Little Miss Sunshine
It's getting to be a rare thing that I see a movie that I recommend to friends and family. I've seen a handful of films this year, including X-Men 3 (skip it), Click (okay - but eh), Friends with Money (good, but slow), Thank You For Smoking (hubby loved it), and I don't think we wasted much summer time on movies this year. There just hasn't been anything worth seeing. X-Men 3 really ruined me for summer movies. I would have seen Superman, except X-Men 3 was so bad. And I would have seen Pirates, but X-Men 3 was so bad.
Sorry X-Men. But you really were terrible.
But this weekend we went to see Little Miss Sunshine. The cast of characters included many favorites of mine, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, and the wonderful Abigail Breslin, who's credits include Signs with Mel Gibson and Raising Helen with Kate Hudson.
The movie starts out with Greg Kinnear giving a speech on winners, and what will soon be his infamous 9 steps. It looks like he's speaking at a big convention hall, to hundreds of people. But when the lights come on it's a small class room of about 5, and only one person claps at his finale.
The irony is that most of the main characters in this show aren't really what society looks at as "winners." The mother, Sheryl (Toni Collette) is the only one without any real back story, or at least not right away. The son, Dwayne (Paul Dano) has taken a vow of silence until he gets into the Air Force Academy to fly jets. Grandpa (Alan Arkin) was kicked out a nursing home and secretly does drugs. The Uncle, Frank (Steve Carrell) has just been released for the hospital after trying to take his own life. The father, Richard (Greg Kinnear) is unemployed and is fruitlessly trying to sell a self-help book about his 9 steps to being a winner. And then there's little Olive (Abigail Breslin), who competes in local beauty pagents that her grandpa trains her for. She competed in Florida, and got 2nd place. But 1st place got disqualified, and now Olive is eligible to compete in Little Miss Sunshine in California. In two days. The family lives in Albequerque.
The resulting hour and a half are hillarious. Watching this mismatched group of people make there way across the southwest desert was hillarious and heart warming. Richard is determined to be a winner, Frank is just existing and talking to Dwayne who hates everyone, and Olive is this little voice of optimism. The little engine that keeps them all going. And if you don't want to know any specifics about scenes in this movie, stop reading now.
The ending I had to think about. Its the competition, and the girls are all beautiful. Olive is beautiful too, but not in the same way. She's beautiful. A warm hearted girl who is enthusiastic and worries about her Daddy thinking she's a loser and not a winner. The other girls in the competition are done up, have hair teased up three feet, and have enough make-up on to be visible in the dark. They are not like Olive. And the men in her family see this, and try to get Sheryl to stop her from competing so she doesn't embarrass herself. But Sheryl says no, and they have to let Olive be Olive. So she goes out on stage, and dances the routine that her grandpa taught her.
I won't ruin it, because it's pretty funny. But I had issue with this scene, and it says more about her Grandpa than it does Olive, but in the end you're so glad that it ends the way it does because Olive is being Olive, and really, they are all being themselves.
I really enjoyed this movie. It moved, it was thoughtful, it was funny. It was poignant. My favorite, favorite scene is in a coffee shop on the way to the pageant, and Olive (who is about 7 mind you) asks for Waffles A La Mode. Her father launches into a lecture on how skinny people don't eat ice cream, and isn't Miss America (Olive's idol) skinny? So she probably doesn't eat ice cream. Olive, naturally, pushes the ice cream away when it is brought to her. And her grandfather, uncle, brother and mom all say "Well if you aren't eating it, we'll dig in!" And they go on about how it good it is, and such and then Olive finally starts smiling and pulls it to her.
Later, at the pagent, Olive meets Miss California, and she asks her if she eats ice cream. Now, I know, and so does every female in the audience, that skinny-minny Miss California probably hasn't had ice cream in a gazillion months. But Miss Cali tells Olive she loves ice cream, and her favorite flavor is rocky road.
Little girls should be able to eat ice cream without worrying about being super models. But I could talk about this all day.
I really enjoyed this movie. If you need a date or want to see a good movie, I really liked this one. It's okay to be who we are, even if it isn't just like everyone else.
Sorry X-Men. But you really were terrible.
But this weekend we went to see Little Miss Sunshine. The cast of characters included many favorites of mine, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, and the wonderful Abigail Breslin, who's credits include Signs with Mel Gibson and Raising Helen with Kate Hudson.
The movie starts out with Greg Kinnear giving a speech on winners, and what will soon be his infamous 9 steps. It looks like he's speaking at a big convention hall, to hundreds of people. But when the lights come on it's a small class room of about 5, and only one person claps at his finale.
The irony is that most of the main characters in this show aren't really what society looks at as "winners." The mother, Sheryl (Toni Collette) is the only one without any real back story, or at least not right away. The son, Dwayne (Paul Dano) has taken a vow of silence until he gets into the Air Force Academy to fly jets. Grandpa (Alan Arkin) was kicked out a nursing home and secretly does drugs. The Uncle, Frank (Steve Carrell) has just been released for the hospital after trying to take his own life. The father, Richard (Greg Kinnear) is unemployed and is fruitlessly trying to sell a self-help book about his 9 steps to being a winner. And then there's little Olive (Abigail Breslin), who competes in local beauty pagents that her grandpa trains her for. She competed in Florida, and got 2nd place. But 1st place got disqualified, and now Olive is eligible to compete in Little Miss Sunshine in California. In two days. The family lives in Albequerque.
The resulting hour and a half are hillarious. Watching this mismatched group of people make there way across the southwest desert was hillarious and heart warming. Richard is determined to be a winner, Frank is just existing and talking to Dwayne who hates everyone, and Olive is this little voice of optimism. The little engine that keeps them all going. And if you don't want to know any specifics about scenes in this movie, stop reading now.
The ending I had to think about. Its the competition, and the girls are all beautiful. Olive is beautiful too, but not in the same way. She's beautiful. A warm hearted girl who is enthusiastic and worries about her Daddy thinking she's a loser and not a winner. The other girls in the competition are done up, have hair teased up three feet, and have enough make-up on to be visible in the dark. They are not like Olive. And the men in her family see this, and try to get Sheryl to stop her from competing so she doesn't embarrass herself. But Sheryl says no, and they have to let Olive be Olive. So she goes out on stage, and dances the routine that her grandpa taught her.
I won't ruin it, because it's pretty funny. But I had issue with this scene, and it says more about her Grandpa than it does Olive, but in the end you're so glad that it ends the way it does because Olive is being Olive, and really, they are all being themselves.
I really enjoyed this movie. It moved, it was thoughtful, it was funny. It was poignant. My favorite, favorite scene is in a coffee shop on the way to the pageant, and Olive (who is about 7 mind you) asks for Waffles A La Mode. Her father launches into a lecture on how skinny people don't eat ice cream, and isn't Miss America (Olive's idol) skinny? So she probably doesn't eat ice cream. Olive, naturally, pushes the ice cream away when it is brought to her. And her grandfather, uncle, brother and mom all say "Well if you aren't eating it, we'll dig in!" And they go on about how it good it is, and such and then Olive finally starts smiling and pulls it to her.
Later, at the pagent, Olive meets Miss California, and she asks her if she eats ice cream. Now, I know, and so does every female in the audience, that skinny-minny Miss California probably hasn't had ice cream in a gazillion months. But Miss Cali tells Olive she loves ice cream, and her favorite flavor is rocky road.
Little girls should be able to eat ice cream without worrying about being super models. But I could talk about this all day.
I really enjoyed this movie. If you need a date or want to see a good movie, I really liked this one. It's okay to be who we are, even if it isn't just like everyone else.
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