Take a hilarious ride with the Hoovers, one of the most endearingly fractured families in comedy history.
Father Richard (Greg Kinnear) is desperately trying to sell his motivational success program…with no success. Meanwhile, “pro-honesty” mom Sheryl (Toni Collette) lends support to her eccentric family, including her depressed brother (Steve Carell), fresh out of the hospital after being jilted by his lover. Then there are the younger Hoovers?the seven-year-old, would-be beauty queen Olive (Abigail Breslin) and Dwayne (Paul Dano), a Nietzsche-reading teen who has taken a vow of silence. Topping off the family is the foul-mouthed grandfather (Alan Arkin), whose outrageous behavior recently got him evicted from his retirement home. When Olive is invited to compete in the “Little Miss Sunshine” pageant in far-off California, the family piles into their rusted-out VW bus to rally behind her?with riotously funny results.Pile together a blue-ribbon cast, a screenplay high in quirkiness, and the Sundance stamp of approval, and you’ve got yourself a crossover indie hit. That formula worked for Little Miss Sunshine, a frequently hilarious study of family dysfunction. Meet the Hoovers, an Albuquerque clan riddled with depression, hostility, and the tattered remnants of the American Dream; despite their flakiness, they manage to pile into a VW van for a weekend trek to L.A. in order to get moppet daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin) into the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Much of the pleasure of this journey comes from watching some skillful comic actors doing their thing: Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette as the parents (he’s hoping to become a self-help authority), Alan Arkin as a grandfather all too willing to give uproariously inappropriate advice to a sullen teenage grandson (Paul Dano), and a subdued Steve Carell as a jilted gay professor on the verge of suicide. The film is a crowd-pleaser, and if anything is a little too eager to bend itself in the direction of quirk-loving Sundance audiences; it can feel forced. But the breezy momentum and the ingenious actors help push the material over any bumps in the road.– Robert Horton
Beyond Little Miss Sunshine
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Stills from Little Miss Sunshine
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April 6, 2008
#1
I will not be surprised if Abigail Breslin gets the Razzie this year for Worst Supporting Actress. I was very pleased to read that Alan Arkin only accepted this role because of the large amount of money they offered him. Carell talking about Proust is about as believable as Paul Dano’s tearful breakdown near the end of this movie. There was nothing to like about this movie and nothing original about this movie either. If I had to pick one movie to define the Myspace generation, this would be it.
April 6, 2008
#2
This is one of the few movies I have felt like walking out of. My girlfriend, who wanted to see this film, agreed it was depressing. The only entertaining part was the brilliant Alan Arkin, who was unfortunately in only part of this film.
There was no cohesiveness, just a dysfunctional family misadventure.
Guys, don’t let your partner talk you into seeing this film.
April 6, 2008
#3
I hate it when you are trying to watch a movie and people keep yaking! Take your gift of gab and hit the road, no diarhea of the mouth please Chatty Cathy, its the highway or my way! Say it don’t spray it and please don’t let the door hit you on the way out! I didn’t hear half of this movie, and while Steve was probably funny and that adorable little girl had to have some good one liners, I ultimately did not get a chance to sit through this because of all the talking in my house. If you are going to watch a movie…WATCH IT DON’T BOTCH IT!
April 6, 2008
#4
There screenplay was wrriten by a man named Michael Arndt. Michael should read a book by Robert McKee: STORY. ‘Story’ is a non-fictional book that teaches the art of writing novels, short stories, & screenplays. In this book Michael would learn why his movie failed on so many levels.
You see, Michael thought that charaters are the most important element in story telling. Michael thought all he had to do was develop some interesting and flawed characters. Michael thought the plot was something that other writers worried themselves about – but his plot would be an organic byproduct of some quirky honest dialogue. The scenes in this movie serve no purpose but to put his characters in the same space. The scene where Frank (Steve Carrell) just happens to run into the man he most loves and the man who ruined his life at a gas station purchasing porn – this scene serves no purpose. I certainly didn’t learn anything new or interesting about Frank during that scene.
The moral of the movie seems to be that Olive and everyone should “(forget) about beauty contests”. I cleaned-up the language. OK, suppose we do forget about beauty contests – what’s inspiring, uplifting, useful, timely about this message? How in the World does it relate to Frank’s, Dwayne’s, or any other character other than Olive?
This movie contains mildly interesting characters, who were placed together for no good reason. There is no plot here.
April 6, 2008
#5
a typical dramatized american struggling family, not even qualified as a middle class clan, got to squeeze everyway to get by since there was no steady income at all. simply put, a house poor family, every body got some demon or agenda to deal with. the only thing i felt so contrite and unnatural is why put another gay guy in the movie again? for those who like to chase or follow their (broken) dreams no matter what, this might be the movie for you. it’s so typically boring. what about later? the ‘thereafter’? happily thereafter? definitely not. might still have to eat fried chicken everyday as the main course, some sweets as the dessert 24/7. the struggle never goes away.