Little Miss Sunshine was a Sundance Festival darling this year. With its quirky characters and ironic storytelling, it was a crowd pleaser, fetching a handsome distribution deal in the process. Hopefully the good word of mouth will meet the high expectations and offset the film's obvious flaws.
Olive (Breslin) is a little girl dreaming of becoming Miss America someday. When she wins a spot to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant in California, her family decides to take her on a road trip in their VW microbus. Her father, Richard (Kinnear), is a motivational speaker on the verge of bankruptcy. His wife, Sheryl (Collette), doesn't really get along with him, and her brother Frank (Carell) has attempted suicide after a failed romance with a male graduate student and losing his job. Olive's brother, Dwayne (Dano) is a big follower of Nietzsche and has taken a vow of silence. Her grandfather (Arkin) — Richard's father — is an old hippie with a heroin addiction.
The little road trip takes on some unexpected turns. Richard finds out his business partner Stan (Cranston) has canceled their deal. He gets into a big argument with Sheryl, while Frank is stuck in depression-land. Then something happens to grandpa and jeopardizes the whole trip. Finally, they arrive in Redondo Beach and the family must learn to stick together for Olive's sake.
The cast works extremely well together. As Olive, Breslin (The Princess Diaries 2) is herself a little Miss Sunshine. Her cherubic chubbiness and affecting cheeriness are perfect qualities for the role. Kinnear (Invincible) is interesting as the straight man, the motivation guru who is quite a mess himself. Collette (The Night Listener) is impressively subdued as a character who tries to keep the family together but is not as strong as she seems.
Carell (The 40 Year Old Virgin) is suitably understated as the gay scholar who is clueless about life. Dano (Fast Food Nation) doesn't say much, but his grumpy expressions and broodiness are, nonetheless, hilarious. Arkin (Firewall) probably has the most fun playing the most outrageous character in the film, and he delivers.
Written by first-time scribe Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine is a cross between Napoleon Dynamite and National Lampoon's Vacation. Its quirky characters and funny circumstances strike a chord with the Sundance audiences. However, I think Arndt tries too hard to be peculiar, and in the process, the plot and the characters come off as somehow artificial. The characters hit all the marks on the quirk chart: neurotic mother, self-righteous father, brooding teenager, suicidal gay man, and a junkie grandfather; but sometimes they feel more like caricatures than real people.
Article comments
1 - IgnatiusReilly
Did you even see this movie? Your review makes me doubt it because you certainly didn't pay attention.
This is NOT a cross between Napoleon and Vacation. Napoleon was an absurdist comedy with unrealistic characters. LMS is set in the real world, and while situtaions and humor were surprising, they were certainly realistic and believeable.
The grandfather uses heroin. That doesn't make him a hippie. Also, there's no reason to mention anything happening to the grandfather. That just weak writing on your part.
The business deal wasn't cancelled. Stan couldn't sell it to anyone because no one knew who Richard was, so it failed.
"As Olive, Breslin (The Princess Diaries 2) is herself a little Miss Sunshine"
What does that even mean? And the young lady isn't chubby, which was obvious during the bathing suit competition.
"brother Frank (Carell) has attempted suicide after..."
Nice spoiler. Way to blow the joke. Just write he failed in his suicide attempt. The rest doesn't add anything. Also, why is his character clueless about life. He has some good words of wisdom in a few scenes, especially with Dwayne.
Why isn't the scene of their decision to leave believable? They all had legitimate reasons to go.
Just because you didn't know what to think at the end doesn't mean the film lacked focus.
Your synopsis, I mean, review gets a 0.1 out of 10
2 - Lance
Ignatius, what's your point? Everyone know Steve Carell's character is gay -- it's not a secret so what is the spoiler? The girl looks chubby to me and that's why she's so cute and not like those other beauty queens. They even tell her not to eat ice cream because it will make her fat. And the reviewer didn't say what exactly happened to the grandfather who is a major character. It's like saying "something happens to Indiana Jones and stuff happens" and you're saying someone spoils the movie for you. I would be interested in reading your review if you think your writing is much better. It's okay if you love and understand the movie but not every one has to. Peace.
3 - Meatikins
I'm with you Lance. Not sure what Ig was on about.
Back to the movie. I thought it was a refreshing little movie. Lots of laughs.
My fave character was the teenage boy. I thought he was just suitably miserable to be the teenage bro that is in everyone's life in one form or another.
The little girl is way too gorgeous. Yes, she was a little chubby and that's what is beautiful about this movie. It's the life that's just not so perfect.
I give it a 9 out of 10.
4 - sophie
this movieeee rockssssss!