A Little Gem.

Rating: 9/10 (16 October 2006)

'Little Miss Sunshine' is the perfect antidote for all the homogenized films flooding the multiplexes at the moment. Directed by first-timers Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and written by Michael Arndt, the film is constructed around Hollywood clichés, such as the underdog, road-movie, dysfunctional family, but remains fresh, honest and genuinely funny and touching. This is due, in no small part, to the fact happy endings and overt feel good statements are brushed aside for truth and awkwardness.
Toni Collette is perfect, as one would expect, but it is Steve Carell and Greg Kinnear who show acting talent beyond expectations. Alan Arkin provides another solid performance as the wise, hippie grandfather, but it is the new guard of actors Abigail Breslin and Paul Dano who shine in my opinion. Breslin brings raw emotional honesty to her role of Olive and one never forgets she is a child, unlike if Dakota Fanning had tackled this role.
'Little Miss Sunshine' is about family, identity, the search for meaning and purpose and how these fit into and relate to contemporary life. This is a film full of small detail which remembers to deal with the larger stuff. Unsentimental, but extremely moving, You'll leave the cinema feeling a little bit better.