Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

I don't remember why I was drawn to Little Miss Sunshine when I first watched —it was probably on some list featuring dark comedies—, all I know is that I ended up loving this quirky road trip indie movie, and I loved it every single other time I watched it over the years. It's quite embarrassing that I've never written about it, so here it is. 

Just in case you are not familiar with this —I'm judging you if you are not though—, the story follows the Hoovers, a dysfunctional family composed of Richard (Greg Kinnear), his wife, Sheryl (Toni Collette), his father, Edwin (Alan Arkin), his brother-in-law, Frank (Steve Carell), his step-son, Dwayne (Paul Dano), and his daughter, Olive (Abigail Breslin). When Olive qualifies for the finals of the Little Miss Sunshine pageant, the family goes on a road trip on their old Volkswagen bus to take her to the contest. 

As it happens with road trip movies, Little Miss Sunshine does not have a plot, only plenty of clichés of the genre and a series of bizarre and unlikely situations and worst case scenarios. It does, however, take some surprising and amusing twists and turn and ultimately it ends up being a quite powerful story of a family who, despite all, love each other, stick together and would do anything for each other.

The story certainly wouldn't be as effective, engaging and entertaining if it wasn't for the characters though, which is by far the aspect of Little Miss Sunshine I love the most. First, there's no main character, no one is more important than the other, and, while they share the same goal, each out of them has his/her own arc. Second, they all have a distinctive personality and quirks that make them unique and memorable —Richard is a neurotic motivational speaker who hates losers; Sheryl is a chain-smoking wife who tries to make everybody happy but she is fed up with her husband's optimistic crap; Edwin is the foul-mouthed, heroin-snorting grandfather; Frank is the depressed gay uncle who has just attempted to commit suicide because his lover left him for his rival professor; Dwayne is a moody teenager who has taken a vow of silence until he gets into the Airforce; and Olive is a little girl who is exactly the opposite of what beauty pageant encourage young girls/women to be. No matter how stereotyped they are, these characters are interesting, believable and you care about them.

Fox Searchlighting Pictures

The actors all do a fantastic job, but there still are a few standouts. While Alan Arkin is the one who won an Oscar for his sharp, sarcastic, hilarious performance as the grandpa, and Abigail Breslin got a deserved nomination as she gives a charming, full-of-heart performance and brings quite a spark to the film, Steve Carell and Paul Dano are those, in my opinion, who deserved the awards. Although unknown at the time the Little Miss Sunshine was filmed —at some point, the filmmakers weren't even sure about him because of this—, Carell proves he is more than a comedian with a serious, subtle performance as the brilliant professor; Dano, who has to rely on his body language and facial expressions only for most of the film's running time, carries the role of the troubled teenager effortlessly and delivers some of the film's most emotional and touching moments.

Ultimately, Little Miss Sunshine is a charming, dark, funny and touching film, with great jokes, memorable moments —Olive performing at the beauty pageant sure will stick with you—, and a commentary on the futility of beauty pageants.