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Cast

Mika Boorem
as Katie

Wang Luoyong
as Daniel

Yi Ding (II)
as Lin

Beau Bridges
as Steven

Linda Hamilton
as Bridgette

Cheri Oteri
as Linda

Sean Astin
as Mr. Matthews

Shuai Chi
as Calvin

Jonathon Trent
as Ted

Erik von Detten
as Chris

Jia Song
as Daniel's Wife

Essie Shure
as Brittany

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Critic Reviews for Smile

Audience Reviews for Smile

• Oct 10, 2011

  This film has two stories going on at the same time until they overlap. A poor Chinese father adopts a little girl with a cleft palate and a whiny, selfish, annoying teenage girl from Malibu struggles with her boyfriend pressuring her to have sex. Curious about Operation Smile and how she can help, she takes a trip to China as a volunteer with a medical team who help give operations to those in financial need. It's a very uplifting movie with a great cast. It really makes me wonder if the actor who plays Lin really had a cleft palette and then they gave her an operation or if they put one heck of a really great make-up job on her.
  Dannielle A Super Reviewer
• Sep 11, 2011

  The film parallels two stories: an impoverished Chinese father who sacrifices his wife and son to raise a facially-deformed orphan named Ling (Yi Ding) as his very own, and a Malibu self-absorbed teenager (Mika Boorem as Katie) who seemingly has it all including the arguing parents (Beau Bridges and Linda Hamilton) and a boyfriend (Erik von Detten) pushing her to have sex. She goes to China with a volunteer medical program, (Operation Smile, which provides reconstructive surgery to needy children and young adults in developing countries and the United States) and comes face to face with the realities of the big bad world. This is one of those movies that make you sit and wonder. Wonder about the difficulties that some underprivileged people face. The hardships they go through and in this movie it is interesting to see how Katie transforms into someone whose mission it is to help someone else. The character of the Chinese father (Wang Luoyong) is one that especially impressed me as it is very touching to watch a father sacrifice everything for the love of an adopted child especially one with a physical deformity. It's uplifting, and it's in a good cause, which I'm assuming is what attracted the names in the cast including Sean Astin as her teacher and Cheri Oteri as the too-enthusiastic nurse from Utah.
  Deb S Super Reviewer
• Dec 31, 2009

  This started out as a completely teen movie. Took forever to get to the point of the story, which was the children in Asia who are born disfigured and American Doctors travel there each year to perform corrective surgery. We have the average teen of today who travels with class mates to help with project, she is totally blown away by the children as they check into the hospital. But she has a special interest in one girl born on the same day as her. Turns into a tear jerker, I can only give it 3 stars as it took forever to get beyond our young teen in California.
  Bruce B Super Reviewer
• Jan 01, 2009

  Mika is great in this film. It's not easy to watch in some ways, but it is worth watching.
  Timothy O Super Reviewer

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