Little Miss Sunshine Review

Little Miss Sunshine


Rating: A

It’s interesting to see what happens when music video directors move over to the feature film sector. Their tendencies almost always lean towards surrealism. I like to call it the “Charlie Kaufman condition.” His scripts are brilliant and the photography in his films is mind-bendingly seductive. You can thank his friends, directors Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze for their psychedelic spectacles. Their music video résumés give them an altered sense of what looks good on film, and the outcomes are an unexpected glimpse into the mind of the characters. I have a soft spot for their work, but I’ve been waiting for something that is equally startling yet embraces honesty and unmitigated realism.

Well, it’s here, kids. Married co-directors, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, bring us Little Miss Sunshine. It’s their first film, but their catalog of music videos (including the award winning Tonight, Tonight by The Smashing Pumpkins) prove to be all that was necessary to produce a film that’s unforgettable. Little Miss Sunshine is their triumphant launch pad into what I hope will be a long and intimate relationship with the film industry. They were lucky enough to team up with screenwriter, Michael Arndt for their first movie. This is also Arndt’s first time up, but his script screams out something different. Little Miss Sunshine reads as if it’s the apex of his career. I don’t mean to say this is a Godfather or a Citizen Kane. It’s too delicate and the subject matter isn’t lavish enough. But it’s so successful because of the script’s flair for balance. Some of its scenes are emotionally heavy, but it never gets sappy in a movie that is first and foremost a comedy. It’s so successful because of its idiosyncratic wit. It keeps you laughing even through the most touching moments of the film without ever preventing you from feeling the dramatic affects. It’s so successful because of its message of the importance of family, the idea of prosperity, and subjective beauty.

Little Miss Sunshine redefines what we should expect from the road trip movie. It keeps itself away from the silly slapstickiness of National Lampoon’s Vacation and the melodrama of a movie like Thelma and Louise. The film shocks the genre’s body and revives it with uncommon and compounded characters, and a fresh, but timeless humor. It reminds us of what’s fundamental to our lives and what’s trivial to the big picture. It makes us search for the humor even in life’s tallest hurdles. When all else collapses. When your lover leaves. When your body breaks, and your career fails, you still have your family. Even when your grandfather talks about sex and his drug use, and your father imposes his 9-step program for success on you and everyone around you, you can still rely on them for warmth and support. Yeah, I know, some of you don’t have it so good, but the Hoovers don’t either. For the most part, they don’t like each other very much and each of their lives seem more shattered than the next, but when outsiders look to upset that screwy family dynamic, they stick together and grow even closer.

The script seems personal to the scriptwriter, but the audience still connects. We don’t have to have any experience with beauty pageants nor be anything like the film’s characters. All we have to be is human. We can give credit to Arndt or the Dayton/Faris team for this common ground, but we cannot forget the actors, either. Everyone here is at their best, and exhibits some of their most inspired and true to life moments in acting. Steve Carell and Paul Dano validate their mastery of the craft. They’re going to be here for awhile, and they’re not looking to settle for anything less than a deeply moving and thought provoking performance. Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, and Alan Arkin merely demonstrate that they’re nowhere near past their prime. All of the actors have an instinct for the complexities of these characters—their humor, their passions, their inhibitions, their strengths, and their shortcomings. And not only that, the resulting chemistry is convincing and comfortable. Dayton and Faris made it a point to include another actor that isn’t human at all. The family’s malfunctioning VW Bus is as much a character as the rest of them. The bus is personified as an old man on his last assignment right before retirement. He makes it through, but surprisingly so and only with handicap aids.

Dayton and Faris don’t make their presence painfully obvious with forced and busy visuals, but they’re felt right from the start of the film. The characters are introduced and even developed to an extent before words are even spoken. But their brilliant direction is really shown off during the beauty pageant scene. To capture perfectly what these competitions are like, they hired only the little girls who are actually a part of this lifestyle. The point of the scene is to disturb and fret for Olive, but the directors don’t have to yell anything out. They just sit back and allow the scene to speak for itself. The announcer is way over the top and an absolute riot, but is really the only direct jab at the whole pageant experience. The directors are some of the most thoughtful when it comes to illustrating a person’s way of life. Even if the character is completely off his rocker, the two never judge and make it nearly impossible to feel anything but compassion for these thick personalities.

Not only that, Dayton and Faris make it nearly impossible to feel anything but love for their movie. This isn’t an acquired taste. This is our collective experience on stage, and it offers a glimpse of hope for the hopeless and an appreciation for what we often take for granted. No one’s really a loser, here, and if others think you are, it’s us against them, anyway and they’re the ones who lose the battle in this one. The best part of it all, though, is that you do it all while laughing; laughing until your organs float to your feet and you walk out of the theater with a little wiggle to your step. I don’t mean to be so forceful, but it would be in your best interest to check Little Miss Sunshine out. No, stop. Just see it. We have a classic on our hands.

Little Miss Sunshine Movie Trailer: