Little Miss Sunshine

‘Little Miss Sunshine’. If you go and see this film (and you really should) have a good think about those three words and what they convey to you before you watch it. That way, you will have a greater appreciation of the ironic implications that those three words have when used as the title. 

It’s quite obvious from the word go that ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ isn’t going to be the kind of film that’s all sweetness and light.

The story centres around 7 year old Olive Hoover (Abigail Breslin) who dreams of winning the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in California. Her father Richard (Greg Kinnear) is a failing motivational speaker who encourages her to believe that she can and will win while her drug addict Grandfather (Alan Arkin) teaches her a dance routine for the talent section of the competition. Her brother Dwayne (Paul Dano) has taken a vow of silence, her uncle Frank (Steve Carrell) has tried to commit suicide and cannot be left alone and her mother Sheryl (Toni Collette) is desperately trying to hold her completely dysfunctional family together. Olive, however, muddles along with the majority of life’s problems passing unnoticed over her head.

The humour really begins when Olive gets a call to say she’s made it to the Little Miss Sunshine finals and from there on in, it’s laughs all the way. Well, almost.

The entire family are bundled in an aging VW camper van and set off on the 800-mile journey to California and along the way, they each undergo an emotional journey as well as the physical one.

Writer Michael Arndt has done a fantastic job with the script, giving each character depth and believability as well as some truly brilliant lines. It’s hard to describe the humour, all I can say is that it’s not the blatant, in-your-face style that it could so easily have slipped into.

Every single cast member plays their role to complete and utter perfection; Abigail Breslin is delightful as Olive (you may recognise her as Bo from the M.Night Shyamalan film ‘Signs’) and Toni Collette is, as always, wonderful in her role as the mother of the family from Hell. Greg Kinnear is fantastic as Olive’s overly determined dad and Paul Dano, despite not having very much to say, is very expressive without resorting to pantomime-like antics. Alan Arkin could have stolen every scene that he’s in as the grandfather but he steers clear of upstaging his fellow cast members and the result is a flawless performance. Put all the characters together and you get – well, probably one of the best films I’ve ever seen (and having previously working in a cinema, that’s a lot!)

It’s funny, touching and strangely moving without ever being predictable or sentimental. In short, it’s just about perfect.

by Sian Lewis