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LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE Send This Review to a Friend
Dysfunctional family members become more functional as they race against time on a van journey from New Mexico to California to get seven-year-old Olive, charmingly played by Abigail Breslin, there in time for a beauty competition. The result is a mix of satirical comedy and emotional coming together, all adding up to a zippy, charming, and entertainingly outrageous trip. Breslin will win you over from the moment she appears, and Alan Arkin as a feisty, cursing grandfather who has been tossed out of an old-age residence for snorting drugs especially brightens the film.
The term offbeat was coined for films like “Little Miss Sunshine,” which set off a bidding war when it was shown at Sundance. Written by Michael Arndt and directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the very human comedy bristles with oddball humor and heart. Olive’s father Richard, played intensely by Greg Kinnear, is a loser who strives to become a winner as a motivational speaker with a nine-point plan about the road to success through positive thinking and determination. He is boring everyone with his sermonizing. Toni Collette excels as Sheryl, his wife who suffers through his-uptight behavior while trying to hold her family together.
Sheryl’s brother Frank, played y Steve Carell, is a Proust scholar who has tried to commit suicide because he has lost his boyfriend to an honored rival Proust scholar whom Frank deems academically inferior. Olivia’s brother Dwayne (Paul Dano) refuses to speak in a vow of silence meant to last until he is able to get into flight school for becoming an air force jet pilot. Dwayne has no use for his family. Grandpa has some profane advice for him: F--- as many girls as he can.
The family is brought together by the need to speed Olive to the competition, and one obstacle after another stands in the way. Meanwhile, Olive is being taught her beauty contest dance moves by Grandpa, and neither we nor the family see the result until the competition.
“Little Miss Sunshine” focuses on real family values, not the ersatz kind that politicians exploit. What’s important here are the lessons learned along the way, including that resourcefulness and determination trump whether Olive wins or loses. It is easy to see why the film grabbed them at Sundance. This is certainly one of the year’s most enjoyable movie-going experiences, thanks to good writing, slick direction and a winsome cast that you’ll have fun watching. A Fox Searchlight Pictures release.
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