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Reviews
Sam & Cat (2013)
iCarly II: The Sitcom That Would Not Die
So it turns out there's a sizable base of fans who couldn't bear to see iCarly or Victorious go away; hence the televised train wreck that is Sam & Cat. This show reeks of laziness--just one cookie-cutter plot or joke after another, mostly ripped from Dan Schneider's earlier shows. Kids may cackle at getting his "in-jokes," but adults will wonder who's even meant to be impressed by turning Silence of the Lambs into a slapstick. Childlike physical humor is crossed with bosom jokes and 50-year-old pop culture references, leaving a mangled mess that's ideal for nobody. Spencer is replaced with Goomer, a deranged man-child whose acting varies from creepy to imbecilic. Freddie is now Dice, a graduate of the Josh Peck School of Acting who shouts every line at maximum volume with no regard for what tone was intended. The only jokes delivered to this verbal punching bag are about his hair, yet somehow he's filler for half of each episode. The remainder is covered by Sam and Cat, each eerily old with the latter shrilling like a Bee Gee on every line and the former delivering her one-note sarcasm ad nauseum. The laugh track roars profusely enough to wake somebody from a coma, and somehow the psychopaths the titular characters babysit are even more irksome than the stars themselves. This show began with one of its actors falling into a garbage truck; frankly, it should've stayed there.
Smiley Face (2007)
Depressingly sobering for a pot film
Despite its comic intentions, Smiley Face turned out to be one of the least funny titles in a genre that has produced several winners. Anna Faris in the lead role is nearly comatose, self-destructive to the point where it's hard to laugh casually at her situation. She functions as a lost child throughout the entire film, barely speaking in complete sentences as her world collapses around her.
The movie strives for zany unpredictability by featuring one mishap after another; unfortunately, the consistently bad outcomes make the plot anything but surprising. The supporting cast is frequently as dull as the main character is demented, and the majority of the jokes fall flat. Those that don't are often written out on the screen, repeated several times, or uttered slowly in case the viewer might be high as well.
Smiley Face takes Hollywood's chic stoner anti-hero to a new low, moving at the pace of a tricycle and leaving plot holes that range from intentional to confusing to downright bizarre. Where Cheech Marin, Dave Chappelle, and John Cho had intelligent witticisms to contribute, Anna Faris displays an eternally glazed look on her face that the viewer will most likely share.