movie minute

A Sunshiny Day: The film Little Miss Sunshine is a shining jewel in a summer of lackluster sequels. Directed by Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton, the husband and wife team more known for directing videos by artists such as Janet Jackson, Smashing Pumpkins, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, have constructed an original film that is easily one of the best of the summer. The story follows 7-year-old Olive Hoover, played by Abigail Breslin (viewers may recognize her from Mel Gibson's alien movie Signs). Olive was runner-up in the Little Miss Sunshine competition held each year in California. Due to the winner being unable to fulfill her duties, Olive has to take the winner's place in the championships. The family then has to travel (in a VW bus) from New Mexico to CA. I guarantee that after seeing this film one will never view beauty pageants the same ever again. The film has a nice cast: Oscar nominee Toni Collette is Sheryl Hoover, the matriarch who at the beginning of the film fetches her jilted, suicidal, gay-Proust scholar brother, Frank (the remarkable Steve Carell), from the hospital. The rest of the family is as follows: Oscar nom Alan Arkin, the coke-snorting, routine-teaching Grandpa; Oscar nom Greg Kinnear as dad Richard, the struggling motivational speaker; and Paul Dano (a refreshing relative newcomer) as Olive's brother, the mute and brooding Dwayne. As the family travels from N.M. to Ca, we really discover who they are and they realize that their relationships with each other are changing in ways they never expected. There are some funny moments as well as some quite unexpected ones. The family is determined to get Olive to the pageant on time. Several times I thought one thing was going to happen and it didn't. I really appreciate a movie that is nicely structured and written and directed that surprises me. During the filming of this movie, the film The 40-Year-Old Virgin was released and between that and The Office he practically became a household name. In this film he gives a terrifically nuanced and subdued performance. It was exciting to see him in a role where he is not threatening to go into Robin Williams territory; but he's always funnier. Dano as Dwayne is a breakout and a revelation; he's also set to be the voice of Alexander in the film version of Where The Wild Things Are. Sunshine is a feel good movie even though the characters spend much of the film being downtrodden and dour. Olive herself is the ray of sunshine in the family; she's the one that connects everyone. There was one plot point that didn't fit and seemed unbelievable but no movie is perfect. The handling of the film's main theme, what is a winner and what is a loser, is sharp and clever. Sunshine is little in more ways than just its title; I don't expect the big theatre chains to show the movie but it would be a shame to Miss it.

4 bags of popcorn (out of 5).

peace,

paul