Little Miss Sunshine (8 of 10)
Review by James Jones
Little Miss Sunshine is a road film about a family trying desperately to get to a child beauty pageant in California. It’s a sweet, wonderful little movie that takes a realistic look at modern family dynamics, and it’s also one of the best films of the year.
Richard (Greg Kinnear) is a struggling self-help guru who believes that “there are only two kinds of people; winners and losers.” He’s trying to get a book deal, but it’s just not coming together as planned. This means his wife, Sheryl (Toni Collette), is the breadwinner. She cares for her children deeply, but is so busy with the minutiae of daily life that they eat buckets of fried chicken on paper plates for dinner.
Sheryl receives a call to pick up her suicidal brother, Frank (Steve Carell, in a great, understated performance), from the hospital. He is the country’s #1 Proust scholar and he recently slit his wrists after his graduate student boyfriend left him for #2. Carell is so adept at playing damaged characters; it’s a joy to watch him gradually open up to the rest of the family, especially Sheryl’s son, Dwayne (Paul Dano). Dwayne, who has taken a vow of silence because he hates everybody, must watch Frank to ensure he doesn’t attempt to off himself again.
Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris get great performances from the entire cast, even the 7 year-old daughter, played by Abigail Breslin. As a film about the American family, this ranks right up there with You Can Count on Me as one of the best.