Little Ray of Sunshine

Rating: 9/10 (10 July 2011)

This film made me smile, laugh and cry, filling a satisfying gap between a flamboyant feel good comedy and a gritty family drama. For fans of comedy/adventure, this film is the one for you and is a must-see if you enjoyed 'Millions' or 'Son of Rambow' as it blends the different shades of genre into a beautiful sunny yellow film. It will brighten up your view of the world and let in a ray of much needed happiness into your life.
The Hoover family is a cleverly created, dysfunctional family by Michael Arndt, Jonathon Dayton and Valerie Faris, who intrepidly go on a seven hundred mile road trip in desperation to take their daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin) to a beauty pageant. The family, combined with Frank Ginsberg (Steve Carell) a brilliantly played suicidal businessman who's Sheryl Hoover's brother and Dwayne Hoover, portrayed amazingly by Paul Dano, Sheryl's son, who has a burning hatred for all his family and refuses to speak, battle their way through an army of problems, all for one goal. But will they get there in time? 'Little Miss Sunshine' combines a variety of non-diagetic, instrumental music throughout the film to successfully shine a picture of carefree optimism onto the storyline, often being used in place of dialogue to create a refreshing atmosphere. This technique is used especially well right at the beginning of the film when the characters are introduced through a series of close ups and expert extreme close ups, to make the audience instantly aware of them. Introducing the characters without having them talking makes the beginning very effective.
The realism of the film's narrative also burns interest: many of the problems the family encounter boldly reflect the lives of you and me, enabling people aged between fifteen and forty five to relate some of their experiences to those of the characters. But what makes this film really stand out from the usual crowd of perfectly packaged productions, is the fact that none of the characters have their acting talents crushed under a mountain of disguise. They are portrayed as ordinary human beings and the actors represent them as naturally as they live, unlike most films which constantly churn out polished plastic dolls.
Without the characters, the film would fall flat on its face. Each one seems to be amazingly crafted to fit together into a captivating film. Olive Hoover (Abigail Breslin) is portrayed as a young girl whose dreams are to win beauty pageants. Her colourful costume combined with her blissful sanguinity of the world around her, complete the narrative of the film and gives it a purpose and something to revolve around. Her character makes the film a must-see for reformers as she offers a different view on the world that not every adult can see; lighting up otherwise dark situations.
At the start of the film, you are plunged right into the centre of the storyline, which completely disorientates you. But this problem is ingeniously solved by the introduction of the character Frank Ginsberg (Steve Carell) who, like the audience, acts as an observer of the family who adds a subtle blend of comedy as he goes along.
The happy rays of light that the film casts are quite often punctured by the bad language which tumbles out of the characters' mouths, which slightly damages the feel-good, happy genre the film creates, but it does show that not everything in life is perfect; the film included!