I Smile Back
Laney is an attractive, intelligent suburban wife and devoted mother of two adorable children. But she takes the drugs, sleeps with the men and disappears when she wants. Now, with the destruction of her family looming, and temptation everywhere, Laney makes one last desperate attempt at redemption.
13 June 1949, Detroit, Michigan, USA
20 April 1985
24 July 1942, Beckley, West Virginia, USA
7 September 1953, Odessa, Texas, USA
1 July 1976, Bethany, Connecticut, USA
28 September 1968, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
15 September 1971, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
May 30, 2016
'I Smile Back' could very well be just another addiction drama, were it not for the power and force of Silverman's performance, which she plays with such raw openness that she transcends the material.
December 03, 2015
I Smile Back isn't a candy-coated, noble depiction of addiction and the toll it takes on families, but rather a bleak yet honest look at how regular people lose themselves, and how difficult it can be to find the way back.
November 05, 2015
A tough, unbending, sometimes brutally truthful profile of one woman's addiction and the havoc it wreaks on herself and just about everyone who matters to her.
February 24, 2016
At a running time of 85 minutes, we learn too little about Laney and too much about her addiction.
August 22, 2016
I Smile Back might not rewrite the addiction or mental illness melodrama rule book but that doesn't make it less affecting, Silverman's spectacular performance alone making the price of a ticket well worth spending.
December 04, 2015
Silverman delivers a knockout performance - any memories of her scatalogical stand-up act are washed away in an instant. But her intense commitment to the depths of depression belongs in a better, more focused, less derivative film.
December 03, 2015
I Smile Back pummels with nastiness, then moves from one shocking event to the next without a backward glance.
August 15, 2016
Silverman is excellent, but she could use a better script.
December 17, 2015
The sort of reductionism one finds in cautionary videos made for schools, with equally weak logic.
November 05, 2015
Silverman is far and away the best part of "I Smile Back," a strained entry in the Mad Housewife genre.
January 21, 2016
It would be nice if this film offered more hope for Laney, but it isn't that kind of film. It is just a slice of life, and a pretty depressing slice at that, with a disturbing beginning, a dismal end and false hope in the middle.
November 05, 2015
Silverman's performance, while good, is by no means great, and she is not able to transcend what amounts to a little too much sweetness and light in this cinematic "Smile."
