio's Laura Smiles.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
07/24/07
Charles Petersen
Charles Petersen
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Sharp dialogue, idiosyncratic characters and a wickedly brilliant structure that subtly derails expectation make Laura Smiles a rarity among mellers.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
07/09/07
Ronnie Scheib
Ronnie Scheib
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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