Review of Smiley

Smiley (II) (2022)
8/10
Frenetic Opposites-Attract Gay Romcom in a Barcelona Drag Bar
17 December 2022
I think this is the ingratiating gay romcom that "Bros" tried to be, but a Barcelona drag bar seems more conducive than an LGBTQ museum for the accelerated level of character-driven shenanigans that this type of farce demands. It also helps that the love story develops over eight episodes amid at least a half dozen relationships in similar states of confusion and chaos. It starts frenetically, but by the final two episodes, the story felt like it earned its emotional resonance, even though Howard Hawks' classic screwball "Bringing Up Baby" is used as the aspirational romantic model. Carlos Cuevas and Miki Esparbe energetically play the opposites-attract leads, but the whole ensemble delivers the goods with panache.
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