LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, 2006) ***

Rating: 7/10 (28 February 2007)

A deserving Oscar winner for its script and Alan Arkin's performance (though the film is really an ensemble piece), this disarming and perceptive road movie is a veritable sleeper that evokes memories of THE FULL MONTY (1997) and SIDEWAYS (2004)  both of which, incidentally, had also been Oscar outsiders; it provides delightful characterizations and plenty of hilarious situations throughout (especially the theft of a body from a hospital and the climactic disruption of the beauty/talent contest) but is also quite moving on occasion. However, it does lose steam towards the end  Arkin's absence is certainly felt here and much of the contest sequence actually falls flat; therefore, for all the accolades that have been bestowed upon it, I would have been very surprised had it won the Best Picture Oscar!