LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

 R (language, sexual innuendo, death)

Big Beach Films, 2006 
 

The Hoover family is a mess.  Mom, Sheryl (Toni Collette) just can't quit smoking, and has to do it on the sly from her motivational-speaker husband, Richard (Greg Kinnear). Living with Richard and Sheryl are Sheryl's brother Frank (Steve Carell), a Proust scholar who attempts suicide after being rejected by a male grad student; Richard's father Edwin (Alan Arkin), a foul-mouthed, porn-loving, heroin-using senior citizen who was evicted from his retirement home for sexually harassing the help. Also included are their two children, Dwayne and Olive.  Dwayne (Paul Dano) is a high-school senior who has taken a vow of silence until he is accepted into the Air Force Academy. Olive (the show-stealingly cute Abigail Breslin) is an awkward seven-year-old with aspirations of being a beauty queen.

The initial conflicts emerge immediately, with Richard bullying the rest of the family with his nine-step "Refuse to Lose" motivational program, including  his chain-smoking  wife and his silent son who broods in the bedroom and reads Nietzsche all day. Meanwhile, Edwin coaches Olive in some new steps that will help her win "talent" contests.  When Olive is accepted into the "Little Miss Sunshine" pageant, the family must pull together with 48 hours to get Olive from Albuquerque to LA. They pile into a VW microbus and one of the best movie "road trips" commences.

Most of the obstacles along the way are tied to the individual characters' personal conflicts. The movie allows each of the characters their own standout moment and resolution. The climax occurs when they attempt to wake Edwin from a nap and discover he's dead; and since he died across state lines, they can't leave him in a California morgue, but they can't take the body with them either.  Meanwhile, they still have to get Olive to Redondo Beach for the pageant since "Grandpa" would have wanted it. The solution?  The family is so committed to helping at least one of them attain their goals that there's only one choice...sneak the corpse out of the hospital and continue on to the "Little Miss Sunshine" competition!

Finally, they arrive at the pageant just in time to register Olive, and discover a bevy of hyper-sexualized little Jon-Benet Ramsey wannabees.  These other contestants with their perfect makeup, hair, and gowns contrast with Olive's low-key amateur look.  Afraid that Olive will be embarrassed, the family attempts to express their unconditional admiration and love for Olive, giving her an out if she wants it.  Olive soldiers on, and the mayhem (caused mainly by the "dance routine" her grandpa concocted) points out the mixed messages of sexuality and innocence inherent in these junior beauty pageants.

The standout performances here come from the young Breslin, who manages to bring a sweetness to this role without turning it into something that might require insulin therapy. Arkin as the bitter old grandfather still gives his last bit of love for the family, and Carell delivers an unusually serious turn as the suicidal scholar.  Oh yeah, the cantankerous VW bus almost becomes a character in its own right.

The real delight of this independent film (a 2006 Sundance winner) is the message of family interdependence and unconditional grace and love that develops over the course of the trip. "Little Miss Sunshine" takes a long, hard look at our society's fascination with "winners and losers" with the Alan Arkin character delivering the bottom line message: "A real loser is someone who's so afraid of not winning he doesn't even try."

And the Hoovers, in most people's eyes, would qualify as losers. By Edwin's definition, though, not so much.  These people have everything but the proverbial kitchen sink thrown at them; but every time out, they pull together, look at each other, and say "So what?  We'll find another way."

The profanity and dark comedy can be off-putting at times, but a viewer who perseveres to the end of the film will come away with an inspiring message about how good people can deal with bad things.

by Mike Stidham