Critics reviews

Smile 2 is a louder, larger, shinier and more ambitious treatment of the first film’s captivating premise, with an impressively ragged turn from Scott... But in an example of bigger not always being better, it doesn’t tap into the original’s unsettling premise quite as effectively.

Smile 2 is horribly entertaining stuff. It’s carried by a stellar performance from Naomi Scott... The special effects are bracingly revolting, the malevolent smiles as creepy as ever. And the film has the added bonus of some killer choreography.

One of several things that works about Parker Finn's "Smile 2" is that it feels like an effort to expand on the ideas of the hit first movie instead of just repeating them... One thing it definitely has in common [with its predecessor] is a stellar central performance.

Just as Sosie Bacon gave the first film its sense of vibrating terror, this is Scott’s film, and she sets its high energy and twisted tone perfectly... This is the antithesis of a sequel for sequel’s sake. Instead, it’s second verse, even catchier than the first.

A bigger, bloodier — and more compelling — sequel to “Smile”... [Finn's film] more thematically ambitious than the original, which also allows Finn to stage more satisfyingly ridiculous kills and ramp up its air of delirium.

As stylishly made as these films might be, there’s still not enough of a distinctive identity away from its inspirations and not enough away from the (very loud) sound and fury to give us hope that this is a story worth retelling time and time again.

By setting this continuation of the Smileverse in the world of modern pop megastardom, Finn seems to be doing more than just adding an extra sheen of sequins and staged dance numbers into the mix here... You can see why the decision to place this franchise entry in this particular landscape seems ripe for scares.

[The film's] ambitious attempt to dissect wider social context leaves Smile 2 with a bloated run time and clunky pacing. It’s tamer than its deeply unsettling predecessor, but still unhinged enough to keep you nicely on edge.

A film about suicide observers who go on to commit suicide is always destined to be a bleak endeavor, but Scott and Finn’s ability to lean into the campy silliness of their premise without sacrificing character moments provides a bit of balance that was missing from the original film.

Finn brings the same tightly controlled framing, devilishly effective jump scares, and penchant for tricky fake-outs that made Smile so striking despite its familiarity... The series’s central conceit lends itself surprisingly well to a fame story... [and] though the sequel is more humorous than its predecessor, Finn doesn’t shirk away from the soul-crushing misery at the film’s center.

“Smile 2” is a flash-cut horror parable, but the story it’s telling is that pop fame makes you crazy. The movie is hardly subtle, yet Parker Finn has become a clever enough filmmaker to make reality feel like a hallucination and hallucinations feel like reality.

[Smile 2] lacks its predecessor’s novelty and smarts... In the early going, the film delivers plenty of chills alongside some sly commentary about the music industry, but eventually Finn succumbs to the trite horror tropes the original picture so nimbly avoided.