To See or Not To See: Little Miss Sunshine

Unanimously, Positively Affirmative

by Jan Stetter
QCFMag.com

Little Miss Sunshine is a Sundance Film festival winner and a movie not to be missed. Little Miss Sunshine refers to a beauty pageant for little girls in California. It does not refer to the youngest member of the Hoover family whose only ambition in her life of seven years is to win a crown from a beauty contest.

An outstanding cast of Hollywood talent came together to become this human, dysfunctional Hoover family. Greg Kinear heads this family as a struggling motivational speaker devoted to preparing people to be winners. In reality he hasn’t removed his own blinders in seeing that being judged a loser by someone else doesn’t really matter if you believe in your own convictions.

Toni Collette is the mother in this family who epitomizes the harried, worried, overloaded parent. She works full time to pay the bills, puts fast food on the table, cheers the hopes of her children, protects her fragile brother and tolerates her father-in-law. All in the name of loving her family.

Added to this mix of middle class existence is Alan Arkin. No one better could play the brash, cantankerous father-in-law. Arkin’s character has a sweet, unabashed adoration for his youngest grandchild, Olive, played by the irresistible, Abigail Breslin. Steve Carell as the uncle who has just been jilted by his lover, and Paul Dano as the teen idealist who chooses to remain silent to discipline himself for future rigorous training as an airplane pilot-- round out this cast of characters.

What makes this movie so engaging is that it reflects the true ironies of life: Attrition, reconciliation, anger, loyalty, courage and unbridled acceptance that this is the way of life. Inconsistencies, failed hopes, dashed dreams, surprising recoveries, ingenious game plans, and furtive commitment to meeting life’s challenges. It is the coming together as a family revealing each others’ ugly shortcomings and standing by each other in spite of them.

What makes this movie so hard to resist is the script written by Michael Arndt. It lacks the usual boring family repartee we’ve come accustomed to in movies like RV and Click. Its brutal honesty makes for moments of dark comedy and endearing tenderness. Topping that, this film was directed by wife -and -husband directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton. Their background had been in directing music videos. This was their first feature film. We can only hope they continue in this direction.

If you have ever gone on a forced family road trip in a dilapidated van – for over forty-eight hours, you’ll relate to this film. If not, see if you can relate to one of the many hysterically funny scenes in this movie; like making a fool of yourself dancing as a wannabe Chippendale’s dancer on a stage all in the name of becoming a winner on your own terms.

Enough cannot be said about the movie, Little Miss Sunshine is a breath of fresh air and a glimpse of the touching moments faced by a family who proves they know the value of standing out of synch and standing up for each other.

Having trouble making decisions about whether a movie is worth it? "To See or Not To See" reviews movies each week on Monday. Contact jans@queencityforum.com