Little Miss Sunshine

[Chris D]

I need your help here. Occasionally, (and it is very rare) I see a movie and form an opinion of it that's drastically different from the vast majority of viewers. Sometimes I will think that a movie very popular with viewers was very bad, and even rarer still, will once in a blue moon love a movie that receives consistently horrible reviews.

"Little Miss Sunshine" is almost one of the former cases. The movie had been recommended to family that's staying with me for the holidays, and we rented it tonight. It is the tale of a dysfunctional family, (surprise) whose daughter indirectly wins an entry into a pre-teen child beauty pageant. They embark on a roadtrip as a family for the pageant, where a multitude of events happen enroute.

The first 10 minutes was quite disappointing, providing a rough start to the film, but then picked up with some fun as the viewer discovers what's intended to be serious, what is sarcastic, and what is "supposed to be" satire. The better part of the movie seems to be the characters, which certainly are not one-dimensional. There were funny parts of the movie where I did laugh, but in general I did not find that the story or the rest of the movie clicked. The wacky events that happened to the characters seemed fairly contrived, something distantly reminiscent of "Lampoon's Vacation" but not in the same spirit of silly fun.

I did like that the characters are who they are, really without pretense or trying to be somebody they're not. A few things were downright creepy, though, and seemingly intentionally. The child pageant was eerily hinting at kiddy porn, which appeared to be purposefully demonstrating the inanity of trying to make young children into beauty queens. However, the daughter's performance in the pageant was just as creepy, even if deliberately different to strive at the same purpose. I thought that it only became ridiculous as the rest of the family joined in.

Lastly, I'm not usually overly averse to foul language, but it seemed excessively unnecessary to this particular movie in the degree of which it was used. The strong cursing seemed extra out of place right next to the sweet daughter character deliberately created so.

I didn't think this was a horrible movie, but in the Ebert & Roeper style of black-and-white either thumbs up or down, I'd have to give this a mild thumbs down and not recommend it to others. Here's where I need help--this movie receives consistently EXCELLENT ratings from critics and the public. It has a rarely achieved 92% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes! This reminds me of the way that I disliked "Napoleon Dynamite", but many, many others simply raved about it. So what is it about this movie that I just apparently missed? Is it some aspect of the characters or plot, or is it a movie that just needs to be seen a second time?

I'm quite interested when I encounter these situations, so I can figure out if I'm just way off base. In the meantime, I give the movie :25: out of :5:

[gross30]

My wife and I also watched this film last night. The reviews were good, so we thought we would give it a shot. Our take on it is that it is "close" to other films along the same vacation premise, we didn't think it was all that great. Although there might be some truth to what happens at those pageants, we found it haunting to watch those scenes. I would only rate it as :2: out of 5. We probably won't watch it again. My wife and I decided that we want our 103 minutes back on this one.

[George Bellefontaine]

Hmmm, I rented this turd for tonight. Oh, well, maybe the wife will like it.

[RobP]

We got to watch this tonight and found it to be very good, an actual departure from the ho-hum crap that Hollywood has been feeding us for quite sometime, it was in my opinion quirky and out of the box. (which is stuff I seem to like) The pageant scene was reality, as spooky as it does seem, and quite hard to believe, it is an acurate portrayal of what happens in real life. Yes, its sad.....

[Chris D]

That sounds like many of the very positive reviews I've read, Robert, so you're certainly in tune with the majority of moviegoers on this one. So what is it that I missed on this one? What makes it so great that I didn't see? I'm certainly willing to consider that I'm just way, way off base.

[George Bellefontaine]

Okay, I watched it last night and apologize for calling it a turd. My wife and I enjoyed it immensely and some parts were indeed hilarious. Especially the parts where they had to all get out and push the bus every time they wanted it to go. I did see the similiarity to National Lampoon's Vacation, but felt this film had some very gritty and realistic moments that took it more into the realm of a drama/dark coimedy sort of thing.

[Burke Strickland]

I'm glad I held off reading comments about the movie until I had a chance to watch it. I agree that it is NOT a "turd" and find it interesting that while claiming to not "get it", Chris outlined as liking some of the very qualities that allow this movie hit so close to home, yet operate in some other warped dimension.

While the movie very, very funny, it is also thought provoking and at the same time engaging as the characters are developed as individuals and in their interactions with each other. At the beginning, that family was so dysfunctional, if you looked up the word in the dictionary, you might find their group photo. By the end of their picaresque journey, they had achieved enviable insights and cohesiveness. And they had me laughing all the way through.

