Susan Hated Literature

Sep 10 2006

Little Miss Sunshine

Published by Fence under Moving Pictures

Dir: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
Writ: Michael Arndt

Abigail Breslin - Olive
Greg Kinnear - Richard
Paul Dano - Dwayne
Alan Arkin - Grandpa
Toni Collette - Sheryl
Steve Carell - Frank

Families are a source of much amusement and not a little tragedy. Especially when your father is a motivational speaker, whose â€œ9 steps to winningâ€? doesnâ€™t seem to be working, your uncle is an attempted suicide, and your brother is a wannabe fighter pilot who has taken a vow of silence and so hasnâ€™t spoken in months. Not to mention a heroin snorting grandfather. Not exactly the most functional of families. But when Olive, a little girl who dreams of winning beauty pageants, gets a chance to compete for the Little Miss Sunshine title, the entire family is forced into helping her achieve her dream.

I donâ€™t want to give away too much about this film. In a way the plot isnâ€™t really important. Instead it is the characters that are important. Their relationships with one another, and their quirks and faults.

I really enjoyed this film, it is funny and moving at the same time. Yes every now and then things get a little too â€œkookyâ€?, but at the same time it all works. The humour is great, one-liners and visual gags. The situations are somewhat forced, but it doesnâ€™t really matter. It all works.

There is also a satirical aspect to the film, but it isnâ€™t particularly cutting satire, it is all good humoured and just plain nice. On the surface it seems as though it going to be a dark comedy, but although there is death, and suicide, and even a hint of paedophilia, but it isnâ€™t dark. Not really. It is too good natured and feel good to be dark in the strictest sense. It takes the middle ground, but it isnâ€™t a middle of the road film.

I enjoyed every moment of Little Miss Sunshine; from the out and out funny moments to the touching, moving moments. Highly recommended.

IMDb | Inside Pulse | jane dark’s sugarhigh

Tags: 8 Stars, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, beauty pagent, comedy, Family, fun, Greg Kinnear, humour, Jonathan Dayton, Little Miss Sunshine, Michael Arndt, moving, Paul Dano, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, touching, Valerie Faris

9 responses so far

Aug 21 2006

Of course… they all have lovely bottoms!

Published by Fence under Irishify, TV

That’s right folks, it’s time to once more avoid all contact with RTE as the Rose of Tralee takes centre stage. And you too can participate by placing your bets now. Roll up, roll up.

Course you’d have to wonder how they set up the odds? I mean does Paddy Power take a look at all the photos of the roses and decide which is the prettiest? Or do betting shops get a sneak peak at the “lovely girls” doing their routines, and so is able to come to some sort of decision based on Irish dancing ability, or their tales of their connections with the auld sod.

Of course the real question is, why am I even blogging about it

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We’ve started the move at work, so I may not be blogging much over the next few days, then again, maybe I’ll be sitting in my office surfing as the movers get busy. We spent today blocking out where we hope the shelves will fit in the new space. Also hoping that our measurements were accurate first time round. I have thought we’d get a chance to double check, but the movers are so quick that most of the shelves are down already. So fingers-crossed every thing will go where we want it to. Still a few bugs to work out, but it doesn’t seem to be half the disaster that was promised.

Means it is a bit less exciting though