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‘Smile 2’ Review: A Skillfully Disquieting Sequel Turns the Life of a Pop Star Into a Horror Ride of Mental Breakdown
Naomi Scott's performance as a pop-star diva grappling with demons, including her own, gives Parker Finn's sequel a genuine emotional center.
The director Brady Corbet (“The Brutalist”), teaming up with Natalie Portman, got about halfway there in “Vox Lux.” Lady Gaga, drawing on elements of her own legend but shrewd enough to play the heroine of “A Star Is Born” as not a version of herself, created a character for the ages. So when you hear that “ Smile 2,” Parker Finn’s sequel to his effective if overloaded creep-out horror film of two years ago, is centered around a pop star, you may not exactly be expecting a deep-dish immersion in the pop-music universe. The film sticks close to Skye’s point-of-view and takes us through her life — the rehearsals and costume changes, the compulsive guzzling of designer bottles of Voss water, her bickering relationship with her doting but parasitic manager mother (Rosemarie DeWitt), her increasingly severe case of the hair-tearing impulse trichotillomania, and her parade of fans lining up for their turn to pose with her in “badass” selfies.
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