qtjinla15
Since: Dec, 2010
02/27/2014 00:00:00
What I really hated was how bad and stilted the dialogue was. The needless overuse of memes and just how unrealistic the characters were killed what could have been a good movie.
qtjinla15
Since: Dec, 2010
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An Epic Win for Anonymous Lulz Pedobear Chan
Smiley is a sad film to watch. It's really, really bad. It's impossible to take seriously. It's not scary at all. And to top it off, the makers of the movie put a few You Tubers in the movie in a desperate attempt at making it relevant. There are random references to internet culture ("A win for Anonymous;" "Pedobear;" "FOR THE LULZ!"), and they're absolutely pathetic. It's like watching a "newfag" 4chan thread (or a Know Your Meme comment section), filtered through a haze of mediocrity and failure. The characters spout memes left and right, completely out of context. Saying the dialogue sounds unnatural would be like saying the ocean is a bit damp.
It's impossible to care about the characters. Smiley falls into the modern horror trap of having completely uninteresting characters who act like jackasses with no redeeming qualities, and yet we are expected to care about the characters. Why? Because a few YouTube "celebrities" are in it? I've never seen a Tobuscus video and I didn't even know who Shane Dawson was until I read a review of this movie. Sure, those guys might have fans who see the movies and care about them, but those fans don't actually care about the characters — they care about the actors. The lead protagonist is dull and forgettable. At no point is she given any personality beyond "I'm really scared oh god please help me." When she dies at the end, I struggled to care.
I already mentioned the dialogue, so I'll make a quick note about the acting: it's awful. Completely awful. Keith David is the only decent actor in the film, and he's only in it for a few minutes. The You Tubers (I really hate that word) are a really pointless addition to the cast. Being a comedic actor on YouTube (which I guess Shane and Tobuscus are) doesn't really translate well to the big screen — the genre is different, the style is different, and you're playing to a different script. They weren't especially bad or anything, but they weren't good, either.
Tl;dr: "Michael Gallagher, why did you make this failure of a movie?"
"I did it for the lulz. I did it for the lulz. I did it for the lulz."