All of this is revealed over a pointedly uncomfortable dinner conversation that also, as it happens, constitutes the audience's introduction to son Dwayne (Paul Dano), Nietzsche devotee and brooding would-be fighter pilot, and Grandpa (Alan Arkin), sage curmudgeon and doting supporter of Abigail's outsized ambitions.
As commanders of this motley crew, parents Kinnear and Collette must rally the group's spirits as delays and tensions, from an unaccommodating grief counselor to an unconscionably awkward run-in with the former object of Frank's affections, mount. Their mode of transport, a failing VW bus whose quirks make it a character in itself, hardly makes things easier — though there's certainly a peculiar kind of intimacy that comes from having to team up to push the vehicle up to launch speed (the clutch malfunctions partway through the trip).
The raucous finale at the sordidly exhibitionist Little Miss Sunshine pageant reeks of unfounded optimism, but its cathartic emotional intensity is oddly satisfying. We want to believe that everything will work out well, that the characters' mundane existences will now be charged with a vigorous embrace of life's whimsy and unpredictability and of the simple pleasures of time spent in the company of family. It may not be reasonable, but it's easy not to care.
Article comments
1 - IgnatiusReilly
Why on earth would you reveal a plot point like that in the first sentence? Ever hear of a spoiler warning? I stopped immediately and skipped right to the comments because I had no further interest in what you had to say. I wish I could flag this and warn people who haven't seen the film.
2 - jessica
i love your movie little miss sunshine. it is so funny. and it was really funny when olive was a striper at the end of the movie. i can't beliveive that your grandfather tought olive to be a striper. and it was really weird when the son was going to crazy when he found out that he was coloured blind. and i was weird when he did not talk half of the movie and the other half he start talking. and my favorite person in the movie little miss sunshine is olive. i finds she i so cut.
3 - SAM
your movie is so weird and i hate it.
4 - Mary-Beth
I loved the movie it had that warm fun feeling and it made you even want to cry.