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iView Author: Krishna Suresh
(Nepal, Singapore)
eMail: icsknights [at] gmail [dot]com

Title: Little Miss Sunshine is lovely

When was the last time I punched air with a fist, when a kid does a semi strip dance? Yes, allow yourself to see me laughing while writing this review. I was quite surprised how this movie actually “surprised” me in the end. Little Miss Sunshine, from a Fox Searchlight studios, is a very fresh take on family drama by director duo Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton. Of course it is also rare to see a very fresh Steve Carell blending soft comedy with subtle acting prowess.

So, here we have a family united to go ahead and take their little princess, Olivia (Abigail Breslin), to a kid’s beauty pageant called the Little Miss Sunshine. But, you do know how the saying goes - Divided we are, United we stand. There is the dad (Greg Kinnear), who is quite convinced that his seminars on being a winner is clap worthy, although its not. There is the mom(Toni Collette), who is busy juggling the fact that her family is uncontrollable. Her brother (Paul Dano), who was just discharged from the hospital after an unsuccessful suicide attempt, because his beloved gay partner just ditched him for a better one. The teen son, who has decided not to open his mouth until and unless he gets to flight school and finally we have his seven year old sister, Olivia, who has just learned that she is chosen to compete in a beauty peagent. Her inspiring point being that she is - fat. Oh, and how can we forget old grandpa (Alan Arkin), who is more pop’ish than his grandson and onto heroin, whenever he could.

So they all travel to California by their personal Wolkswagon Van and little do they know of what awaits them on the trip. The trip goes totally wrong. First of all the van’s clutch is off, so they’ve got to push it each time they have to start it. Second, they just got a vision of being bankrupt. Third, the son just spoke for all the wrong reasons. And finally, “someone” just died. And then the fourth, fifth, 6th and rest of the little problems. Basically this gives the family such a headache that the only way out could be a U-turn. But in spite of everything ditched against them they come out with flying colors, although the audience of pageant seemed totally put-off by little Olivia’s dance in the show. In the end, it mattered that she satisfied the expectations of her family, and not the world’s, and gave them a reason to be happy. The reason being that they are now United.

Faris and Dayton gives you a relatively good silent comedy compared to how amateurish it could have ended up as. He made sure the essence that built up (though lengthy) was not lost half-way. In fact I thought the movie hit bull’s eye mid-way and then stuck to it. It does take time to develop, but the writing keeps the goal of the movie intact. This it does by not going overboard by having only comic scenes. It has a few vital scenes that are quite serious. More like, inspiring seriousness. The best of scenes being that of the children. The son’s breakdown in the middle of the highway and of course Olivia getting her grandpa’s assurance that she is a winner.

Its alarming how understated kid’s like Abigail Breslin’s acting go unnoticed. Her acting is sweeeeet!!! You don’t for once feel that we noticed her weak points. Paul Dano is so silent throughout that he hits you when he voice’s out his problems. His caliber is there for all to see and his filmography is getting stronger by time. Steve Carell is as gay as gay does. His character does not show off a homosexual’s typical characteristics. Instead he is literally a white wearing guy who sleep walks like an angel through the movie. Thankfully, you don’t get to see the commercial histrionics of Steve Carell. And that helps big time. The rest of the cast, , is adequate. They keep the film under strong pillars.

The cinematography. This is my favourite department of filmmaking so I apologize if I indulge too much into it. One thing I noticed, was the skies were looking amazing. I mean it felt like a whole ocean filled with clouds on top of the actors’. Exquizeeeeeee!!! I guess that’s all I’ll indulge myself into it.

I guess every family will able to relate (cliche!!?) to a story like this because everyone learns that good things come out of fights, especially families have. You can never have a perfect family, not evern near perfect. The small gestures you will see are very cute, in a moral way such as, when the bro tells his sister to go hug their crying mom (ofcourse, he does not say it instead, he writes it for her). Thankfully the movie does not end up like a “road trip.” We all fight with our parents and we see them fight too but we never thought how many charming moments came as an aftermath or could have. It all comes down to one thing - Life is a series of comedic errors, and we must be entertained by it.