Smile is the movie those parents would've wanted their son to see. It's nowhere near as entertaining, but it means well, and it delivers a positive message: a spoiled Malibu teen learns to put the triviality of her own problems into perspective after an eye-opening school trip to Shanghai. Written and directed by Jeffrey Kramer (who based the story on his own daughter's experiences abroad), Smile feels like one man's answer to movies increasingly overloaded with sex and violence.
Smile avoids being preachy even as it tackles issues like teen abstinence and respecting other cultures, although such wholesome do-goodery feels like it would be right at home on Lifetime or Oxygen, or better yet, in a Sunday school classroom. Imagine The Motorcycle Diaries as a hit WB show. Parents may approve, but few kids are likely to sit through this Hallmark-worthy true story without feeling the need to make a few wisecracks along the way.
The story alternates between Malibu and the poor Chinese village of Jingxi as two girls born on the same day grow up half a world apart. Katie (Mika Boorem of Blue Crush) enjoys a privileged upbringing at the hands of parents Linda Hamilton and Beau Bridges, who indulge her headstrong rebelliousness without any threat of discipline (other familiar faces include ex-hobbit Sean Astin as the high school teacher who convinces Katie to make the trip and Cheri Oteri as the Patch Adams of humanitarian nurses). Meanwhile, Lin (Yi Ding) is born with a severe facial deformity and abandoned by her parents, only to be rescued by a simple worker who devotes himself to giving this unwanted orphan a better life.
While Lin patiently learns English, daydreaming of an operation that would make her face look normal, Katie takes the good life for granted. Her situation is likely to seem frustrating and obvious to audiences, who can find this kind of melodrama every week on The O.C., but it pays off once she discovers Operation Smile, a nonprofit organization that offers cosmetic surgery to needy children worldwide. The movie is about how the organization changes both girls' lives, allowing Lin to finally emerge from behind her Phantom of the Opera-like veil while opening Katie's eyes to something bigger than herself in the process.
Sure, it's mushy, but you can't make a movie called Smile and not be at least a wee bit saccharine about your intentions. At least Kramer is dedicated to his cause, even going as far as donating a share of the film's proceeds to Operation Smile.
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