MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

stormy_daze I watched this because I'm not particularly familiar with David Tennant, and wanted to see him act in more than 3 minutes of Harry Potter before moving on to see him replace Chris Eccelston in Doctor Who.I was really surprised at it, I mean some of it was a bit predictable, but the tale of a good thriller is that even if you know what's coming, you're heart-rate still pumps higher with anticipation.My bruvva (who has an attention span of a 5 year old) stayed to watch all of part 2 with me, so you know it's interesting.Basic premise is that of many a Lifetime movie -- woman comes upon a mysterious seductive man, only to realise he's a bugger, bail out, and then can't shake him off. Only she knows he's dangerous -- everyone else sees her warnings as jealous or bitterness. How Lady Cassandra.DTennant plays the role of the creepy guy who gets away with everything perfectly. Frighteningly well, really. But give him due credit at least for being able to carry the movie.The plot is not that original, but what is original these days. The acting, directing and producing really carry the movie, and I guarantee you by the end of the movie you will dislike Brendan.My only complaint comes at the end of the movie (SPOILERS BEWARE!!) because they sort of pull a Hollywood trick on ye. I much prefer the illusional ending of the main character dying, instead of sneaking her in at the last minute. I sort of think that a cheat.Other than that, two thumbs up, brilliant, highly recommended, will watch again!

Theo Robertson SECRET SMILE is a thriller that was sold to the TV public of having David Tennant as bad guy Brendan Block and to be totally honest I probably wouldn't have watched this if Tennant hadn't been cast as the tenth actor to play the title character in DOCTOR WHO so I was very interested in seeing how he'd play a villain In this type of thriller , much of the performance of the actor playing the villain makes or breaks the production , the whole story rests on one actor so do I think Tennant pulled it off ? Yes just about but not overwhelmingly . Tennant is good looking , though in a slightly effete way but I can see why he has a growing army of female fans falling over themselves to watch whatever he's in . Tennant plays Block just a little too hard edged and nasty a bit too early on . Wouldn't he have been more convincing if he smiled more and used some undoubted charm to woo characters into being on his side ? Sometimes Tennant plays Block a bit too obvious which led this viewer to wonder why characters were unable to see through his manipulation . Mind you Tennant gives a very good performance in comparison to Kate Ashfield who I thought was fairly wooden !!!!! SPOILERS !!!!! But the failings of SECRET SMILE is down to the story . I've never read Sean French's novel so I don't know how it compares to Kate Brooke's adaptation but I'm afraid it's somewhat silly . The first half of the story ( Episode one ) plays out as a lover scorned takes his revenge on the woman who jilted him and manipulates Miranda Cotton's brother into killing himself . Apparently the brother was a manic depressive and manic depressives when stressed stick their fingers in their ears and make wailing noises . I doubt if French or Brooke's are a psychiatrist so perhaps they should have read up on the condition before they committed the character to paper Things get worse in the second half of the story ( Episode two ) but remains highly watchable because of the utterly bizarre plot twists . After courting Miranda's sister Kerry Block then dumps her on their wedding day and marries Miranda's friend Laura instead who then turns up dead in a bath tub . After several more twists and turns that defy comprehension Block rapes Miranda and then murders her and dumps the body and is then given a life sentence for murder and there's a twist at the end which I could see coming a mile away . The end The twist is what SECRET SMILE will be remembered for and I fail to see how it could possibly work in real life . It all rests on Block turning up at Miranda's flat and accepting a glass of wine and the more you think about it the more things fall apart . What you mean you can emigrate to Australia without any references or without any checks being made . Don't the authorities do background checks and wouldn't they realise that the person you're claiming to be got drowned in a bath ? But I guess since he's going to be starring in DOCTOR WHO next year David Tennant had better get used to appearing in drama's with contrived endings . Bad Wolf anyone ?

