Little Miss Sunshine

Last night we decided to go to the movies. There isn't a lot out, but the one movie I (and the rest of my family) wanted to see was Little Miss Sunshine. About a dysfunctional family on their way to a beauty pageant. So we drove downtown to the theatre, and arrived to a substantial line-up to see the movie. I was glad there was a whole bunch of different people coming to see it, usually that theatre isn't very lined up (with the exception of Brokeback Mountain, which had huge line-ups). I was totally sporting the 80's look, leggings, green Clash t-shirt with belt, sequined flats. It's not really that important that I was sporting the 80's look, but it sounds cool to say. I think I'm going to try and do a review of the movie with important points about the characters a in bold, because I've realized it's a fairly effective way of getting my point across if you don't want to read the whole thing.

The movie opened with little snap-shots of what the family was like. It started with the mum bringing her suicidal brother home from the hospital, to live with her family. Family which is:

• The father, Richard (Greg Kinnear). You want to hate him, but you also kinda pity him. He basically has one of those weird, winner's and loser's self-help theories. But the irony is that he's a loser and needs help.
• The grandfather (Alan Arkin). He got kicked out of his seniors home for smoking heroin, and says "Fuck" like teenage girls say "like". But you can tell he really does care for his family.
• The son, Dwayne (Paul Dano). He has taken a vow of silence, hates his family and reveres Nietzsche. He's a pretty typical teenager. He's also kinda cute. In a pale, adolescent way.
• The mother, Sheryl (Toni Collette). She's a bit frantic and crazy, a little overworked, but overall she has a good heart.
• Her brother, Frank (Steve Carell). He fell in love with a guy who didn't love him back, lost his job and attempted suicide which is how he ends up with his sisters family. He's one of the most sane of the family, he's also very sincere and caring.
• The daughter, Olive (Abigail Breslin). You can't help love her, she's sweet to everyone, caring and down-to-earth. And really cute. She contrasts amazingly to all the other girls in the beauty pageant.

When Olive gets a chance to compete in the "Little Miss Sunshine" beauty pageant, the whole family takes a road trip to California. We follow them from their home in New Mexico, and the trip is anything but uneventful. The movie has a sweet tone, but it's definitely the funniest movie I've seen this year. Although, I do have to warn you the beauty pageant scene is very, very terrifying. The movie had an instrumental soundtrack, that really went well along with the scenes. It had Sufjan Steven's "Chicago" which is a favourite of mine, and also another Sufjan track at the end. This was an interesting, hilarious and sweet movie, I would definitely recommend it.