Little Miss Sunshine

Rating: 7/10 (8 May 2007)

I have seen a few independent films that make an impression, and this is definitely one of the finest, because it has all the right elements that you could have in a more high budget film. Basically the dysfunctional Hoover family live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and seven year old daughter Olive (Oscar and BAFTA nominated Abigail Breslin) is ecstatic as she has qualified to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant in Redondo Beach, California, and the whole family are forced to drive there Volkswagen T2 Microbus. Father and husband Richard (Ghost Town's Greg Kinnear) is trying to build a career as a motivational speaker, mother and wife Sheryl (The Sixth Sense's BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Toni Collette) is overworked, Sheryl's brother Frank (Bruce Almighty's Steve Carell) is gay and recently suicidal, Richard's father Edwin (Oscar and BAFTA winning Alan Arkin) is foulmouthed and teaching Olive her routine, and teenager Dwayne (Paul Dano) hates everyone and vows to stay silent until he becomes a US Air Force pilot. It is not an easy journey, as the family have to try and get on with each other as they travel across the states, the van claps out often and eventually has a broken horn, and personal problems come into play as well. Richard fails to get anywhere with his career, Sheryl tries to keep the family together, Olive asks a lot of questions but continues to hope and practise, Frank tries to forget his bad feelings and move on with his life, Edwin swears a lot and gives honest opinions, and Dwayne finally breaks his silence when he is upset to be colour blind, which means he cannot fly. There is the death of the Grandpa on the way, but the family finally make it to the pageant, and they had no idea that Olive was going to perform a burlesque dance to the Rick James song "SuperFreak", she is innocent and unaware that she is doing anything wrong, and the audience are shocked. In the end, after the family do their best to support her and help her finish the performance, they are told never to enter the daughter in a beauty pageant again, which they happily accept, and they all drive back home to Albuquerque. Also starring Jill Talley as Cindy, Bryan Cranston as Stan Grossman, Dean Norris as State Trooper McCleary, Child's Play 2's Beth Grant as Pageant Official Jenkins and Lauren Shiohama as Miss California. The performances are all great, especially of course award winning Arkin, but also from Kinnear as the desperate dad and Carell as the helpless homosexual trying to move on from his recent troubles, it has some really funny moments, but also it has the needed touching moments where the family overcome problems and bond together, a must see road movie comedy drama. It won the Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay, and it was nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year, it won the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay, and it was nominated for Best Film and the David Lean Award for Direction for Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. Very good!