You make me happy when skies are gray
Finally got around to watching Little Miss Sunshine, and it was just as good as everyone said it was. The film tells the story of the Hoover family - success-obsessed dad Richard (Greg Kinnear), harried mother Sheryl (Toni Collette), wide-eyed (and completely precious) daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin), suicidal Uncle Frank (Steve Carrell, in a BRILLIANT turn), a heroin-snorting grandpa (Alan Arkin), and (finally) iron-pumping older brother Dwayne, who has taken a vow of silence until he gets into the Air Force Academy. Due to a fluke, little Olive is invited to participate in the hotly contested "Little Miss Sunshine" pageant in California. The family loads into their dated VW van to make the several hundred mile trek to get Olive to the competition on time.
While there is certainly enough plot to go around, this is primarily a character piece. We see Richard realize that his preoccupation with being a "winner" is awfully detrimental and none too forgiving. We watch as Frank copes with being dumped by his lover and surpassed by his professional colleagues. We see Dwayne's dream to be a pilot threatened. And through all of the family's losses, we watch them prop each other up and realize that losing isn't really all that bad, as long as you have some good company.
EVERYONE in the cast brought their A-game, but the two standouts for me were Breslin and Carrell. Breslin was absolutely adorable as little Olive, who has no reason to believe she can't win the pageant. And she is so trusting and vulnerable that I was totally hooked. Carrell as the jilted gay academic proves once again that he is a veritable Proteus. The guy has range. His melancholy recovery from depression is something to see - smart, likable, witty, in other words, someone we really want to keep around. As odd as it sounds, Frank is, in many ways, the straight man of the piece. (Ha!)
At any rate, you will love this movie. I did, and I strongly encourage you to check it out.
While there is certainly enough plot to go around, this is primarily a character piece. We see Richard realize that his preoccupation with being a "winner" is awfully detrimental and none too forgiving. We watch as Frank copes with being dumped by his lover and surpassed by his professional colleagues. We see Dwayne's dream to be a pilot threatened. And through all of the family's losses, we watch them prop each other up and realize that losing isn't really all that bad, as long as you have some good company.
EVERYONE in the cast brought their A-game, but the two standouts for me were Breslin and Carrell. Breslin was absolutely adorable as little Olive, who has no reason to believe she can't win the pageant. And she is so trusting and vulnerable that I was totally hooked. Carrell as the jilted gay academic proves once again that he is a veritable Proteus. The guy has range. His melancholy recovery from depression is something to see - smart, likable, witty, in other words, someone we really want to keep around. As odd as it sounds, Frank is, in many ways, the straight man of the piece. (Ha!)
At any rate, you will love this movie. I did, and I strongly encourage you to check it out.
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