Little Miss Sunshine

Rating: 8/10 (26 August 2006)

Little Miss Sunshine is about a very dysfunctional family with a father named Richard whose attitude is that everyone has to win all the time, the mother Sheryl, the suicidal uncle Frank, the son who doesn't talk named Dwayne, the grandfather who speaks whatever is on his mind and a young girl named Olive who wants to be in a beauty pageant being held several states over. To not let her down the family gathers into their VW bus and travels to get to the pageant, but along the way they argue, experience all sorts of problems and learn a lot about each other. Little Miss Sunshine has good direction, a good original script and Oscar worthy performances by the main cast. It took me a little bit to get into this film, but after seeing it and thinking about it I appreciate the film even more. The film had sharp writing and there are a lot of really good conversations between the characters in this film and especially near the end of the film there is a lot of satirical humour that worked quite well I thought. I thought everyone played their parts great and after awhile you really start to like this family and it doesn't really matter that they are dysfunctional and have their own problems because in many ways I think people will be able to relate to at least somebody in the film. I also liked how at the beginning of the film everyone in the family was really wrapped up in their own lives, but because of this trip they learn more about each other and start to work together more as a family. This movie had a lot of dark and offbeat humour in it as well and I liked how it gave the film a certain edge that few comedies have. There are however still some warm hearted scenes and scenes of togetherness and bonding that I thought worked quite well too. This is a very original comedy in a lot of ways and I liked how different it is than most of the regular comedies we have been seeing lately. I think a lot of people will appreciate this film and it will become a hidden gem for most people who will give the film a chance because when I saw this film in theatres the audience really seemed to be loving it. For being original and having sharp writing and a great performance by the cast I recommend Little Miss Sunshine.