Review: Breslin perfect as ‘Little Miss Sunshine’

Directed by: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Starring: Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin and Alan Arkin

Rated: R

With a sweet name like “Little Miss Sunshine,” one might expect this film to be a homage to those sweet little films that starred Shirley Temple.

While there is a personable child actress at the center of the film, first ask yourself a question: Would Ms. Temple have played a character with 1) a grandfather who snorts heroin, 2) a brother who reads Nietzsche and has taken a vow of silence, 3) a gay uncle who has just attempted suicide and 4) a self-help guru dad who can’t find success in his field?

Olive, the young girl, despite being bespectacled and a bit overweight, is a pageant junkie, and mom tries to hold the whole scenario together.

Yes, Olive’s clan, the Hoovers, is another movie family that successfully puts the “fun” in “dysfunctional.”

The husband-and-wife directorial team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, veterans of the music video market, do a fine job with their first feature film.

“Little Miss Sunshine” was a big hit at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, where Fox Searchlight Pictures picked it up. Despite a large and well-known ensemble cast, the film retains the feel of an independent production and the movie company has been using a slow but steady roll-out and advertising campaign relying on the positive word-of-mouth being generated by critics and audiences.

Abigail Breslin, who made her debut in M. Night Shyamalan’s “Signs” opposite Mel Gibson, plays Olive. Breslin – who turns 10 next month – was a perfect choice for this role. She’s endearing without being precocious or precious. The viewer knows Olive is a duck – make that a swan – out of water when it comes to the kiddy pageant set, but her youthful enthusiasm and nearly unwavering spirit keep us rooting for her.

Her family is behind her as well. Another little girl has had to give up her crown, and at the last minute Olive is eligible to enter the Little Miss Sunshine pageant to be held in Redondo Beach, Calif., in less than 48 hours. Unable to afford plane fare and with a household of people who cannot be left unattended, mom Sheryl (Toni Collette) and dad Richard (Greg Kinnear) decide to load everyone into the old Volkswagen microbus and make the trip from their home in New Mexico. From this point until the hilariously twisted finale, the film uses the tried-and-true “road picture” formula.

While heralded as the comedy of the year by some, “Little Miss Sunshine” features many moments of poignant dramatic relief. The most touching of these comes in a motel when Olive gets a heart-to-heart pep talk from Grandpa. Alan Arkin plays the family patriarch with great aplomb, and the character offers much wisdom. After being kicked out of a retirement home for his heroin habit, he rails against the powers that be: “I’m old, I paid my money, I should be able to do whatever the hell I want!”

The film’s most surprising performance comes from “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” Steve Carrell, who takes a turn from straight-ahead comedy. He’s Frank, Sheryl’s brother and the country’s foremost authority on French author Marcel Proust. Frank has recently attempted suicide after being jilted by his lover, a grad student who dumps Frank for the country’s second-leading authority on Proust. Olive and the family find this out over a casual dinner of take-home chicken.

Carrell gets laughs throughout the film (his running style belongs in the Monty Python museum of funny walks) but it’s a serious role at heart. Many TV-comics-turned-film actors (Will Ferrell comes to mind) have had little success at straighter, more dramatic roles. If this isn’t a fluke, Carrell just lengthened his career.

By the time the family hits the pageant – after an endless series of comic/tragic pitfalls ¬– it becomes painfully clear that Olive is out of her league. The directors haven’t overplayed the look of the kinds of girls whose parents put them in these things, which makes things all the more funny/creepy.

The finale comes when Olive finally unleashes the dance routine that grandpa taught her.

“Little Miss Sunshine” is an eminently watchable film. And if a little in-your-face truthfulness concerning typical American families doesn’t upset you, it’s also a completely enjoyable one.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.[[In-content Ad]]