Finally!! A Comedy Nominated For Best Picture, That's Actually Funny

Rating: 10/10 (5 March 2007)

Usually comedies that get the best picture nod are not that good. The Full Monty was not funny, and Four Wedding & A Funeral was even worse. However there was something about Little Miss Sunshine that made me want to go to my local video store and rent it. Maybe it was because Steve Carell was in it? I don't know. Regardless I am happy to say that I am glad I rented this and I would have payed full price to see this movie.
In the film we meet the Hoover's. There's father Richard (Greg Kinnear) who is trying to get his "nine step" self motivation program off the ground, and finding little to no success. Then there is mother Sheryl (Toni Collette) who is the sole bread earner in the family and not doing well. Then there's uncle Frank (Steve Carell) who is a genius, but has failed at trying to commit suicide because he was dumped by his lover. There also Dwayne (Paul Dano) who has taken a vow of silence till he can get into the air force. There's also Grandpa (Alan Arkin) a foul mouthed, heroine snorting old man, who has been kicked out of his old age home because of his drug addiction. Last but not least is Olive (Abigail Breslin) the youngest of the family who has dreams of becoming Miss America some day.
Needless to say the Hoover's are an extremely dysfunctional family who can not see eye to eye. Then Olive gets a phone call that tells her she has been invited to compete is The Little Miss Sunshine Beauty Pageant, and the dysfunctional family piles into their broken down old Volks Wagon hippie van, to get Olive to Califirnia to make her dream of competing come true.
Now some critics will try and use big words to explain how this movie is an artful masterpiece, but the truth is, L.M.S. is nothing more than a road trip movie that is a dry humor fest. Soem people might watch this and not understand why people find it so funny because there is no over acting (Jim Carrey anyone?) or any over the top zaniness going on. L.M.S. is more in the same place as The Ice Harvest, or The Princess Bride, and that's what makes this film work.
Greg Kinnear gives a great performance, and proves that he should be in every dry comedy ever made. Toni Collette adds another good flick to her resume (Mariel's Wedding, The Sixth Sense) and proves she will win an Oscar some day. Steve Carell proves why he is the best comedic actor since John Cusak in Hollywood today, and can play perfect roles in zany comedies such as The 40 Year Old Virgin (My personal favorite comedy)and has a great dry sense of humor for a film like this. After seeing him in this film, my expectations for Evan Allmighty have grown even higher. Paul Dano, even though he does not speak brings some great laughs to the screen, and Abigail Breslin will become the kid star that Haley Joel Osmet was supposed to be.
The best thing about Little Miss Sunshine though is Alan Arkin, who won an Oscar for his role as the foul mouthed, drug addicted grandfather. He steals every scene he's in, and had me holding my sides. I've always felt this man was funny especially in The In-Laws (along with Peter Faulk) and Gresse Pointe Blank. He is finally getting the attention he deserves.
If you are in the mood for something different, or just love a good dry comedy like I do, then go to the video store and rent Little Miss Sunshine. It's worth it.