insufferable_know_it_all Secret Smiles starred David Tennant (Dr Who) as Brendan Block, Kate Ashfield (Shaun of the Dead) as Miranda Cotton and Claire Goose (Waking the Dead) as Kerry Cotton.Miranda and Brendan meet at a party and end up going back to her flat for sex. Their relationship lasts about 10 days until Miranda ends it because she discovers that Brendan has taken her spare keys and has been reading her diary from when she was 18. 3 months later Miranda is having lunch with her sister Kerry who tells her she has a new boyfriend... Brendan. Miranda seems to be OK with this although she thinks that Brendan is odd and she doesn't like him. About 5 weeks after Kerry and Brendan meet they announce their engagement. Miranda is devastated as she doesn't like Brendan. Kerry and Brendan sell their flats but have trouble buying a new one and end up having to stay with Miranda for a while. One evening Brendan comes into Miranda's room when she is in bed and straddles her claiming they used to make love like that. Miranda tries to push him off but the end up rolling over on the bed. Naturally, Kerry walks in and goes berserk and storms out. Brendan slaps her and she comes back, furious with Miranda. During this time Brendan has made friends with Kerry and Miranda's younger brother Troy. Troy is a manic depressive and Brendan manages to convince him that Miranda doesn't love him and then he kills himself by jumping out of Miranda's window. This makes Miranda try sell her flat. At the funeral Brendan meets Laura, Miranda's best mate.The day of Kerry and Brendan's wedding arrives and as Miranda turns up at her parents house she finds out that the wedding has just been called off by Brendan because of Laura. Miranda goes round to see Laura and Brendan tells her that him and Laura got married that morning. About 3 months later Laura rings Miranda and says she wants to talk to her and when she turns up at the meeting place Brendan turns up instead of Laura. Miranda gets worried and goes to Laura's house only to find Laura dead in the bath.Miranda thinks Brendan killed her because she rang Miranda.A few months later Kerry has a new boyfriend as does Brendan, but Miranda feels responsible and worried for Brendan's new girlfriend and goes to see her telling her that Brendan is dangerous and that she should leave him. Brendan finds her in his flat and gets a restricting order out on Miranda. Naomi (Brendan's new girlfriend) calls Miranda and tells her that Brendan has been hurting her and that she needs to come to the flat. It is a trap but Naomi manages to warn Miranda so she doesn't get caught by the police. Naomi leaves Brendan and stays with Kerry but Brendan blames Miranda and goes to her apartment and rapes her. Then when Miranda's moving people turn up the next morning they find her blood in the bathroom and then everyone assumes the worst. Brendan is arrested and when his case finally gets to court he is found guilty and goes to prison. Miranda's parents get plane tickets to Australia from Naomi and when they and Kerry get there the find Miranda... she had faked her death. We then find out what really happened. Miranda drugged Brendan just before he raped her and although he did rape her When he had passed out/fallen asleep Miranda managed to get out from under him but he wakes up and comes after her. He chased her into the bathroom and we assume he has a knife as it looked like he picked one up and we think that he stabs her but what really happens was he didn't pick up a knife and when he got into the bathroom he tried to attack her again but passed out because of the drugs. Miranda drags him back to the living room and takes a syringe of blood, that has already been taken out of her arm, from the fridge and spreads it around the bathroom so to frame Brendan. Brendan wakes up and leaves not thinking anything of the fact that Miranda isn't there. Miranda's movers turn up and find the blood and think the worst when the reality is that Miranda is pretending to Laura, as Brendan gave her Laura's passport and belongings when she died, and is on her way to Australia with Naomi.This may not be everybody's cup of tea but those who like psychological thrillers will love it as will as those who are fans of David Tennant (like me) especially as he was amazing, showing of yet another side of his acting talent and proving he can do just about anything. There is a bit of sex/nudity in it and those who like David are treated to his body at the beginning and his backside at the end when he rapes Miranda. IT IS DEFIANTLY WELL WORTH WATCHING.

Jackson Booth-Millard Goodnight Mister Tom was brilliant, Footsteps in the Snow was a good biography, and this was another good ITV made-for-TV film. Basically Miranda Cotton (Kate Ashfield from Shaun of the Dead) one day meets a complete stranger and they have sex. After about ten days, she wants Brendan Block (Doctor Who's David Tennant) to leave. Then the next thing she knows, he's met and proposed to her sister, Kerry (Claire Goose). Soon after Brendan poisoning her life, Miranda's sister commits suicide when he believes that she doesn't care about him, says Brendan. Now worst of all, Brendan dumps Kerry for another woman, and now Miranda needs to warn her of what he's capable of. Then the unthinkable and horrible happens, he rapes Miranda. That then clinches it and Miranda and Kerry, oh, and the new girl, form a plan to put Brendan behind bars. This is the really good twist, that it looks like Miranda was dead, because of blood in bathroom and Brendan's fingerprints on her keys, but she was actually having a short holiday. Great idea! Anyway, this is a very good drama, the title obviously suggests his character. Very good!