Smile (2005)

Peter Debruge

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.

Full Review | Comment | Aug., 26 2005 03:55 PM

Jeff Vice

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.

Full Review | Comment | Aug., 05 2005 02:14 PM

Jeffrey Bruner

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.

Full Review | Comment | Jul., 26 2005 11:17 AM

Despite terrific China locales and some capable castmembers (notably Wang), the flick gets bogged down by Jeffrey Kramer's strained scriptwriting and unrestrained direction.

Full Review | Comment | Apr., 22 2005 03:15 AM

Sheri Linden

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.

Full Review | Comment | Apr., 08 2005 05:35 PM

Justin Chang

Well-meaning but dramatically lopsided tearjerker bogs down in generic teen angst and domestic squabbling.

Full Review | Comment | Apr., 07 2005 08:30 PM

Jon Strickland

All the shallow, self-absorbed denizens of Malibu seem relieved.

Full Review | Comment | Apr., 06 2005 08:13 PM