Can a pop star be haunted by spirits? Smile 2 would dramatically say yes with a rictus, but writer/director David Lowery decided to make a movie that is one part chamber play and one part stage show pop art performance art. Anne Hathaway stars as pop diva Mother Mary who seeks out help from her former friend and collaborator Sam (Michaela Cole). After a forced hiatus from a concert accident rumored to be a possible suicide attempt, Mother Mary is looking to start over, and she’s willing to confront her old demons, literally and figuratively. The far majority of the movie is a two-hander in a big barn, Sam’s preferred work space for her fashion designs. The movie plays out like a theatrical psycho-drama, and the terse and understated dialogue has a genuinely engaging David Mamet-esque quality of dropping you in the middle of a relationship and providing the combustible pieces to form your picture of the whole. I was entertained just listening to these former friends circle one another, bare their regrets and resentments, and discuss the pressures of being able to top themselves in an artistic realm without losing a sense of their identity. Then there’s some ghost stuff too, weaved late into the movie with imagery of ominous red fabric that feels straight out of a 1970s Dario Argento movie. I don’t know if the ghost stuff worked for me or felt like a net-benefit to the story of two friends hashing out their grievances. The EDM-heavy pop songs sung by Hathaway were all a bit similar and underwhelming for me too. If you’re looking for a better version of this premise, stick with Smile 2.

Nate’s Grade: C+