Some of the situations were beyond outlandish, but that just added to the surreal sense of "one step away from where I am now is madness" which is actually pretty close to true in today's "real life". Just watch the daily news, if you need examples -- for instance many examples of tasteless exploitation via the kiddie talent show "industry" make it ripe for deserved skewering, which it certainly gets here. Olive's stripper routine supposedly shocking the shrewish organizer of the Little Miss Sunshine pageant just underscores the cynicism and hypocrisy of many of these kinds of proceedings.

Some aspects of the film reminds me of "Sideways" for West Coast Craziness, the dysfunctional family traveling together echoes "Johnson Family Vacation" (although this one is much sharper/biting in its satire and the characters are more fully developed),and going way back to the 1960s, "Candy" for a warped view of medical "help" in the midst of other strange events, and "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice" for philosophical "insights" in relationships coming at us in unusual ways. Even a bit of the kids, at least in the way they relate to each other, from the recent "War of the Worlds".

But whatever other films this one echoes, it still is very much its own movie. and one I look forward to watching again and again (although with a fair interval of time in between). Definitely worth seeing, but be forewarned that there are more than just a few four letter words sprinkled in the dialog, However, this is one time the context actually makes the use of them effective rather than gratuitous. As one of the characters in the movie pointed out, that kind of talk is not suitable for children, but if they are not listening, don't let that deter you from doing so.

Burke

[Chris D]

One scene/aspect of the movie seemed rather telling for me, and for all I know, could be something indicative of whether you might fall on the side of those that like or dislike the movie. Better do a spoiler tag for the rest of this one:

At the child pageant, the dad sits down in the audience right next to a big, tattoed biker-type guy. Through insinuation and the dad's interaction with the biker, you get the impression that this guy isn't a supporter of one of the contestants, but rather someone that comes to watch the kiddie pageant regularly. After Olive's stripper dance and the family's participation, the guy stands up and gives an enthusiastic "YEAAAAHHH!" What is the viewer supposed to feel about this character, and how are they to react? Are they supposed to be creeped out by the juxtaposition? Or revolted by the subtly implied pedophilia bent? Or laugh at the ridiculous positioning of the character and his actions different from the rest of the audience?

For me, I felt a mixture of all of the above, but the creepy/slightly revolting part won more than the funny part--at the "Yeaaah", I gave a nervous tittle, but couldn't enjoy the moment with the other factors present. Perhaps this is where I diverge with those who enjoyed the movie. Satire is hard to do, and for me, it crossed the line. However, if everybody else saw that guy, and as an extension the whole pageant, as being nothing but hilariously silly, then I can see how there would be different opinions.

Not a comment on others that liked the movie, but just a statement that I suppose I could see how people could enjoy it if the satire worked for them. Perhaps a fair comparison would be "Thank You for Smoking". Even though it was about a horrible subject--corporate greed overriding the horrific deaths of cigarette smokers--I found the satire to be perfect, and loved the movie. The satire worked so well, it indirectly even condemmed the very heroic plot of the movie itself. But if someone found "Thank You for Smoking" to be tasteless, I could see how they would be disgusted by the film.

[Nick M]

I had this on my list long before it came out and rented it on the release date.

One of my favs this year for sure.
The grandfather was fantastic. :lol:

[George Bellefontaine]

Chris, I took the Biker fella to be that dad of one of the contestants. Remember when he said this to Kinnear's character: " First time, huh. " I sort of saw it that this guy had to come to these things more often than he wanted and was overjoyed with Kinnear's daughter's performance. But that was just how I saw it. Maybe I was wrong.

[DeanP]

We watched this the other night; we all thought it was pretty good! I was disgusted with the pageant and can't believe parents putting their kids through all that hell for their bragging rights. I say let kids be kids, dress up in mom's clothes, but not to be better looking or show more talent than their friends...

[Razvan]

I thought that LMS was pretty weak, an uninspired Wes Anderson pastiche. The Royal Tenenbaums - also about a dysfunctional family - is way better (and funnier).

R

[Chris D]

This won the Screen Actor's Guild equivalent of "Picture of the Year" last night.

See? I continue to be proved how I'm completely missing the boat on this one.

(anybody else always think about "Team America" when they hear about the SAG?)