A very enjoyable movie, I have to say. It didn’t leave me crying or rolling on the floor laughing or anything, but I love the insanity of the plot… In short, it’s kind of like this: there’s this family of 4 with a live in granddad, who takes in the mother’s brother who’s just tried to kill himself. At the dinertable they get a call that the young daughter won a spot in this interstate beauty pagant. So they all get up, get into this VW minivan and drive across the country.

Now, this sounds like a lame road movie or something. But it’s not. Every character is busy with his or her own issues, which range from a broken gay heart, cocaine use, lost dreams and wether or not beauty queens can eat icecream (yes, they can!)

The VW minivan is almost a character on it’s own, slowly falling to shreds. When finally you think thereīs little more that can happen to the car, the carhorn starts beeping on itīs own. Brilliant.

Ultimately just not my cup of tea. I didn’t really find it funny – well, maybe the end – and I find such painful real life-type films just a bit awkward.

It wasn’t bad, I just don’t understand why movies like this garner quite so many plaudits.

Major props to IMDB for revealing such interesting trivia as: Dwayne was a stepchild (I totally missed this), the $19.79 ringup at the convenience store was homage to the Smashing Pumpkins video that the directors had done, and that Grandpa’s first name was Edwin.

spoilers!

I watched this when it was in theaters over a year ago, with my parents. I went in not knowing anything about it. I saw one preview that I thought advertised it as a family comedy.

Five minutes into it, I changed my mind. Steve Carrell’s presence was startlingly misleading. Carrell, who normally plays the lovable, dry, funny man was instead heavy and depressed.

The movie starts out, describing the supporting characters’ miserably average lives. But the focus shifts over to Olive, the baby of the family.

I love how every individual set aside their personal shortcomings to support Olive in the end.

The second time I watched it, the scene where Dwayne finds out he’s colorblind and can’t pilot in the Air Force gave me anxiety. It was so emotional and having already seen the movie, I anticipated it, my stomach in knots. Powerful scene indeed.

Little Miss Sunshine is a movie that I highly recommend and deeply enjoy, but its not one that I can enjoy over and over again.

This was out in the cinema near my house for about a week, so I missed it then, but FINALLY saw it and how fantastic was this film? So funny and sweet and the acting was all great and Olive was adorable and Steve Carell was hysterical… Great, great film.

Quite possibly my favorite movie of 2006.

Everything about “Little Miss Sunshine” was excellent, from acting to story to execution. It’s delightfully funny yet really moving at the same time for various reasons. You just need to see it to know what I mean.

If you haven’t seen it yet, you’re truly missing out on a great film. Hell, it’s still playing where I’m living, because people around here can’t get enough of it.

EDIT:

I picked up the film on DVD the other day and I just finished watching the four alternate endings that it came with. I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed since the endings are just really short clips, some of which are rehashed along with text since they didn’t actually film the entire sequence for one ending. Also, there aren’t really any extras except for the alternate endings, commentary, and a music video.

Still, the film alone is worth the price of the DVD, especially if you missed out on seeing this in theaters.