Reviewed: 12.28.2006
The Hoover family from Albequerque, New Mexico might be the family next door. Or not. Dad, Richard, (Greg Kinnear) is a wanna-be movitational speaker who spouts lectures on winners and losers. Mom, Sheryl (Toni Collette), is a chain-smoking housewife, who like any woman, wants only the best for her marriage and family. Uncle Frank (Steve Carrell), we are reminded, is the pre-eminent Proust scholar who recently tried to commit suicide following an unsuccessful romance with a male graduate studen. Grandpa Edwin (Alan Arkin) came to stay after he was kicked out of the retirement home because of his heroine addiction. Brother Dwayne (Paul Dano) is a fanatical follower of Frederich Nietzsche and has taken a vow of silence until he completes his life goal of joining the air force and flying. Then there's young Olive (Abigail Breslin) who dreams of competing in beauty pagents.
Despite his drug habit, Grandpa enthusiastically coaches Olive in her contest talent dance routine. One day, Olive gets the call. She's finally getting her chance if she can make it to the Little Miss Sunshine contest in California. The one thing that might prevent her dreams coming true is her own families quirks and neuroses. The family road trip that ensues in a barely functional VW bus is sad, tragic, painful and fuzzy warm.
Little Miss Sunshine has been the Napoleon Dynamite darling of 2006 and after viewing, I can see why. I almost didn't see bother with this one because of the hype surrounding it.
Really, the characters are unoriginal, overdone cliches, but thanks to its charming cast of lovable f^ck-ups, you'd be hard pressed not to find Little Miss Sunshine relatible on some level. The whole cast shines, but it's little Abigail Breslin that draws you in. Despite her age, Breslin imbibes Olive with an innocent maturity well beyond her years. The film hangs on her every moment of sadness, joy, confusion and determination. Olive is the only 'normal' one of the bunch and let's use that term loosely. This odd looking creature with her even odder family rallied in support of her goal and loaded into the VW bus is hysterical. Carell is his first semi-serious role as Frank finds another shade of deep despair. Dano, as Olive's older brother manages to speak volumes with little more than facial expressions and shoulder shrugs. Arkin as the cantankerous grandfather could have played this role in the dark. And although I've never been a fan of Kinnear, even he manages to fill his role as judgemental father failure spot on. Holding it all together is Toni Collette, the frustrated 'Every Mom'.
This is a brilliant character driven film. Most of the film takes place in the VW bus or along the roadside and not one single frame is a waste of time. Throughout the film, each character has, what I affectionately deem, their 'light-bulb' moment and each of those moments are dramatically different and at times, odd. Little Miss Sunshine contains simple themes of love, death, and ultimate acceptance but without all the preachy insincerity.
Little Miss isn't all sunshine with a few plot issues and continuity goofs, but the intriguing personalities more than cover for them. The bits of subtle physical comedy found along the way are side-achingly funny, in a most unusal way; dialogue is witty, but honest and every day. The simple score adds further quirky enhancement to the road trip. The stops along the way provide incredible moments of dry humor, from the gas station to the highway patrol, but it's the climax of the film when Olive performs at the pageant that shows us, albeit rather uncomforably weirdly, what family should be all about.
Little Miss Sunshine is a beautiful message is an unlikely package. It's a fresh creative film that shouldn't be missed. It proves that life isn't about the destination, but rather the journey along the way.
