Hopeless, Depressing and Predictable

Rating: 5/10 (5 October 2006)

I was quite disappointed with Little Miss Sunshine. From the trailers, to the critics reviews, to the incredible cast, I expected this to be a movie that I would have enjoyed just a bit more. I suppose we are meant to sympathize with the losers in this movie, but I just found the whole theme of the "lovable losers" to be exasperating. This compounded with the fact that the outcomes for three of the characters were so easily decipherable that I checked out half-way through the movie, makes Little Miss Sunshine only worthy of a Sunday afternoon HBO waste of time. Lastly - Steve Carell is not the same actor we've been seeing on television and other movies as of late. I understand that comedic actors often try to bust out of their proverbial mode, but I almost felt as if he was holding back his usual wild antics, or they were otherwise edited out of the film. Bottom line: if you're looking for a comedy that makes you laugh because you are uncomfortable with the characters, see this movie. If you want to see a comedy that's actually funny, don't waste your time.