“Smosh: The Movie” Movie Review

    I have to admit that despite my love of movies, I spend a great deal of time browsing YouTube.  Anyone who has spent anytime on YouTube has probably stumbled upon a Smosh video in some form or another.  Smosh was and still remains one of the largest channels on the platform and has helped the two creators of the channels branch out.

    It is impossible to address “Smosh: The Movie” without discussing their YouTube channel.  I have to admit that I very much enjoyed their videos from time to time.  Yes, their videos were filled with potty humor but creators Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla’s chemistry made for some organic humor.  I also liked watching their ‘Game Bang’ videos.  I stopped watching their channel after co-founder Anthony Padilla left the channel.  It just didn’t feel the same.

    So, it was nice to revisit their previous work in the form of “Smosh: The Movie”.  There isn’t much of a premise to the movie.  Padilla is embarrassed by a video uploaded to YouTube on the eve of his and Hecox’s High School reunion and the two go on a quest to have the video taken down from YouTube.  To do so, they have to travel inside of YouTube.  So, yeah, it is silly and slightly meta.  It is also low budget and an excuse to include cameos from other popular YouTubers such as Jenna Marbles and Markiplier.

    Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t really work.  The humor never quite lands and the performances from the cast have room for improvement.  Still, Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox have a natural charisma that is hard to deny.  The film was directed by the very talented Alex Winter who does the best with the script and budget he had to work with.  I met Winter at the Motor City Comic Con and he was one of the nicest celebrities I have met so I try to see as much of his work as possible.

    While I think “Smosh: The Movie” missed it’s mark for the most part, it was nice to see Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox together.  With any luck, those two will work together again sometime on another project that pans out a little better than this movie.

Grade: D