---
title: "*smiles and kisses you* (2024) review"
description: "This movie thinks an AI girlfriend is an inspirational solution. Bro."
url: https://www.joekarlsson.com/reviews/smiles-and-kisses-you/
---

# \*smiles and kisses you\* (2024)

Jun 7, 2026 | Rated 0.5 out of 5 | Dir. Bryan Carberry

This movie thinks an AI girlfriend is an inspirational solution. Bro.

Smiles and Kisses is deeply irresponsible - a film absolutely not meeting the moment. Somehow it tries to tell a Lars and the Real Girl style inspirational story about how an AI girlfriend can actually make your life better. This is told from the perspective of a man dealing with the trauma of his murdered ex-girlfriend by… getting an AI girlfriend. And the movie wants us to think this is normal, chill, fine, something people just need to deal with and accept. Bro.

The ethical issues here are staggering. This woman’s murder is used as a plot point and it’s hardly acknowledged or touched on at all. How is this man processing her death? Why is it okay that he named his AI girlfriend after his murdered ex? The movie doesn’t interrogate any of this. It just asks us to find it sweet.

Inadvertently, this is a movie about an incel dealing with his feelings in the most unhealthy way possible, framed as an inspirational story. I don’t know who the director thinks this movie is for. It’s an irresponsible, unethical mess.

Also on [Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/joekarlsson/film/smiles-and-kisses-you/)

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