A SMILE LIKE YOURS

A SMILE LIKE YOURS has the outline of a romantic comedy, but the source review finds little charm, substance, or entertainment in the finished film. Its married couple wants a child, yet the story turns that desire into a parade of sexual situations, fertility procedures, misunderstandings, and confused messages about parenthood.

There are some moral elements. The marriage includes warm affection, and the ending makes a good point about marital commitment. But those strengths are buried beneath shallow characters, an incredible plot, and content that explores more approaches to conception than children need or want to know.

The practical answer is simple: skip it, especially for family viewing; adults looking for a thoughtful treatment of marriage and parenthood should choose something else.

Jennifer Robertson is determined to become pregnant. She and her husband, Danny, try repeatedly to conceive, while Danny grows less certain that they should add a baby to their happy marriage.

When doctors discover that Danny’s fertility may be the problem, the couple turns to a fertility clinic. Complications arise when each begins to suspect the other of having an affair, putting their marriage under pressure as they pursue parenthood.

Two stars means the film has a few appealing elements but does not come together successfully. A SMILE LIKE YOURS offers dazzling sunsets, a lush musical score, coy smiles, and warm physical affection. It also ends with a good point about marital commitment.

The larger problems are serious. The plot is contrived, the characters are shallow, and the message is unclear. The film moves beyond romance into what the source calls “conjugal comedy,” but its treatment of conception is alternately too playful and too humiliating. Overall, it lacks the charm, substance, and entertainment needed to merit much attention.

The film centers marriage and the desire to have a child, and it ends by affirming marital commitment. Those elements can align with a biblical view of marriage as a serious covenant rather than a disposable arrangement.

But the movie’s message about parenthood is unclear. It can make conception seem like the most fun and inconsequential way to spend an afternoon, or like a humiliating procedure. Jennifer takes her desire for a baby to an unhealthy extreme, while the story pushes the imbalanced idea that having babies is the most important thing a married couple can do.

The review also emphasizes that each child conceived is a creation of a holy and all-wise God, and that God alone determines if and when a new soul is conceived. The film’s focus on human effort and competing approaches to conception does not clearly preserve that understanding. Scripture says, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13).

A SMILE LIKE YOURS has affection and a few moral elements, but its shallow characters, contrived plot, sexual content, and unclear message make it a poor choice. For a more worthwhile family movie night, begin with.