The buzz surrounding "Little Miss Sunshine," the feature film debut from husband and wife directing team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, has been hard to avoid. A Best Feature win at the Sydney Film Festival, a standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival and the subsequent sale of the film's distribution rights to Fox Searchlight at one of the highest prices a Sundance selection has ever commanded -- clearly, this movie is an attention-getter. It also doesn't hurt that the film's stars, including Frat Packer Steve Carell and Academy Award nominees Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette and Alan Arkin, are box office draws in and of themselves.
So does "Little Miss Sunshine" live up to the hype? Yes and no. First of all, don't go in with the kind of expectations that the word "indie" usually conjures up. "Little Miss Sunshine" boasts quite a few big names for an allegedly non-mainstream film, and despite what such a remarkable Sundance reception might lead you to believe, the movie is more traditionally entertaining than delightfully offbeat. One could also argue that the world just doesn't need another movie about a disastrous road trip becoming a journey of self-discovery for all parties. "Little Miss Sunshine" does lapse occasionally into the realm of comedy clichs and scenes so absurd that they're not really very funny. But with all that said, the film's missteps are pretty easy to look past. "Little Miss Sunshine" is superbly acted, and its outstanding ensemble cast more than make up for the script's shortcomings.
The film centers on the variously eccentric Hoover family, who find themselves piling into an old VW bus and heading to the national Little Miss Sunshine competition after 7-year-old Olive (Abigail Breslin) discovers she has earned a spot in the pageant. Olive, a slightly chubby girl with straight waist-length hair, red All-Stars and enormous plastic eyeglasses, doesn't seem the type to spend hours religiously practicing her Miss America wave. Nevertheless, she convinces her parents that she wants the Little Miss Sunshine title more than any of the other contestants do, and all of her family members -- some more grimly than others -- agree to make the trek from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Redondo Beach, California so Olive can compete.
Kinnear is hilariously irritating as patriarch Richard Hoover, a motivational speaker teetering on the brink of financial ruin. Collette, as his frazzled wife Sheryl, brings a lot of heart to a character another actress could have quickly made tiresome. The loving but stressed out mother, providing the voice of reason throughout some farcical muddle she and her family find themselves drawn into, may be a tried and true film convention. But in "Little Miss Sunshine," even the potentially flat, contrived "dysfunctional family" characters come to life, thanks largely to outstanding performances all around. Another case in point: Richard's rambunctious father, played by Arkin, who has lived with the family since getting thrown out of his nursing home for snorting heroin. Grandpa's devil-may-care attitude toward sex, drugs, and life in general after age 60, instead of seeming over-the-top and silly, provides quite a few good laughs.
Paul Dano shines as angry teenager Dwayne who idolizes Nietzsche, hates everybody and has taken a vow of silence while he trains for flight school. Dano truly renders speech unnecessary, packing scathing contempt and apathy into every facial expression.
Rounding out the Hoover clan is Sheryl's brother Frank (Carell), the preeminent Proust scholar in the United States, who has come to live with the family after a failed suicide attempt. Carell, probably best known as "The Forty-Year-Old Virgin," easily turns the morose Frank into the film's most endearing and consistently funny character. Frank and Dwayne, at first united by their mutual loathing of Richard and his obsession with being a "winner," soon form an unlikely bond. This odd couple and their painfully funny interactions -- or lack thereof -- with each other and with the other characters carry the film all the way to California.
There's no shortage of ironic mishaps and humorous awkward moments en route to the competition. "Little Miss Sunshine" does lag a bit when it attempts to handle a serious plot development with a silly and unfunny hospital scene, but the film quickly recovers. The ending, though bittersweet, nicely brings home the theme of individuality as the real path to happiness.
Early in the film, over a family dinner of take-out fried chicken, Frank matter-of-factly explains to wide-eyed Olive that he is jobless, suicidal and gay. This lengthy, funny scene nicely captures the movie's overall tone and spirit. Is "Little Miss Sunshine" realistic? Of course not. Is it engaging, funny and full of wonderful performances? Absolutely.
Also, toward the end, we see Frank run. This sequence alone is probably worth the price you will pay for your ticket.
