Pseudo-smart pretentiousness at its worst

Rating: 1/10 (1 April 2010)

In one word: baffling.
Little Miss Sunshine manages to present almost every stereotype of the "hip" indie-intellectual film-making scene.
The major flaw is that such approach could work on two directions: either the dark-humored drama or the full-fledged, over the top farce.
Unfortunately LMS fails to pick a path, and instead keeps on going back and forth from a serious, almost pompous, mood to a campy tone.
The Dysfunctional Family trope is brought to the limit and beyond already in the opening phase of the movie. Too bad there isn't enough depth to any of the family members to connect with the audience.
The whole premise of the movie is so unrealistic you really wonder for a while if the whole thing is supposed to be taken seriously or if you're actually gonna see Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson popping up in the following scene. A pudgy little girl wants to be at a Pageant in California, so the whole dysfunctional family is gonna drive hundreds of miles (in a Hippie Van, of all vehicles...) just because the kid wants so... I learn now it's just a matter of WANTING to take part to a pageant then... no casting, no preliminary selections... Just show up (late) and you're in!
Also, every decision the family makes on the road leads to more silly shenanigans, as if they're actively trying to make the trip (and the movie) longer.
Let's not forget, as a side-note, that every subplot ends up being meaningless, or so bland it could have been left out with no major damage to the main plot.
Oh, I'll gracefully gloss over the actual pageant show and the "moves" the little girl has been taught, behind closed doors, by her drug-'n'-porn addicted grandfather...
What happened to American's infamous prudery? How comes Chris Hansen and his "why don't you get a seat over there?" jokes didn't flood the net and/or the theaters? If it's beauty pageants it's OK enjoying little girls strutting and acting like kinky adult women? Go figure... America must definitely be a funny place...
And before someone chimes in "ohhh but it was soooooo ironic, it was meant to denounce and ridicule it! You didn't get it?", I say no, sorry, the irony got lost in the mix, and died when the girl was dancing like a stripper, while her family was enjoying it.
In the end the message is pretty clear and clichè... "We are dysfunctional but we love each other. We aren't rich and successful but we're REAL!" This has been done before, and better.
Also the wacky family road trip has been done better and more funnily before.
Little Miss Sunshine brings nothing new to the table, probably not even the shock value, because in the end there's little to be shocked about. The dominant reaction to it is bemusement, not disgust.
The movie is not funny, not insightful, not enjoyable in any way.
I suspect it's another of those "cool movies" you just have to pretend you liked and "got" so you can act all smart and "with it".
Quite frankly I don't care if I'm not cool or smart enough.. Little Miss Sunshine is an over-hyped piece of intellectualoid drivel; tame drivel to be brutally honest.