Review of Little Miss Sunshine (2006) by S C — 21 Apr 2017

At around the halfway mark I became really disappointed in "Little Miss Sunshine," because it becomes stupid for maybe ten minutes. There's something the central characters decide to do that's completely out of nowhere, and doesn't fit the almost-ultra realistic tone of the rest of the film.

But, after I got over the ridiculousness of this one part of the film, I was able to return to concentrating on everything else. And I liked almost everything else. The cinematography is beautiful in a broken sort of way, the atmosphere is perfectly decided, and (above all else) the cast is phenomenal. The adults of the film are as great as they always are in everything they're in. And Abigail Breslin, who I don't think I've seen in anything else before, is absolutely an insane talent. She's real and she's funny, and she'sâ?? so far beyond her years I have a hard time believing it. Or, I guess she WAS all those things. It's been ten years since this movie came out, things might have changed.

And while I'm mentioning the cast, I really want to draw my focus to Paul Dano's performance. I've only started to really notice him in movies recently, and I'm surprised it's taken me this long. He's always fantastic, and I think he's outdone himself here. What could have been just another angsty teen character became so much more than that.

If it weren't for the stellar performances, I don't think I would've liked "Little Miss Sunshine" at all. Some of the jokes made me chuckle, but there were just so many clichÃÂ (C)s, and that stupid ten minutes, I mentioned earlier, really is very stupid. But, again, the performances were very, VERY good, and that saved the film...

Actually, that pagent scene also majorly contributed to saving the film for me. Most indie dramedies have that whole "the dysfunctional family is gonna be happily dysfunctional together" moment, but this one was especially funny...

Also Steve Carell should have more awards.