Being a millennial comes with its own barrage of setbacks. You belong to a generation that neither understands the old-school, traditional way of earning a livelihood, nor do you actually want to step into the world of social media, exposing yourself in all your imperfections. This doesn’t just put you in a fine line of being pressure-cooked with stress for a force unknown, but also leaves you feeling that you are too late to everything, and that failure is the only inevitable outcome.
Chloe Lenihan’s “Smile…The Worst is Yet to Come,” which follows the midlife crisis of a perfectly imperfect LA-based couple, Birdie (Elizabeth Masucci) and Ben (Joseph Mancuso), conjures up these relatable anxieties of being in your 40s and finally realizing that life is slowly slipping away from you. You have the steering wheel in your hand, but zero idea of how to navigate it. Lenihan’s film, which premiered at the Dance With Films Festival, is instantly relatable – especially for someone like me who is pushing towards his 40s. Some of the aspects and harsh truths in here hit too close to home.
Ben, who is a ripped gym rat, has been staying away from social media for so long that he has turned that into a personality. You know those pseudo-intellectuals who like to think they are better than everyone else just because they choose not to be chronologically online, but will always shove that idea into your face? Well, Ben is exactly that. Birdie, on the other hand, is less flawed of the two, even though her entire personality is slowly turning into the people who want their art to be out there but are so involved with everyone else’s social life that they can’t seem to understand what would be their own.
On top of these flawed personalities are their struggles with just about existing. Their financial stability is affected because of their failed IVF attempts and Ben’s cocktail bar getting shut down due to his refusal to promote in the traditional ways. With the last failed attempt to get pregnant, Birdie freaks out. Ben, who is shaken from within because of his dreams getting crushed, is unable to look beyond himself, and since he realizes that the recent developments in putting a dent in his relationship with Birdie, he takes up his dad’s advice and takes Birdie up to their cabin in Big Bear – assuming that the change would slowly fix things up between them.
But, instead of fixing things, the vacation opens up a world of truths that the two have been hiding from each other. “Smile…The Worst is Yet to Come,” with the introduction of its Gen-Z reps in January (Krystina Albado) and Derek (Ethan Jones Romero), offers the viewers and the main characters a way to introspect. Although the influencers feel like the lamest people you would find in a movie about midlife crisis, the eventual progression of the narrative helps you draw parallels between the life of the young with the one’s who are slightly older – opening a window into the way we restrict our personalities and our respective freedoms, just because their is an unsaid weight that wants you to grow up.
Debutant director Chloe Lenihan goes for a wonky tone for her film – it’s a mix of over-the-top tragic-comedy with an existential yarn that isn’t always balanced by the performances from the actors playing these characters. For instance, Joseph Mancuso’s stoic performance should make Ben feel relatable, but his trysts are often disguised under the guise of an inefficiency to convey the exact same emotions that should go into the role. I mean, I can clearly see Ben as someone I should relate to, but Mancuso’s performance does not help you relate to him beyond the obvious, surface-level basic stuff. Elizabeth Masucci does slightly better – maybe because her conflicts and resolve feel quietly earned, but then it is because Lenihan’s writing makes the struggle feel real and not what her actors are able to portray.
That said, “Smile…The Worst is Yet to Come” is well worth a watch because it is a relatable look at confronting the truths that come with the millennial crisis. The elements the filmmaker uses to represent the struggle and address the conflict that often put you in a cyclic turmoil that is hard to understand should be commended.
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