Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
bopdog I'm a fan if Sarah Silverman. I do see her boldness, and spirit of "going for it" in this performance. However, I am disappointed to say that the movie doesn't go anywhere, or do anything. There isn't really a "story" in the sense of a narrative, with a beginning, middle, and end - even an artsy, unconventional, or avant-garde beginning, middle, and end.This movie just lays there, static. It's really just a tiny snapshot of a sad and profoundly dysfunctional life, albeit an impactful and striking snapshot. While the dysfunction was portrayed accurately and with some skill, we need more.It's like showing us a photo of a close-up of some water, and saying "Behold - the mighty Mississippi!" One would need to show more to convey riverness. Or, to expand the corny analogy theme further (sorry), it's like a one-note waltz. That might be a GREAT note! But to be a waltz, you need three notes.
Lee Eisenberg The underbelly of the suburban lifestyle is a common theme in cinema. The genre is called suburban Gothic. "American Beauty" is probably the most famous example; others include "The Ice Storm" and "The Oranges" are others. "I Smile Back" takes a different approach to the subject. In a markedly different role from her usual acts, Sarah Silverman plays an upper-middle-class wife whose seemingly perfect existence hides her struggles with mental illness and drug usage.Silverman's unglamorous performance creates a true-to-life despondent character. With this role she shows herself to be a versatile actress. And let me tell you, it's a gritty role. Her character is one of the most self-destructive ever put on screen. Good comes from the other cast , but this is definitely Silverman's movie. When I first learned of her from her comedy acts, I never would've imagined her playing a serious role, but she does a great job at it. I highly recommend the movie.
meeza There is not much to smile back on the depressive drama "I Smile Back", but it did deserve some sort of silver medal due to Sarah Silverman's stunning performance as the melancholic drug-addicted housewife Laney Brooks. She has the suburbia utopia; a ing husband, two wonderful kids, but yet she is overcome with grief, anxiety, and obsession. Director Adam Sailky did an average job in helming the picture, he did miss on the gravitas of the picture, which had little to none. Paige Dylan's screenplay also needed more pages of intrigue qualities. Josh Charles was stellar as the hubby Bruce. But it was Silverman who was golden as the detached Laney. "I Smile Back" is one that wont get too many smiley emojis, but still worth an ahoooooy Silverman shout-out. *** Average
luke-a-mcgowan I Smile Back sits firmly within the territory of "unwatchable" films.Lacking any sense of purpose, I Smile Back lost me about two minutes into the film. Director Adam Salky and editor Tamara Meem have no idea how to construct a film, because I Smile Back has no central story whatsoever. It is just an arrangement of scenes that all involve Sarah Silverman's characters being put through the ringer. It is aided in being the worst film of the year by Paige Dylan and Amy Koppelman's turd of a screenplay, which averages one good line of dialogue per writer. All through this turd's 88 minute run time I was looking at my watch, pleading for the agony to end. Who'd have thought that there was fat in an 88 minute movie, but there are lots of scenes where Laney just walks around on drugs looking vacantly at things.The film only exists to create indie Oscar-bait for comedy actress Silverman. It has every scene that Oscar-baiting tripe has for lead actress pushes. Scene where the female protagonist stares at her naked body in the mirror? Check. Generic anecdotes from father/husband about what that female was like when she was younger? Check. Family drama? Check. Bunch of scenes where she gets nailed by guys (who aren't her husband of course). Check. Drug scene? Check. Near-death experience scene? Check. It only serves to highlight the injustice that big studios get blamed for producing Oscar bait. Small studios can do it too, and frequently do it worse.Each character is lazily written with terrible character decisions. Each "plot point" (to denigrate that phrase in value) es while the writers and director lazily swat at it in some attempt at cohesive story. It makes no effort to delve into her depression, marriage, drug addiction or father issues, instead preferring to show yet another sex scene with some stupid new twist.Silverman's performance is the only reason I watched this film, and she's serviceable. Nothing to keep my attention and certainly nothing deserving of awards attention. Josh Charles works really hard when he's on screen, and manages to elevate Silverman's sleepwalking role. Oona Laurence, who proved herself extremely worthy in Southpaw, is wasted in a tiny part. I Smile Back is ultimately a less effective version of Rachel Getting Married. Silverman can't light a candle to Hathaway, the film lacks any semblance of cohesion and it is excruciatingly boring. In a year where I'll See You In My Dreams, Spy, Carol, Brooklyn and Grandma are proving to be solid and interesting character studies for strong female characters, its disappointing that I Smile Back is such a spectacular waste of time.
