Who said summer movies were just fillers till the good stuff comes around?

Rating: 8/10 (25 August 2006)

Once in a while, a movie takes you completely by surprise, either because you dropped in just to be 'amused' and found yourself totally immersed and entertained, or because its perceptions of what's important in life resonate so strongly that it leaves you giving this thing we call 'family' one more hooray! Little Miss Sunshine is just such a film. The cast is so totally on target, from Alan Arkin as grumpy, dope addicted but totally lovable grandpa, to Tony Collette as the mom struggling to keep some sense of normalcy in her everyday mundane existence. Of course, what can you say about Greg Kinnear as dad? This actor has been so underrated, mainly I think because he has chosen roles for their meat rather than glitz. In many ways, he reminds me of Kevin Bacon and Johnny Depp in that Kinnear knows what his forte is and relishes in every word on the page, making it totally his own and that to our captivation as an audience. I think fondly of his rendering of Frank Zabaski, Meg Ryan's comfortable relationship/ego maniacal newspaper columnist in You've Got Mail. I delight in every line Kinnear delivers because it is so obvious he is making THIS line his heart and soul at the moment he delivers it as though this chance at immortality will never come again....the mark of a consummate actor. Every performance in Little Miss Sunshine indeed does shine, but the story tugs at your heart in a way few films do. There is something or someone to identify with for everyone in this movie. What's more, we may wish we were more like one character but actually see ourselves in another. No one wants to see themselves as the depressed to the point of giving up on life uncle, but in some respects haven't we all gotten to that point at some time or another? It isn't so much that we didn't make the genuine attempt to end it all, but that we have all FELT as if COULD feel that desolate at some point in our lives. We would all rather be the over-the-top optimist most of the time, but the truth is, we all vacillate between feelings of utter isolation and frustration and all too infrequent feelings of sufficiency and self worth. The real winner in this movie is Olive, because her identity is still waiting to be forged, amidst the imperfect examples she is living with, hopefully gleaning the best from each and making her world a happy place. As far as the audience is concerned, we are all winners because we purchased a ticket to this film! Bravo Little Miss Sunshine! Summer films can sometimes make us smile!