Nice but a bit by the numbers

Rating: 7/10 (8 March 2008)

Having read a lot of comments here, I didn't realize the similarity between this film and a National Lampoon's film (Summer Vacation?). I've seen part of that film but I'm not versed in its popularity and certainly didn't know it well enough to identify the similarities shared by "Little Miss Sunshine". This is a decent film. The acting is really top-flight. Greg Kinnear is astonishingly underrated. He is great in "The Matador", "As Good As It Gets", and certainly in this. Alan Arkin is at his acidic, grouchy best. As another commenter noted, he could have done this in his sleep-but it doesn't make his performance any the worse. Toni Collette is brilliant. She is as consistent as Kinnear-check out "About a Boy" for a fabulous performance and of course "The Sixth Sense". Also, she was really really good in "Priscilla's Queen of the Desert". Abigail Breslin-well, as children's performances go, I think this is an excellent one. She does not attempt to play up her cuteness-and this just makes her all the more lovable. I'm not an expert on actors, but it would seem she has some great acting instincts. Paul Dano is very very good if a bit underused. Steve Carell I knew was very very talented from the range he showed in doing fake news reports on "The Daily Show" and also the realistic undercurrent to "The Forty-Year-Old Virgin". He is very good here too although to me his character seemed a little stereotyped. I would say the same thing for Kinnear's. C'mon-a motivational speaker who...surprise surprise....isn't as good as he thinks. Wow. I'm shocked. Shocked. The encounter of Carell's character with the man who had been favored by his crush, and whose rejection had prompted Carell's character's suicide attempt seems unlikely to the extreme. I think we, if we live long enough and have fairly eventful lives, might meet someone we know a little, perhaps in an unlikely place, but, in the middle of nowhere to meet the person who was with the man who had something to do with your suicide attempt? Really really really pushing the grounds of credibility.
I must say that I wanted to dislike this movie. However, the acting is so good that if you can tolerate the cardboard thin stereotypical "indie" characters I've mentioned and some other rote situations, the quality of the acting and the conviction which the actors bring to their performances should at least win over some of your good will by the end of the film.