Anna Faris, Adam Brody, Roscoe Lee Brown, Marion Ross, John Krasinski, Jane Lynch

In her latest film, Anna Faris plays a wacky young woman who, we gather, is �bent� most of the time. In short, she�s a right nutter. To say Ms. Faris is playing against type in �Smiley Face� would be an undeniable fib.

Greg Araki�s � he did all those hardcore 90s teen flicks like �The Doom Generation� and �Nowhere� � film, which is essentially a day-in-the-life-of-a-pot-head, is tailor-made for the talented but not-so-versatile comedienne - who got her start playing the wacky, high-spirited Cindy Campbell in the Scary Movie series. Sure, Faris�s character may be �admitting� to being under the influence in this one, but tell me the lass from �Scary Movie�, �Lost in Translation� and �Just Friends� didn�t come across a little red-eyed and full-from-brownies, at times? I�m guessing that�s who Anna Faris is. Or if not, she�s not fessing up anytime soon.

Faris has wittingly set out to corner the �loopy chick� market and I�m thinking not even Bobcat Goldthwait�s soon-to-be-discovered teenage niece would be able to steal her crown. She�s so good at playing nuts, its, well, nuts.

Faris makes a terrific �nutter� � she�s a blast to watch. She was hilarious in �Just Friends�, is the sole reason for watching all the recent �Scary Movie� sequels and quite rightly stole laughs in whatever scene she appeared in in �Lost in Translation�. In �Smiley Face�, she�s an absolute hoot, too � one of her creaky, crooked smiles or impromptu spaz-attack jumps-for-joy and you�ll be spitting popcorn.

Not to say �Smiley Face� is an absolute rip-snorter, it isn�t, in fact there�s not a lot to it, but Faris is so good in it and so engaging to watch that it plays much better than it should. I�m guessing if you removed Faris from the picture, it�d be about as entertaining as one of the poorer Savage Steve Holland comedies from the 80s � you know, the ones that didn�t feature John Cusack?.

The laughs come from Faris, not the script, which quite frankly, seems almost non-existent. Still, it wouldn�t be the only film to succeed based solely on the performance of its leading actor or actress � would it?

Obviously shot on a shoe-string budget, judging by the film grade, �Smiley Face� fixes on a young woman who begins her day eating her roommate�s (Danny Masterson of �That 70�s Show�) cupcakes � obviously, since we�ve already stated that Faris is playing a druggo in the film, the sweets are full of marijuana. Now, the suddenly-tripping babe has to get enough drugs (Adam Brody of �The OC� is almost unrecognisable as her dealer) to make her �skull-fucking� housemate another plate, pay the power bill before the house goes dark, and ultimately, pay back her dealer before he comes �collecting� (her furniture � namely, her beloved bed).

It�s a pleasure to watch Faris wander slack-jawed through L.A � but, I gotta admit, it was a little funner watching Harold and Kumar take that same journey a couple of years prior.

Rating :
Reviewer : Clint Morris