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This is the blog of Ian Rosales Casocot. Filipino writer. Sometime academic. Former backpacker. Twink bait. Hamster lover.

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Saturday, February 05, 2011

entry arrow12:34 AM | Stoned Mindlessness



I don't know what possessed Gregg Araki to make Smiley Face [2007], which he directed from a screenplay by Dylan Haggerty. This film, at least aesthetically, does not belong to the body of work Araki is known for, and it comes off as a half-hearted/stilted effort, a mainstreamimg Araki that flounders in every which way. In this story of a stoner actress [played with delirious, if unfunny, wackiness by the otherwise always dependable Anna Faris] going through a really bad day, he goes for Romy and Michele's High School Reunion [1997] and Dude, Where's My Car? [2000] territory, but unleashes a comic effort that will never be iconic as these titles. An argument can be given about the film being an exact response to its stoner story, but that's a little too lazy an excuse for this wasteland of a film. Given all the talents involved in this travesty, this became almost too painful to watch. It's an Araki film you can just pass over. No need to be completist with this one. You will be forgiven.

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