After all the hype surrounding this movie, its enormous box-office success and its much-publicized status as the Oscar underdog, I sat down to watch the dvd (having missed the movie on circuit) with much anticipation. As the final credits rolled, I felt the same sense of anticlimax one feels after watching an Olympic athlete trip during a major event.
The premise of the film is sweet enough: a dysfunctional lower-income family embark on a road trip to California after their 9 year-old daughter, Olive (played ably by Abigail Breslin) lands a place by default in a child beauty pageant.
The characters are interesting in an offbeat kind of way, at least to begin with. There's the underachieving motivational speaker father (Greg Kinnear), the supportive-but-strong mother (Toni Collette), the suicidal gay uncle (Steve Carell), the drug- and porn-addicted grandfather (Alan Arkin) and the adolescent brother who has taken an actual vow of silence (Paul Dano). Put these unusual characters on the road in a clapped-out old yellow sixties-style VW bus and you have the makings of a hilarious comedy, right?
Well, not exactly.
While the ensemble cast is admittedly excellent, as one would expect from actors of this calibre, the laughs are simply too few and far between. It's like we've seen it all before, only better. A hapless father and a body being transported clandestinely in the family wagon - did someone say "National Lampoon's Vacation"? A faulty bus which can't get started at road-stops - anyone seen Robin Williams in "RV" recently? If the movie is billing itself as being superior to either of those two low-brow comedies due to some kind of deeper message, then I fail to see what that message is.
While it seems to be saying that we should support the hopes and dreams of a child who has the odds stacked against her in the face of a conformist and plastic society, the little girl's final performance at the pageant is so disturbing that I found myself sympathising with the ogre-like pageant organiser, whom the film is asking us to despise. What else does the film tell us? By its conclusion, none of the characters appear to have grown or learnt anything from their experiences. Their circumstances remain unchanged and their dreams remain unfulfilled, which is a kind of depressing way to end a film which bills itself as a comedy. And child beauty pageants are simply too much of an easy target if the film is trying to take a shot at the crass superficiality of modern America.
Ther are some touching moments and some fine performances but this is ultimately a cliched and not-very-funny comedy, which in my view does not deserve the credits which were heaped upon it.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2004 - Comedy - Director: John Hay - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jimi Mistry, Kate Miles, Dougray Scott
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Comedy - Director: Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Carol Cleveland, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones
Re-rated based on Ciao's insistence that such reviews are no longer considered "Off Topic"
Soho_Black 19.06.2007 16:39
I see you've posted this as a DVD review, but you've not mentioned the DVD. Are there any extras? If so, what are they and are they any good? If you add to this, or if you change it to be posted as a "Film Only" review, which can be done by accessing "edit review" above the review and changing the drop down menu under the "Which format are you reviewing?" question at the bottom, please let me know and I'll re-rate.
catrinaf 04.06.2007 15:09
Hi and welcome to Ciao. A good first review - Cat x x
Take a hilarious ride with the Hoovers, one of the most endearingly fractured families in ... more
comedy history.Father Richard (Greg Kinnear) is desperately trying to sell his motivational success programme... with no success. Meanwhile, pro-honesty mom Shery...
Advantages: Lovely bizarre road movie, perfectly balancing family dilemma and humour Disadvantages: Can seem slow and, sometimes, a little over the top
![Little Miss Sunshine [DVD] [2006]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78189332.jpg "Little Miss Sunshine [DVD] [2006]")
Jun 4th, 2007
very helpful by (50%):
helpful by (50%):
