In November 2007, Smiley Face came and went, earning $200,000 worldwide even though it deserved to make $200 million. Goofy stoner comedies almost always starred men, and then along came Anna Faris’ absurdly committed turn as Jane, a spacey Los Angeles actress who went to school for economics but now spends most of her time ripping bongs. Longtime Gregg Araki admirers knew right away that Smiley Face was special, but in the intervening years, more people have embraced the movie’s heady strain.
Among the crowded pantheon of memorable Faris performances, it might be the best of them. Running a brisk 84 minutes, Smiley Face borrows an age-old narrative obstacle: eating your roommate’s cannabis cupcakes when you were specifically told not to. Jane may be a slacker, but she doesn’t mean to be inconsiderate.
So she sets out to bake another batch, thus launching a cascading saga that involves a drug dealer (Adam Brody in questionable dreadlocks), a no-nonsense casting director (Jane Lynch), a sweet nerd (John Krasinski) who agrees to loan Jane money as soon as his dentist appointment is done, a meat factory where she delivers an unsolicited lecture about labor rights, and a first-edition copy of The Communist Manifesto whose pages go soaring across the Venice Beach Boardwalk. A lot of stoner hits, like Up in Smoke , Friday , Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle , and Pineapple Express, are friendship movies through and through, but Smiley Face is distinct because it’s about a.
