Reviews

Little Miss Sunshine

I have to admit that when I first heard about this film I was curious but not all that excited. I had just recently seen The 40-Year Old Virgin and thoroughly enjoyed Steve Carell in that, but when I heard that his character Frank was a bit of a departure I was a bit standoffish. I mean let's admit it here, most people are there to see him. What I found in this film was a very funny, dark, yet warm little film of a dysfuctional family that ultimately leans to bond in what has to be the worst road trip this side of the Donner Party.

The plot goes like this: Said family attempts to get youngest daughter Olive (a wonderful debut by Abigail Breslin) to the finals of the "Little Miss Sunshine" beauty pagent in California. One point to mention is said trek is done in a VW microbus that has seen better days. Toni Collette play Sheryl, a slightly hippie-fied mom who is warm and supportive of her kids and suicidal brother Frank (Carell), but is slightly out of touch. Frank himself is a piece of work; he is a well know Proust scholar that takes his own life after a series of events stemming from a failed romance with one of his male grad students. Her husband Richard (Greg Kinnear) is a motivational speaker who has invented his own system for success, yet has trouble selling it. (cue the irony) Richard's father, played to perfection by Alan Arkin, is a rough-edged senior who is choreographing Olive's dance routine for her talent part of the pagent. Not to mention he snort heroin in a few scenes of the film. Dwayne (Paul Dano) rounds out the family as the older brother who is a mess unto himself. Dwayne, in hopes to become an Air Force pilot and also has taken to studying Nietzsche, is very committed to his self-inflicted vow of silence; oh and he hates everyone. This family is filled with more quirks and issues of neurosis that you start to wonder if they can even make it there

What I really enjoyed about Michael Arndt's script is that while this family looks to be falling apart at the seams, it is really sticking together and going through life in their own fashion. You can see elements of this in any scene that involves them pushing their brokedown bus and especially the talent show scenes. Though these scenes are very warming and cute, they are not meant to be trite and schmaltzy and thankfully do not come off that way. This family really goes against the grain of what a normal American family unit is, and that is what makes you root for them. Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris do an excellent job in their first feature film of keeping the laughs well paced and the story was kinetic. Though the belly laughs are spaced out a bit, they are hard and do deliver some great quotes.

Though there was not a weak performance in the film I found that two do stand out. Carell's character is so differnet from what he plays. He is biting, sarcastic and depressing, yet manages to be amusing. Beslin's Olive comes off as cute and adorable, yet I didn't feel like that was overplayed and annoying (Dakota Fanning, watch your ass!). I am looking forward to seeing what this talented young lady does next.

Overall, "Sunshine" does run the gamut of emotions, some stronger than others, but will leave you feeling good and perhaps thankful you have a family different than this one or wish yours could be more like them. With the history of this film's success starting at Sundance and then going into wider and wider releases, I do hope that this could become a nice late summer sleeper hit and propell some potential careers.
Score - 8.5
George

Andy

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