fun

Rating: 1/10 (4 August 2007)

"Little Miss Sunshine" is a very funny film. The writing is smart, the acting is pitch perfect, and the adept direction from the husband and wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris keeps the film rolling along at a charming pace, much like the yellow VW bus that carries the Hoover family from Fresno, AZ to Rodondo Beach, CA for a beauty pageant.
While the writing is sharp, it is really the performances that make this film what it is. The whole cast is in fine form, but two really stand out: Grandpa (Alan Arkin), and Olive (Abigail Breslin), the eldest and youngest, respectively, of the Hoover clan. They have a chemistry that is enchanting and utterly believable, and their relationship is the rock that anchors the film.
Also notable are Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette as Richard and Sheryl, the mom and dad of the family. Collette is engaging as always; playing yet another stressed out mom, but with honesty and grace, again, as she always does. And Kinnear, who is growing on me with every film he does, brings a wonderful nervous determination to his role as an aspiring motivational speaker.
Rounding out the cast is the depressed odd couple of Dwayne and Uncle Frank, played dryly by Paul Dano and Steve Carell. They are more spectators than participants, as compared to the rest of the family, but their subdued commentary on the absurdity that transpires provides a good balance to their more electric relatives.
The film is very enjoyable, aside from a disturbing array of child beauty queens, whose presence is funny until you learn that they are played by real beauty pageant veterans, complete with their real costumes and makeup, which make them look more like prepubescent Real Dolls than actual human girls. At one point during a pageant, Richard asks the man next to him, "Is your daughter in the competition?" to which the man replies, after removing an earplug, "First time?".
Hints of pedophilia notwithstanding, "Little Miss Sunshine" is a fine film, and may find itself regarded as a classic in years to come.