- Introduction -

This film is pretty well known, even though its not exactly a totally mainstream movie (though it does feature some fairly well known names), it got alot of attention on TV and the DVD was advertised quite alot. It sounded like something I might enjoy and I'd wanted to see it for a while but after reading reviews that indicated it was a film that you would only really watch once, I decided to wait until I could find a cheap copy, rather than paying lots for it incase I didn't watch it much. Luckily I spotted one going on Ebay and I managed to get it for under £5 incl. p&p, which isn't bad at all considering its still a fairly new movie (dating from 2006).

I got it in the post earlier this week and I sat down to watch it last night, looking forward to seeing another comedy and I have to say, I wasn't disappointed!

- Main Credits (non-actors, which are mentioned further on in the review) -
Source:- IMDB (see:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449059/fullcredits)

Director - Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Writer - Michael Arndt
Producers - Albert Berger, David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, Marc Turteltaub, Ron Yerxa
Executive Producers - Michael Beugg, Jeb Brody
Associate Producer - Bart Lipton
Cinematography - Tim Suhrstedt (director of photography)

- Story (incl. main acting cast) -

Little Miss Sunshine is all about the rather dysfunctional Hoover family, who, when they find out that their seven year old daughter Olive (played by Abigail Breslin) has been given the chance to compete in a beauty pageant in California called the 'Little Miss Sunshine' pageant, decide to rush off on a day and a half road trip from their home town in Albuquerque to the pageant location in California. The whole family cram themselves into this rather beaten up old yellow and white Volkswagon Beetle, though some of them would rather not be going but somehow they all agree to go on this trip to support Olive.

Of course, this trip is anything but dull and ends up being pretty eventful, through a number of rather random and somewhat amusing incidents. Not long into the trip, the van suffers from a broken clutch and they end up having to always push it along so far before it will start up, so they have to run along side the door and jump in, to get in, from there on in, which is kind of funny.

The family consist of the father Richard (played by Greg Kinnear), who spends alot of the journey tryng to find out whether his motivational success programme has been successfully sold, the mother Sheryl (played by Toni Collete) and her brother Frank (played by Steve Carell), who had recently attempted suicide after being dumped from his gay lover and has to come on the trip as the family have been told they can't leave him alone at that time (having just been released from hospital). There's also Olive's brother Dwayne (played by Paul Dano), who is silent throughout most of the movie, having taken a vow of silence until he gets in to flight school and the last member of the family and by no means the least, is the grandfather Edwin (played by Alan Arkin), who happens to be a rather over the top and dirty mouthed grandfather.

During the movie, a rather embarrassing set of events occurs at a gas (petrol) station, Olive gets left behind at one stage, as I say the van has mechanical problems, tragedy occurs at one stage and so on but the question is - will they get to California in time for the pageant (they happen to find out that Olive has the chance to appear there only at the last minute and only have a couple of days to reach there!)

- Genre/Themes etc. -

This is very much a dysfunctional family comedy. You can tell before even putting the DVD into your DVD player that their dysfunctional as on the cover, the tag line says 'everyone pretend to be normal' which kind of is a clue!

I like the way the title of this movie is in contrast to the family themselves... there is alot of yellow here, on the DVD cover and the name of the movie and so on, as if to say everythings all bright and happy and positive and so on but the joke of course is that when you meet and get to know the family, its very much the opposite, with each family member having their own problems, insecurities and so on. Olive is probably the only member of the family without any real baggage I suppose.

Its a bit sad when you realise that she is worried and becomes affected by what other people in the family will think, if she performs at the pageant and doesn't win, as her father, working on the motivational programme where he talks about there only being two people in the world - winners and losers and surprisingly enough, he isn't too keen on the latter and thinks everyone should be and can be a winner. This is a big part of the movie really, the theme of a normal family who is clearly somewhat 'down and out' and whether they and/or their daughter Olive ever really have a chance of shining, given their background.

Its nice towards the end, where the message changes into more of one about that it doesn't always matter if your some big success or not, as long as you have your family, who will support you (awww), at least I think thats how we're supposed to take it anyway.

