On Jonathan Dayton’s directorial debut, he tells the story of Little Miss Sunshine which follows a dysfunctional family, who are forced to go on a road-trip to California after their daughter was qualified for “Little Miss Sunshine” beauty pageant. Along the trip they all face with all kind of personal problems and finally learn how to be a team, a family. The story seems simple; I would even say cliché but the driving force behind this film would be concrete solid script which gives us pretty relatable characters. All the six characters get runtime and space they need and not a single one feel underdeveloped. Featuring such an outstanding cast, start with Abigail Breslin, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, Greg Kinnear to Alan Arkin all give powerful strong performances (The centre of all would be Breslin) and we even got to see Breaking Bad duo Bryan Cranston and Dean Norris in small roles.
Little Miss Sunshine is a funny and emotional movie all about failure and working together as a family. Each character has a flaw, it’s not directly clear if they overcame it but in the end the family all work together showing it’s okay to not be great and to fail. This message is great- in our society now where everything it relies on winning, then this mind-set makes the person who didn’t win feel socially excluded or a let-down; but this film shows it’s okay to fail as long as you tired. You don’t lose when you fail- you learn. You only loose when you’re too afraid to try. This message is what makes this film very special. All the characters are written with great care, they are all comedic and sometimes serious. The film has some heart-breaking scenes that are performed so well by the actors- it just feels so real. You can find something new to love about this film whenever you rewatch it. Truly worthy of its four Oscar nominations and two wins for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor.
The whole film feels like it was put together with so much care and love. Frank (Carell) has tried to kill himself, as we find out in the first scene, and never pushes the broken down car with his hands because it would hurt his wrists too much. Olive (Breslin) holds on to the eye tests for an eternity of screen time just so they can be used later. In this sense the film is very clever and the script works very well along with the acting.
The performances across the board are really great, apart from Greg Kinnear as at points it seemed like he was trying to channel his inner William H. Macy or something, but he just came off as very wooden and uninspired. Carell is, unsurprisingly, a standout, while Dano and a young Abigail Breslin are also great. Abigail Breslin gives one of my favourite child performances ever. She radiates love, making it easy to love her back. Olive is one of my favourite characters in a movie: sweet yet daring, innocent but fearless. I think a small part of me wishes I was more like this tiny girl who is living a fuller life than I probably ever will.
But, it’s not just Breslin that makes the movie. Each and every actor gives so much to their roles and makes the characters they are portraying immensely complex and emotional. I would start listing them off, but it would be unnecessary because I’d just say them all. The whole cast is stellar.
I didn’t laugh as much as I wanted too, but Michael Arndt’s screenplay is still very solid. There are some very weighty issues arisen now and again, but the film never feels to bogged down in the moral gloom of its situations, taking a more casual approach. It’s a light watch, and easy to sit through, perhaps a little too easy however as the film relies on the character development, at times, the cinematography isn’t focused on enough. However, some of the cinematography and camera-work had great care put into it with some visually stunning shots, but not enough to allow the audience to focus on the cinematography.
There’s a lot to be said about the details in this film. The little ways in which each character is introduced. Each of their defining characteristics that create a trope that we constantly follow, except it doesn’t feel forced. Everyone has things they are known for and this movie is no different. They are three dimensional people with a one dimensional view of themselves.
This movie captures dysfunction like nothing else I’ve ever seen, and within the first few minutes of the movie, you already feel like a part of the family. Major issues such as depression and drug abuse are presented in a very real way with no sugar coating, which invokes introspection while watching. The perfection in this movie comes from the realisation that no one is completely perfect. Little Miss Sunshine represents how amazing a comedy can be, and is definitely a film that I will be remembering.
Film Reviews by Chloe 