A bright ray of sunshine!

Rating: 10/10 (16 February 2007)

Where as some indie films as of late have banked on the common techniques of the genre and fall back to the comedy that was edgy at the turn of the millennium; we find that is pleasantly untrue of LMS. The story documents an obscure family road trip in a beat up VW bus with a slew of talented actors. The three really outstanding performances were delivered (in my opinion) by Carell, Dano and Breslin. Steve Carell brings a great amount of darkness and depth to the role of Frank, Olive's suicidal gay uncle. We finally get to see a newer, wittier side of the actor that thus far has relied on outlandish comedy to get laughs. He gains sort of a strange friendship with Paul Dano's equally dark Dwanye. Dano is magical the first half of the movie using little but a pen and facial expression. Once his vow of silence is broken, we are greeted with dialog that does great justice to the once silenced character. Breslin splashes onto the screen with a stunning innocence and provides a great centerpiece for the tale. I had high expectations for her in this film as I loved her performance in Shyamalan's "Signs", and I must say that my expectations were more then pleasantly met. this is yet another testament to the fact that she is far a head of her years...not to mention her underwhelming brother, Spencer Breslin. The relationship between the whole family unit is fantastic and feels generally unforced.
One of the greatest features of LMS is that both it's dramatic and comedic moments feel so natural. The well-scripted story earns it's big moments rather then forcing them down the audiences throat. This movie evokes a wide range of emotion so fluently. During the film you feel like you are watching a well-done documentary, but afterward you walk away with the general knowledge that you just watched a well executed film in every sense of the term.
I think LMS is going to big contender around Oscar time after already snagging many accolades. The biggest of which I feel is the Producers Guild Award. LMS took home an award that normally is an easy get for the big-budget flicks such as "The Departed" as producers know what it takes to put together a film of that magnitude.
On the whole I loved this movie and it is definitely one of my favorite films. of all time. A 10 out of 10.