Those Australians have struck again... with a screening of LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, a Sundance favorite that is now my favorite comedy of the year (thanks, Australians in Film). Really, I have not laughed as hard as I did in the third act of this movie in a long, long time. But before we get to that point, there's a lot to take in, as Albuquerque's Hoover family loads into the old VW bus...
...to take little Olive (Abigail Breslin) to the finals of the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant in Redondo Beach. Problems: Dad Richard (Greg Kinnear) is slightly hysterical at not selling his 'winning is everything' 9-step program; brother Dwayne (Paul Dano) has taken a vow of silence and spends all day scribbling notes instead of talking; Grandpa (Alan Arkin) snorts coke and tosses 4-letter word bombs that suggest he was the VW bus' original owner; and Uncle Frank (The Office's Steve Carrell) is a suicidal gay Proust scholar. On a good day, Mom Sheryl (Aussie Toni Collete) stuggles to hold the crew together, and today is, as they say, not so good.
What really holds the family together is their love for Olive, whose beauty pageant dreams are misguided, but so sincere and full of innocence that you (and they) root for her to take the crown. Abigail Breslin so perfectly portrays a kid's sense of wonder at the world; I mean, she is a kid, after all, but she takes you along with her. In Olive's presence, even Uncle Frank finds a reason to live, and as the road trip's minor and major breakdowns and dissapointments build, the family coalesces around Olive's dream. Which brings us to Redondo. And a whole lot of warm, feel good, laugh with them, fun.
As good as little Abigail is, the rest of the cast is perfect. It's the kind of movie that, once you've seen it, you can't imagine anyone else in the roles. Somehow they take characters who on the face of it are sad, unlikeable losers, and -- in an effort Richard's 9-steps could never achieve -- turns them into winners.
So, you may not have heard of it yet, but this is a ray of SUNSHINE you won't want to miss.