I recently decided to watch the independent movie Little Miss Sunshine. Believe it or not I missed the craze that this Sundance sweeper, and academy award winner brewed up about a year and a half ago. In case you are like me and have missed this smart, genius, comedy, Little miss sunshine tells the story of a very dysfunctional family as they try to make it to California so little Olive can compete in the beauty contest to become little miss sunshine. The script was written by first time writer Michael Arndt, and directed by husband-wife duo Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The film has some pretty big name stars. Such as, Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear, and Toni Collette, and was made for $10 million. After The film was screened at Sundance in 2006, fox Searchlight pictures bought the distribution rights for $10.5 million plus ten percent of the gross profit, one of the biggest deals in Sundance history. I personally thought the different characters really brought great differences to the film and kept me enthralled to keep watching. Sheryl Hoover is the mother of two kids and married to Richard Hoover. Richard is trying to support the family as a motivational speaker and has a theory to success called “The Nine Steps” the he is trying to get off the ground. Sheryl’s brother Frank is a homosexual professor that is living at home temporarily because he tried to commit suicide. Dwane, the son is a mute who refuses to talk until he can become a fighter pilot. Edwin, the grandpa is living with the family because he was recently evicted from his retirement home for snorting heroin. Olive is the daughter and the movie circles around the family trying to get to California so that Olive can compete in the little miss sunshine competition. The tensions between the family members play throughout the movie. The family travels in an old beat down yellow VW van from the 70’s, which needs to be pushed up to about to 20mph before it can be put into gear and started. Along the way the horn in the van stays on all the time, the grandpa dies in an overdose and they smuggle the body illegally to California because they don’t have time to burry it, Dwayne finds out he is color blind so he can’t fly and goes in to a turrets break down to end the muteness, but somehow the family makes it to the competition in time. Olive gets to the talent portion and performs a provocative dance that “her grandpa taught her” to Rick James’ Superfreak. Overall, the movie was very funny and entertaining. I recommend that everyone go and check this one out.
~David Michels
5 comments:
David, I love this movie! I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I didn't know that this film cost 10 million dollars to make. To me that seems like a really high price for and independent film. Also the fact that it had such big name actors in this movie surprised me. But the content and style of the film is a great example of an independent film made in 2006. The story is witty and takes some huge risks. The scene where the little girl does her provacative dance kind of reminds me of "Welcome to the Dollhouse" when the character Dawn talks about finger "f"ing. Overall I love this movie and it makes me want to buy a yellow VW van.
This movie was amazing and is a good example of how the Hollywood and independent realm have blended into one. What made the film so unique and great was the subject manner which was written in such a quirky way that depicted all of there characters in an over the top yet realistic way. All of the actors were perfect in there roles and camera angles and editing were raw and full of character which added to the overall charm of this picture.
This film really is incredibly entertaining, with a solid cast and a great soundtrack (hell yes I love Sufjan Stevens). You did a great job of summarizing, David. I just think something very important was left out about the narrative structure of Little Miss Sunshine. The plot is definitely revealed to us in a linear fashion, very much a typical film in that regard. And it IS a plot driven narrative. This is very much a Hollywood film if we look at those two things. It was even made for quite a substantial amount of money. However, you did a good job of touching on the themes and especially the character development of a completely broken family with broken characters who love who can only love each other through their bond of family. And Olive. Olive saves everyone because she's so cute.
I am a huge huge fan of this movie. I really felt that the cast had a lot of chemistry which made their dysfunction all the more believable. I was really glad Alan Arkin received the accolades he did for such an amazing performance. I just thought it was a very original and refreshing take on the American family.
The first time going to watch this movie i wasn't sure about it but after watching it i liked it a lot. It was nice to watch a new look on the american life rather than the regular cookie cutter way
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