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Review #208 of 365
Film: Little Miss Sunshine [R] 102 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $14.25
Where Viewed: Landmark Mayan, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 7 August 2006
Time: 5:30 p.m.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
The hilarious preview for Little Miss Sunshine masks two things about the film. First, beneath the comedic surface lies a wicked, cutting, insightful, modern family drama that would have made, I suspect, Tennessee Williams chuckle and nod. Second, the film is about a journey to Redondo Beach, CA from Albuquerque, NM, only inasmuch as Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness was simply a rescue mission into the Congo.
The film begins with a decidedly glamorized USA tradition of the sit-down family dinner. How many USA families still find it possible to live up to this formerly heralded, all-important, benchmark, cornerstone to USA civilization no recent study has revealed, but those living the life probably know it doesn't seem like many especially once a teenage child becomes involved. Nonetheless, the Hoover family consisting of mom and pop—store-clerk-working Sheryl (Toni Collette) and 9-step-Refuse-to-Lose motivational speaker for paroled convicts Richard (Greg Kinnear)—son and daughter—vow-of-silence-adhering, Air Force Academy-dreaming, 15-year old Dwayne (Paul Dano) and seven-year old Little Miss Sunshine pageant-entrant Olive (Abigail Breslin)—now extended by two to include Sheryl's nationally renowned Proust scholar, recently suicidal, gay brother Frank (Steve Carell) and Richard's recently-kicked-out-of-a-nursing-home, heroine-snorting father referred to only as Grandpa (Alan Arkin), attempts to sit down to a nice bucket-of-chicken dinner. It is in the preparation for this sit-down dinner and in the dinner table discussion itself, that we first witness the chemistry of this family. This is no "Leave it to Beaver" family dinner, rather, I picture it bearing a strong resemblance to what real life is like here for most people today.
"…a wicked, cutting, insightful, modern family drama that would have made…Tennessee Williams chuckle and nod."
Dad is distracted and eagerly awaiting news from a publishing agent who has promised to take his 9 Steps concept national and dramatically change the family's financial resources, mom is just trying to get everyone to balance their chicken and salad intake, Grandpa and Olive are late to the table because Grandpa has choreographed a dance routine for Olive to use in her next beauty pageant talent competition, and Frank and Dwane have just begun to bond as only a suicidal, Proust scholar, college professor, uncle and a Friedrich Nietzsche-inspired, nihilist, non-speaking, teenage boy can. Dinner goes awry quickly for everyone when Olive asks her uncle why he was hospitalized and he, at the urging of his sister, tells the tale of his suicide attempt inspired by the awarding of a Genius Grant to his arch rival professor which caused him to quit his job which he was contemplating anyway after his love for a young grad student went unrequited. Richard did not feel Olive needed all this detail and tried to change the subject several times. Grandpa has his own remarks to add. And, then, during the dinner, via an answering machine message, the family learns that Olive has made it to the regional Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach. This then initiates the plan for the entire bunch to drive in their little, yellow Volkswagon bus from Albuquerque to California. Sheryl cannot drive the bus and no one else is capable of being left home alone. Mishaps along the way which include the stripping of the gears of the bus making it impossible for it to be shifted from 1st to 2nd to 3rd gear add to the 'merriment' of these six individuals trapped in small confines for an 800-mile trek across the desert southwest. [Not to pick on the writer, Michael Arndt, but I was confused by the route they took which should have been straight across I-40 and would never haven taken them within 25 miles of Scottsdale--where Richard's publicist is working to promote the 9 Steps and to where Richard motor scooters in the middle of the night after having a huge fight with Sheryl in the motel about the publicist's failure to deliver promised results.]
"…Academy Award®-nomination worthy performances…will get consideration for Best Picture…"
Co-directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris have won many awards and industry-wide praise for their direction of countless commercials and music videos. This was their first foray into feature films. Given somewhat novice credentials for the length of this production, this medium, and the need to really direct a cast, it makes it all the more impressive of a debut film for them. For Little Miss Sunshine is a spectacular movie on so many levels. The ensemble cast had very well-written characters by Michael Arndt from which to work, and they deliver Academy Award®-nomination worthy performances all. If Toni Collette doesn't get a best-supporting actress nomination for her work here and The Night Listener, something is seriously askew. But, honestly, Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano, Steve Carell, Alan Arkin, and even young Abigail Breslin deserve consideration for supporting-role nominations. They are that good. And the story takes each one on his or her own journey of facing a personal challenge and then having the rug pulled right out from under them. In the long-anticipated finale, the family members must pull together and test their mettle as Olive takes the stage for her sex-pot, Grandpa's choreographed dance routine for the Little Miss Sunshine talent competition. The only weaknesses in this film were that Sheryl's and Frank's characters were not afforded quite as much catharsis or growth as the others.
For many years, I used to worry about the disparity in correlation between Sundance Film Festival buzz on certain films and what I actually observed on screen once the films finally migrated to a theater near me. Often the hype exceeded the film's ability to deliver; or, perhaps, the hype elevated expectations to unreasonably high proportions. In either case, expect to find that Little Miss Sunshine lives up to the billing. It is too early to tell if this is one of the top five films of the year, however, I suspect it will get consideration for Best Picture down the road.
For many years, I used to worry about the disparity in correlation between Sundance Film Festival buzz on certain films and what I actually observed on screen once the films finally migrated to a theater near me. Often the hype exceeded the film's ability to deliver; or, perhaps, the hype elevated expectations to unreasonably high proportions. In either case, expect to find that Little Miss Sunshine lives up to the billing. It is too early to tell if this is one of the top five films of the year, however, I suspect it will get consideration for Best Picture down the road.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
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Projects Featuring: Abigail Breslin • Greg Kinnear • Paul Dano
Alan Arkin • Toni Collette • Steve Carell
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Review-lite [150-word cap]
The hilarious preview for Little Miss Sunshine masks two things about the film. First, beneath the comedic surface lies a wicked, cutting, insightful, modern family drama that would have made Tennessee Williams chuckle and nod. Second, the film is about a journey to Redondo Beach, CA from Albuquerque, NM, only inasmuch as Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness was simply a rescue mission into the Congo. During a bucket-of-chicken, sit-down dinner, we meet the Hoovers: Sheryl (Toni Collette), Richard (Greg Kinnear) their children Dwayne (Paul Dano) and Olive (Abigail Breslin), Sheryl's brother Frank (Steve Carell), and Richard's father (Alan Arkin), we learn via the answering machine that Olive has advanced in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant to Redondo Beach. Subsequently, they load into their yellow Volkswagon bus on an 800-mile family therapy session. First-time, feature film co-directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris have turned Michael Arndt's screenplay into a triumphant movie.
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