Little Miss Sunshine
Everyone has seen National Lampoon’s Vacation. A not so functional family travels cross country (several times in several films) in the trusty old station wagon. They endure break downs, grubby motels and brushes with the cops in order to get to whatever destination is in the title. What might sound like a tired plot turns out to be a raccuous, fun ride in Little Miss Sunshine.
A far cry from the Griswolds however, Sunshine’s broken down Hoover brood jumps in a lemon yellow VW bus, some against their will, to rush Olive, the youngest of the clan, to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pagent in California. Despite an amazing amount of charm and energy, Olive (relative newcomer, Abigail Breslin) has no business being in this pageant. Her family just doesn’t have the heart to tell her. Then again, they have their own problems. Daddy (Greg Kinnear) struggles with a money making 9 step program he’s invented, while Mom (Toni Collette) tries just to keep the family together. Grandpa (a hilariously blunt Alan Arkin) lives with them after being kicked out of his retirement community for doing cocaine. Uncle Frank (Steve Carell) joins the group after trying to commit suicide and needs to be put in the care of the closest relative and Olive’s older brother Dwayne (Paul Dano) has taken a vow of silence until he’s allowed to become a pilot.
The only thing with more problems than the family members is their chosen mode of transportation to get little Olive from New Mexico to California. A less than simple road trip with a cracked family whose glue seems to be this out-of-place, cheery little girl. Hilarity does indeed ensue which ends with an unforgettable talent competition. The film as a whole is a little rough around the edges (police escorts for the film crew can be seen in nearly every driving sequence), but the dialogue and character development work to help you forget about any of the continuity and first-time director goof-ups by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, better known for their music videos. Performances from Arkin and Carell steal the show, turning an otherwise formulaic family problems film into a traveling circus of neuroses and tolerance you can’t help but laugh at.