- My Thoughts/Opinions -

**Warning - potential slight spoiler in 3rd paragraph, perhaps avoid that part if your worried, though I don't state clearly exactly what happens but I do reference something that happens near the end of the movie**

I really quite enjoyed the movie. The grandfather Edwin was quite amusing in parts, when he gave out 'advice' to Dwayne in the van and in another scene, where he's with Olive sharing a room at a motel/hotel, he says some touching things, which was nice. The scene with them at the gas station and later on at the hospital were quite funny in some dark, quirky ways. You can tell that everyone supported Olive and they really want to get to the pageant and the result at the end is worth waiting for, if you 'get it' then you should find it quite hilarious like I did!

I think it is a movie that I suppose you have to get a feel for, if you don't feel any kind of link to or interest in the characters then, of course, it'll fall flat for you and I suppose its really about the fact that families are flawed and it shows up these beauty pageants as being somewhat ridiculous, young kids trying to be perfect.

At the very end, and im trying not to give it away too much obviously but put it this way, there's a very amusing part, thats pretty ridiculous and outrageous but that is also quite hilarious and at least I felt it was like a bit of a kick at the whole beauty pageant thing. Its outrageous for the over the top-ness of it, if that makes sense but thats kind of a joke as so many kids do what could be seen as equally over the top things in the name of such beauty shows. I think its a bad idea that such young children are encouraged to do such over the top beauty shows in general, it is like too much sexualisation for young kids in my opinion, so I welcome the way this shows that up in a daft and funny sense and shows how it can be kind of hypocritical too. I hope this doesn't give too much away!.

I quite like these movies that make you realise, well heck I guess my family isn't so bad after all! lol which this does. The eccentric characters are quite amusing, I won't say that its anything completely original, as it isn't really but for what it is, its pretty good and I did feel all in all that I enjoyed it and I had a good laugh at the end, so it worked well for me. I'm not sure that I agree with what I'd read about it being a movie I'd only watch once, I think if I leave it maybe a few months, I could quite enjoy re-watching it for the jokes throughout.

- Certificate -

Little Miss Sunshine has a 15 rating. This is for strong language and for the drug references and drug use shown, as grandfather Edwin happens to take heroine (not something you see everyday, a grandfather snorting cocaine but there you go!).

- Official Website -

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/littlemisssunshine2/

On the site, you can find the film trailer, info. on the cast, see photos, you can find info. on the production, get screensavers, wallpapers and icons (under 'downloads' - one of the shadowed sillhouettes, put your cursor over each for the name of the page to show up), as well as movie related skins to use on your MySpace page and a link to a YouTube community, among other stuff.

- DVD -

The DVD offers subtitles in English for the hard of hearing. Its shown in letterbox version 16:9 (widescreen) and offers the following bonus features -

- 4 Alternative Endings - with the option of having the audio commentary or not. These are pretty brief and 2 or 3 are quite similar, also it doesn't vary the ending tremendously really, so its not that exciting a feature really, to be honest. This only lasts a few minutes.

- Commentary with the film's director and writer - The title says it all really, I have to admit I haven't properly watched this yet, not sure if I will either. I never like to pay much attention to commentaries to be honest, I like to watch movies and take away my own thoughts without being too influenced by what the films director wants me to think or anything.

- Conclusions -

I did quite enjoy this movie and thought there were some quite amusing moments, with it all culminating at the end, in quite a good way I thought, that certainly made me laugh out loud. I guess it depends on how seriously you take it all, if you can take the quirkiness and the silliness at the end, you should find this pretty amusing.

I know it does have a few messages its trying to put across, or at least I presume so but I also didn't feel that it was something that was too sugary sacharrine, of course. The characters are all funny in their own way and its hard not to feel hopeful for Olive, you almost feel sorry for her, getting an insight into what (or who) she has to put up with! you really want the family to come out on top and wish the best for them, even though they clearly have their own flaws but thats what makes them amusing.

I would recommend this movie and the DVD as you can now buy it brand new for £5 and for that, you get a good movie that should be re-watchable, I feel. It isn't a majorly original movie I suppose but that doesn't really take away from itself, its still very enjoyable with some interesting characters and some pretty amusing parts, with a hilarious ending I felt, the ending was like the cherry on the top for me, seeing the reaction of everyone - classic! Definately worth a watch.

I hope you found my review useful in deciding whether to buy this on DVD, thanks for reading!