Smile: Critic Reviews

MovieWeb: 0 reviews

15%

RottenTomatoes: 13 reviews

Justin Chang Variety (Top Critic)

Well-meaning but dramatically lopsided tearjerker bogs down in generic teen angst and domestic squabbling.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Sheri Linden Hollywood Reporter (Top Critic)

There's little doubt that a nonfiction film would have been more powerful than this strained drama, which offers a Malibu brat as the audience's point of identification.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Kevin Thomas Los Angeles Times (Top Critic)

20

Smile is like a dose of cod liver oil: It may be good for you, but it's no fun.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Peter Debruge Miami Herald

63

Sure, it's mushy, but you can't make a movie called Smile and not be at least a wee bit saccharine about your intentions.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Laura Kelly South Florida Sun-Sentinel

38

However worthy the sentiment, this one won't leave viewers with a smile.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Sean Means Salt Lake Tribune

38

Good cause, bad movie.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Jeff Vice Deseret News, Salt Lake City

38

This drama, which was bankrolled by the people behind the international Operation Smile program, has the best of intentions. But it's so painfully earnest that it becomes insufferable.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Jeffrey Bruner Des Moines Register

40

Feels like a school project that has its heart in the right place if not the skills to produce something with depth and emotional heft.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Rob Thomas Capital Times (Madison, WI)

50

Kramer may have felt that American audiences would have wanted to follow an American heroine, but it's Lin's story that resonates.
Full Review » 7 years ago
E! Online

34

Despite terrific China locales and some capable castmembers (notably Wang), the flick gets bogged down by Jeffrey Kramer's strained scriptwriting and unrestrained direction.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Gene Seymour Newsday

75

This movie's so filled with admirable intentions that they practically spill onto the screen before it starts.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Walter V. Addiego San Francisco Chronicle

50

Overall, it's pretty elementary stuff, along the lines of a Disney Channel TV movie.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Jon Strickland L.A. Weekly

All the shallow, self-absorbed denizens of Malibu seem relieved.
Full Review » 7 years ago