LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
starring: steve carell, greg kinnear, abigail breslin...
director: jonathan dayton and valerie faris
writers: michael arndt
date: 08/22/06
reviewer: Suj
rating: 10/10
So, earlier today I caught the movie, Little Miss Sunshine, and I have to say it's one of the year’s best. Sure, it may be bit early to say such a profound statement, but the film will speak for itself. It’s a film that swirls with endearment to not only its characters, but too with its story as it’s a perfect blend of comedy, emotional family drama, road movie, charm, and an introspective look into the modern unpleasantries of the world, family, and life itself.
The premise of the movie surrounds itself around the Hoover family: the father, Richard, is a motivational speaker on the verge of a book deal that would see his self-innovative 9-step program gain broad appeal. In the process of his self-involvement with this pending book deal, his family is crumbling to the ground as he pretends not to notice. His wife Sheryl wants the family to open a window of dialogue, which is tough considering her teenage son Dwayne has taken a vow of silence. To make matters more stressful, her brother Frank has just moved in after a failed attempt at killing himself. Rounding out the household is Richards’s foul-mouthed father who has acquired a taste in heroin-snorting. The glue that binds this shaggy group of characters is wide-eyed seven-year-old Olive, who has just learned that she has gained a spot within the Little Miss Sunshine Pageant. Now, Olive along with her family must trek to California for said pageant within a dilapidated VM bus, let the family drama ensue. Ultimately, it’s in the family's insecurities and collective loser status that truly binds them together and makes them stronger and able to continue living, a beautiful movie this is.
Steve Carell is dynamite as the suicidal brother Frank; it’s a grandiose of a performance. It’s always great to see someone who is wildly know as a funnyman step onto the stage and show range within their acting talents, and here Carell accentuates his ability to not only make us laugh but to also make us emote. His performance is brooding, tragic, with a touch of light at the end of the tunnel. Greg Kinnear has proven many times that he is solid actor and his performance here is just another testament that.
All the performances are great in this film, Toni Collette is both beautiful and endearing as the mother, while Alan Arkin stole every scene he was in (even when laying in the trunk of the van) as the disgruntle grandfather. Arkin's little spew of advice to Dwayne was comically educing. Speaking of Dwayne, Paul Dano has perhaps the toughest role in this movie as he must act without saying a single word. Dano is able to express so much with a simple shrug or head nod and too convey a broad range of comedy within his silence. The scene where he breaks down after finding out that he is unable to succeed in his life’s ambition is emotionally devastating.
Throughout all of these great performances the one that I would single out as the best is that of young Abigail Breslin. She plays the seven-year-old pageant contestant Olive and is perhaps the most inspirational character in a movie this year. She wants to be beautiful like the pageant girls she sees on TV, she doesn’t want to disappoint her father and be a "loser", but through it all she’s just a seven-year-old girl and in that innocence is where the inspiration comes from. She is just a little kid, experiencing life with wide-eyes and most importantly with her family. Her little exchange of dialogue with her grandpa within a hotel room is heartbreakingly touching and her pageant dance number is one of the funniest moments in the film.
Little Miss Sunshine is founded on its extraordinary script by first time writer Michael Arndt and is executed with precise grandeur by directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. At no time does the film try to induce its audience into force laughs with lame jokes and site gags. It’s the type of film that feels real, that this family can seem to actually exist. And this ability to provoke such realism within the ridicioulious of situations that the family gets into shows the ability of the filmmakers who are actually trying to make something great without reinventing the wheel. Couple all of that with an impressive assembly of thespians conveying equally or even more so impressive performances, along with a spiraling musical score by Devotchka, adds up to one of the best films of this year and in the words of the great Stan Lee, "nuff said!"
director: jonathan dayton and valerie faris
writers: michael arndt
date: 08/22/06
reviewer: Suj
rating: 10/10
So, earlier today I caught the movie, Little Miss Sunshine, and I have to say it's one of the year’s best. Sure, it may be bit early to say such a profound statement, but the film will speak for itself. It’s a film that swirls with endearment to not only its characters, but too with its story as it’s a perfect blend of comedy, emotional family drama, road movie, charm, and an introspective look into the modern unpleasantries of the world, family, and life itself.
The premise of the movie surrounds itself around the Hoover family: the father, Richard, is a motivational speaker on the verge of a book deal that would see his self-innovative 9-step program gain broad appeal. In the process of his self-involvement with this pending book deal, his family is crumbling to the ground as he pretends not to notice. His wife Sheryl wants the family to open a window of dialogue, which is tough considering her teenage son Dwayne has taken a vow of silence. To make matters more stressful, her brother Frank has just moved in after a failed attempt at killing himself. Rounding out the household is Richards’s foul-mouthed father who has acquired a taste in heroin-snorting. The glue that binds this shaggy group of characters is wide-eyed seven-year-old Olive, who has just learned that she has gained a spot within the Little Miss Sunshine Pageant. Now, Olive along with her family must trek to California for said pageant within a dilapidated VM bus, let the family drama ensue. Ultimately, it’s in the family's insecurities and collective loser status that truly binds them together and makes them stronger and able to continue living, a beautiful movie this is.
Steve Carell is dynamite as the suicidal brother Frank; it’s a grandiose of a performance. It’s always great to see someone who is wildly know as a funnyman step onto the stage and show range within their acting talents, and here Carell accentuates his ability to not only make us laugh but to also make us emote. His performance is brooding, tragic, with a touch of light at the end of the tunnel. Greg Kinnear has proven many times that he is solid actor and his performance here is just another testament that.
All the performances are great in this film, Toni Collette is both beautiful and endearing as the mother, while Alan Arkin stole every scene he was in (even when laying in the trunk of the van) as the disgruntle grandfather. Arkin's little spew of advice to Dwayne was comically educing. Speaking of Dwayne, Paul Dano has perhaps the toughest role in this movie as he must act without saying a single word. Dano is able to express so much with a simple shrug or head nod and too convey a broad range of comedy within his silence. The scene where he breaks down after finding out that he is unable to succeed in his life’s ambition is emotionally devastating.
Throughout all of these great performances the one that I would single out as the best is that of young Abigail Breslin. She plays the seven-year-old pageant contestant Olive and is perhaps the most inspirational character in a movie this year. She wants to be beautiful like the pageant girls she sees on TV, she doesn’t want to disappoint her father and be a "loser", but through it all she’s just a seven-year-old girl and in that innocence is where the inspiration comes from. She is just a little kid, experiencing life with wide-eyes and most importantly with her family. Her little exchange of dialogue with her grandpa within a hotel room is heartbreakingly touching and her pageant dance number is one of the funniest moments in the film.
Little Miss Sunshine is founded on its extraordinary script by first time writer Michael Arndt and is executed with precise grandeur by directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. At no time does the film try to induce its audience into force laughs with lame jokes and site gags. It’s the type of film that feels real, that this family can seem to actually exist. And this ability to provoke such realism within the ridicioulious of situations that the family gets into shows the ability of the filmmakers who are actually trying to make something great without reinventing the wheel. Couple all of that with an impressive assembly of thespians conveying equally or even more so impressive performances, along with a spiraling musical score by Devotchka, adds up to one of the best films of this year and in the words of the great Stan Lee, "nuff said!"
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