Back in the summer of 2006, this delightfully quirky film from writer Michael Arndt (Catching Fire) was a huge indie success, winning two Oscars, two BAFTAs and a multitude of other awards.Eight years later, I finally get around to watching it - yeah, I'm always the one to know!
For anyone else who managed to miss this film, Little Miss Sunshine is the story of a dysfunctional family, made up of dirty magazine-loving Grandpa (Alan Arkin) who got himself kicked out of his Care Home; obsessively positive-thinking Dad Richard (Greg Kinnear); trying to keep everyone Mum Sheryl (Toni Colette), number one in the field of Proust Uncle Frank (Steve Carell), the depressed, silent son Dwayne (Paul Dano) and the innocently sweet daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin), who is going to win the Little Miss Sunshine Beauty Pageant....if the family can get there on time!
I'm not going to lie, if you throw a quirky family into a road trip film, then the chances are that I am going to love it. But what I really love about this type of family film, is that they relay the idea that no family is perfect, that we're all dysfunctional and it helps to make our own families feel more "normal". Dysfunctional is definitely quite endearing.
The fact that all of the little girls who feature in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant (other than Breslin) are actual, genuine contestants is a little bit disturbing, especially considering how repulsed they were at Breslin's "sexy" routine - seriously, compared to the real contestants, Olive's routine seemed fairly fame...at least she wasn't pushing out her chest, pouting and wearing more make up than most women own!
Little Miss Sunshine is a sweet and quirky film, with plenty of heart some partly unlikable characters (which kind of made me like them more).
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