Little
Miss Sunshine (Theatrical Film
Review)
Stars: Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Alan Arkin
Directors: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Critic's rating: 8 out of 10
Review by Chuck O'Leary
Dad Richard (Greg Kinnear) is a struggling motivational
speaker constantly spouting self-help clichés; the teenage Dwayne (Paul
Dano) is going through a Nietzsche stage where he refuses to speak a word
until he's accepted into the Air Force; Grandpa (Alan Arkin) is a
sex-obsessed cokehead; Uncle Frank (Steve Carell) is a homosexual scholar
who recently attempted suicide; and, more often than not, Mom (Toni
Collette) is just a supportive bystander. These people make
up 7-year-old Olive's highly dysfunctional, but all-too-human family
in Little Miss Sunshine, a quirky little
movie that really grows on you. It's the pleasant surprise of the
summer thus far.
The film begins with young Olive (Abigail Breslin) finding out at
the last minute that's she's eligible to compete the Little Miss Sunshine
Pageant, one of those grotesque beauty pageants for little girls. The
pageant is being held in Southern California, but despite having
limited time to get there, the entire family hops into their old VW van and
drives from their home somewhere in the American Southwest in a race against
time to make the pageant. Many obstacles will be faced along the way,
including a malfunctioning van that won't start without a strong push and
an untimely death.
Little Miss Sunshine brings to mind one of those National Lampoon's Vacation movies,
except this time the family is much more realistic and the tone much
darker. Some people have commented on how hilarious the
film is, but I found that the underlying sadness of the
characters muted most of the laughs. Nevertheless, it's a
refreshingly honest movie made by people who seem to know a lot about life, and
all the disappointments, uncomfortable moments and ridiculous little
"rules" that come with it.
First-time screenwriter Michael Arndt and the
directing duo of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (making an
auspicious feature-film debut after working for years
on commercials, music videos and documentaries) have come up with
a liberating little ode to dysfunctional family unity and nonconformity
that may occasionally make you cringe, but will ultimately touch
your heart. I highly recommend Little Miss Sunshine to anyone craving to see a
good, off-beat movie about real people.
