The short film Yer Smackin’, written and directed by John Field Brown, opens on a young Walter’s (Jack Benson) twelfth birthday. His day is spent with his whiny, overbearing younger sister, Missy (Miriam Spumpkin). As kids do, the birthday party is nothing but bickering and teasing, driving their parents nuts. It all comes to a head when Walter accidentally breaks Missy’s favorite teacup. His sloppy repair job becomes a weak attempt to make things right.
When cake is served, Missy smacks her lips joyfully, while Walter looks on in disgust, teasing her about how annoying she is. The petty fighting won’t end. Missy jokes that Walter will grow old and fat, while he says her teeth will fall out someday.
“The birthday party devolves into bickering and teasing, driving their parents nuts.”
The story then jumps decades ahead to Walter’s (Stanley L. Moore) seventy-fourth birthday cake with Missy (Polly Reavis), leaving us to wonder how much—or how little—has changed between the two.
As they say, you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family. Yer Smackin’ shows that even though your sibling may never have become your friend under different circumstances, they are all you’ve got.
The performances carry much of the charm. Jack Benson and Miriam Spumpkin perfectly capture the formation of sibling rivalry, while Stanley L. Moore and Polly Reavis bring it home with a tender charm and bickering as older versions. Yer Smackin’ goes for maximum sweetness and sentimentality in his story of family.
"…You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family."
