Saturday, February 20, 2010

218. Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Director: Jonathan Dayton & Valarie Faris

Starring: Greg Kinnear
Steve Carrell
Toni Collette
Paul Dano
Abigail Breslin
Alan Arkin

IMDb Rating: 8
My Rating: 8.5

"Losers are people who are so afraid of not winning, that they don't even try."


Olive Hoover (Abigail Breslin) has just won a spot in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant, after her competitor at a regional competition was disqualified "do to diet pills or something." After much debating between her parents Richard and Sheryl Hoover (Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette), it is decided that they cannot afford to fly and must drive from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Redondo Beach, California. Sheryl's brother Frank Ginsberg (Steve Carrell) has just been released from the hospital after a failed attempt at suicide, due to a recent firing and lost love. Frank can not be left alone, so he must come as well. Also coming along, are Olive's brother Dwayne (Paul Dano), who has taken a vow of silence until he achieves his dream of being a pilot, and her coach and grandfather Edwin Hoover (Alan Arkin), who has the mouth of a sailor and has recently started using drugs because at his age, "you are crazy not to." The often dysfunctional family has a long road ahead, filled with hilarious trials and heart-breaking tribulations.

What makes Little Miss Sunshine such a success is it's eccentric cast of characters. Abigail Breslin will forever be remembered for her role as Olive Hoover, in which she did receive an Academy Award nomination. She is the voice of comfort and the window of joy for everyone around her. Olive is basically the glue that held her whole crazy family together. As her coach and grandfather, Alan Arkin easily steals every scene that he is in. His often hilarious commentary might be crude, but it's his moments of sincerity for his family that complete the man. The performance that sticks out for me the most though was that of Paul Dano. He doesn't say a word until about the hour and fifteen minute mark of the film. Although, when he finally speaks, this supposed unemotional and jaded character turns out to be just as insecure and scared as we all were at seventeen. The performances by Steve Carrell, Greg Kinnear, and Toni Collette were also very good, but it was Breslin, Arkin, and Dano that embodied this film for me.

Little Miss Sunshine is one of my favorite films about family. When I was growing up, we were much more like the Hoover's than the *Cleaver's. So I found this film hitting rather close to home. This isn't a film with amazing visuals and epic sized score. It's simply about the up's and down's of the family dynamic. Whether family to you is your friends or your actual blood relatives, some days will be great, and some will be bad. At the end of the day though, these are the people who will back you up no matter what. This film shows that if you are privileged enough to have this, there are not many things in this world that you cannot accomplish.

*For all of you youngsters out there, The Cleaver's were the family on 1950's television sitcom 'Leave It to Beaver'.

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