
Smiley Face (Gregg Araki, 2007)
After accidentally eating an entire batch of cannabis-laced cupcakes, perpetually distracted actress Jane F. sets out to complete a simple to-do list: go to an audition, pay her electric bill, replace the cupcakes, and somehow get through the day without everything falling apart. Naturally, everything falls apart. Anna Faris gives one of her funniest and most fearless performances in Gregg Araki’s sun-baked stoner odyssey, turning one very bad high into a surreal Los Angeles quest involving Marxist theory, Garfield, dental offices, an angry roommate, a very patient John Krasinski, and the slow collapse of every reasonable plan Jane has ever had. Silly, chaotic, oddly sweet, and much smarter than it looks, Smiley Face is a cult comedy built around one simple truth: Anna Faris should have been handed the keys to American comedy.
All the cool cat cinephiles are looking forward to Araki's new Sundance-acclaimed film, I Want Your Sex, which comes out later this summer. Here's a chance to see the one that got away while you're waiting, the best counter cultural cult comedy of the last twenty years that you've never heard of:
(Smiley Face).
Reviews
"Hilarious and endlessly inventive.”
Los Angeles Times
“A stoner comedy with a purpose… Despite its laid-back script, Smiley Face is as prankishly political as Mr. Araki’s Doom Generation, evincing a deep unease with the media-saturated capitalist nation that Jane crawls inside her bong to escape.
The New York Times
“Araki has directed his finest film since 1997's Nowhere, and... Faris, flawless, rocks their inspired idiot odyssey in a virtuoso comedic turn."
The Village Voice
"A wonderful performance by Anna Faris and one of the all-time great stoner monologues in movie history.”
Salon
"A fearless performance, as nuanced as it is silly, and there isn't another young actress that could pull it off. With Smiley Face, Anna Faris has arrived at last."
The Boston Globe
“Finally, a stoner comedy for the girls who get overstimulated at the supermarket.”
The Guardian
Trailer