Movie Review: Smiley Face

Last night while browsing my local Blockbuster, I came to the realization that when the store has a new release, the new release is never in... it'll be about a month after the movie hits shelves, that you will actually get lucky enough to find a copy.

Last night was another non-shocking event. Nothing new was available. Just cardboard slots of movies that you could rent, but couldn't rent, unless the actual box was there. Sighs.

I came across Smiley Face. A new release that surprisingly, was there. I grabbed a copy, and noticed that Anna Farris was the main character in the flick. I liked her in 'Just Friends' and 'Scary Movie', so I had high hopes for Smiley Face.

The Plot:
 
The movie started off promising. A stoner names Jane (Anna Farris), is on a Ferris wheel, yet can't remember how she got there. The story then jumps to the beginning to tell you of how she got there.

Jane is sitting in front of her laptop playing some ridiculous simulation game that involves apes. She doesn't talk directly to you, but her thoughts are spoken out loud, as she sits there playing the game.

A few hits later from the bong, she finds herself with the munchies. She goes into the fridge and comes across a platter of cupcakes that her roomie Steve (played by Danny Masterson- That 70's Show) baked up. The cupcakes have a note on them directly written to Jane, 'DO NOT EAT'.
 
She contemplates on it for awhile, and a few moments later we are taken directly to a new scene where Jane is pigging out on all of them.

Suddenly she realizes the consequences of eating the cupcakes, and this is where the adventure begins. The cupcakes are no ordinary cupcakes, they were doused in pot. Seeing how she was already high, the cupcakes made things even worse.

Jane suddenly goes on adventure to bake pot cupcakes to replace, so she uses the money to pay the electric to buy even more pot, so she can re-bake some for her roomie; who she knows would kill her if he came home to an empty fridge.

Jane calls her dealer Steve (played by Adam Brody, from The OC), who sells her some pot. As Jane begins to cook the cupcakes, she accidentally ruins the batter, and is off to find more weed. Before finding weed though she has an audition to attend; Jane for some reason wants to be an actress.

On her way out, and to her audition, the flick takes a ridiculously lame turn where Jane is acting drunk and under the influence of Vicodin, instead of just pot.

She begins to see things that are not there, and her behavior; although comic, is a little far fetched.
The movie drags out, and throughout I mainly got bored. Te character of Jane, the stoner was over acted, and got old, really fast. Any stoner knows that no matter how much pot you smoke...you eventually come down. You also do not hallucinate unless the pot is doused in acid.
Watching Anna Farris play the role of stoner girl was also a bit hard to swallow.

After about an hour of watching her act like she was drunk... I mean stoned.... you get annoyed, and can't wait for the flick to finally come to an end. Which it does... and it sucks.

Basically the entire film followed Jane, and her trip to making her wrongs a right. However the entire time she just makes things worse. I've seen films like this over and over before... only in Smiley Face, the main character is stoned, or drunk, or on acid or whatever, which makes it impossible to fix her wrongs.

The only scenes I enjoyed were the ones where her roommate Steve (Danny Masterson) were present. He played the role of the psycho roommate perfectly.

Steve the dealer (Adam Brody), was so unbelievable as the character it was pathetic. They basically used the kid from The OC, flopped one of those lame ass Halloween rhasta hats (the kind with the dreads attached) and called him a pot dealer. Whatever, they could of at least made him sound believable. For me it was Seth Cohen with a funny hat on, not Steve the dealer.

Jane, (Anna Farris) seemed to be retarded in the film. Not high.

Overall:
 
I felt stupid for watching the flick. It was a boring ride that should of been filled with comedy. Only the parts that were supposed to be funny, were dull. Better luck next time.

Save the pot movies for Seth Rogen. He reeks of excellent acting when it comes to making hilarious stoner films.