Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Story: Michael Arndt
Cast: Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin
Music: Mychael Danna
Time: 101 minutes
Bottom-line: Not as great as expected, but a charming film

Little Miss Sunshine is the debut film of the husband-wife pair – Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The film features a relatively new cast: Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin and Alan Arkin, and this was also the debut of the scriptwriter, Michael Arndt. Although the film didn’t meet my expectations, there is some charm in the film that made me like it.

Kinnear as Richard

An overworked mother of two children, Sheryl Hoover (Collette) lives in Albuquerque. Her husband, Richard Hoover (Kinnear) is trying to build a career as a motivational speaker, but that isn’t working out so well. Sheryl’s unhappy teenage son, Dwayne (Dano) has taken a vow of silence till he can join the US Air Force Academy. Sheryl’s gay brother, Frank (Carell) has just moved in to live with them after a suicide attempt. Richard’s father, Edwin (Arkin) is a retired WWII veteran, who is now on drugs. He is close to Sheryl’s seven-year-old daughter, Olive (Breslin) who has just qualified for the ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ beauty pageant in California. But due to various reasons, the family realises that they can only go to California only if all of them go, in their Volkswagen T2 Microbus. But en route the 800 mile road trip, various incidents take place, and each member of the family becomes a different person.

Collette as Sheryl

This is one of the weirdest family films I have seen. The reason may be the unorthodox characters, the strange storyline, and the cast. The characters are from all sorts of backgrounds, each with their own problems. In fact, I can say that all the characters are a little crazy. But when they come together, they help to produce a really funny story. The story is not as simple as it seems; though it is categorised as a comedy, I didn’t find it funny at all, except for a few scenes – and sometimes the humour is so subtle that you don’t realise it! The road trip can be taken as a metaphor for life. Life will always have problems; it will be a mix of different emotions, different incidents etc. and not all will be in your favour. Along with this theme, Richard’s message of ‘never give up’ is also highlighted many a time.

Arkin as Grandpa

The acting is, overall, quite good. For a fresh cast – with no real stars – the crew has done an excellent job. Arkin received the Oscar for his role, but I didn’t think it was so great. Steve Carell – whose appearance in a non-comedy film seemed odd at first – has done a superb job too. And Abigail Breslin, the child actress, was top notch... the character of Olive suits perfectly for her. Paul Dano plays Dwayne, who has taken a vow of silence, so he has no dialogues to speak. But his body language is excellent, especially in the scene where he realises his sad fate. In fact, albeit the characters themselves are – as I said – weird, the actors chosen to play them fit perfectly into their roles. Mychael Danna’s score was also impressive.

Carell as Frank (left) and Dano as Dwayne

So, although I feel that Little Miss Sunshine is a bit overrated, it is a terrific achievement for a new crew. The acting is splendid, and the story has few high points, but there are many needless scenes. The film is boring at times, and also predictable, but there are a few twists too. In the end, I guess what you should take from the film is the message of never giving up, and the message of how members of a family support each other, no matter how humiliating or crazy the scenarios may be.

Breslin as Olive

My Rating: 3.5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 91%