Little Miss Sunshine

While never as blatantly advertised as such, the summer movie season is a decent time to release critically acclaimed but perhaps not award-worthy indie movies. This is where you put your lighter fare and its usually a bedrock for small teen movies, black comedies, or quirky but fun films. And if you're really really lucky, it can break out and become a huge hit. So as the Viggo Mortensen road-trip vehicle Captain Fantastic hits theaters, I'll be revisiting one such hit: 2006's Little Miss Sunshine.

The film centers around the Hoover family who's barely hanging together by a thread. The husband Richard is attempting, unsuccessfully, to peddle a motivational plan, his wife Sheryl is overworked, their eldest son has taken a vow silence, Sheryl's brother has recently attempted suicide, and Richard's father Edwin is now living with them after being kicked out of a retirement facility for doing drugs. But none of that seems to matter to the Hoover's daughter Olive who unexpectedly qualifies for a national beauty pageant. Now the struggling family will be put to the test in an 800 mile road trip to get Olive on stage.

At first glance, Little Miss Sunshine looks like a checklist for an indie dark comedy. We've got the quirky family, the brooding teen, the goal that's designed to break them, and of course someone has attempted suicide. But this movie is a perfect example on how well a movie can work if you've got a great script and a stellar cast.

The movie has a delicate balancing act as it has to present a lot of real problems amidst the family's inherent and humorous weirdness. There's a ton of tonal shifts in this movie even within scenes as things can move from slightly humorous, to hilariously sad, to all too real within the span of five minutes.

However the movie has two great weapons built into script: Olive and Grandpa Edwin. Abigail Breslin's breakout role, deservedly so, functions as the family's driving force (literally they're driving to keep her dream alive) and remaining shining light. In a family that's been beaten down by life she's the one person that remains consistently hopeful, supportive, and fun throughout the entire trip. Brother breaks down? Olive's there to bring him back. Family feels fractured? They'll pull together to defend her. 

Likewise, Alan Arkin's Oscar-winning role as Edwin serves a perpetual voice oh "eh it'll all turn out ok." While Olive is determined and enthusiastic, Edwin remains the group's rebellious spirit that encourages them not to take things so seriously and be proud of who they are. It's worth noting that the family junkie seems to be the most comfortable in his own skin (aside from Olive) and the most content.

The more broken characters work because of who's playing them. Greg Kinnear is exactly the kind of handsome Type A you want to consistently peddle a life coach plan. The scenes where he's going down in flames are a perfect display of ego destruction. Toni Collette, who's known more for playing more off the wall characters, also sells the hell out of a woman who feels overworked and under-appreciated in her life. She loves her family, but she wants the stability she's been busy providing and the refusal of her family to allow it drives her crazy.

The other fun duo of the film is Steve Carell's Frank and Paul Dano's Dwayne. Carell has always been a fantastic live-wire presence in comedies his role is based on understatement and great use of his expressive face. I'm also certain his Daily Show experience helped his matter of fact delivery of some of the film's more awkward lines. Paul Dano does impressive work as well giving a performance almost entirely without words until they explode out of him.

That said your enjoyment of this movie is going to be largely dependent upon your sense of humor. There's a number of dark and awkward laughs in this movie, often surrounding death and film doesn't exactly end with a significant feeling of closure (though it's hella fun). Still there's a sweet undercurrent in this movie and the cast make this movie a trip worth taking for a willing audience.