Little Miss Sunshine is downright perfect. I mean, what bad thing can I say about it? I'm sure there was something, but its assets hide any faults. I thought the cast was great, the characters wonderfully flawed and ingeniously matched. The visuals were things of beauty. It is a movie of bright white and yellow. I think the light and color played a bigger role than most may observe. Particularly, if you look at the scenes at the hotel and the pageant. There was contrast of good and bad, or maybe enlightened versus stuck-up, to be blunt. The humor was also something to be adored because of its goofy simplicity. This isn't a crude laughathon but a smart ride of crude, poignant moments. When you laugh, you also think. Thank God for a comedy that doesn't patronize through an attempt to be broad enough for everybody.
Of course, as you could guess, the selling point for me was the story. It is one of analysis, criticism, humor, the challenge of perceptions and absolutes, and redemption. Yeah, it's all that, but more simply it's a movie about one's place in life. And what's the best way to go about things. Loosen up. Go through the shitty times to chisel away at your bulk and shape your character—lose the things the world has handed that aren't needed.
The phrase "Little Miss Sunshine" refers to the ridiculous child pageant, yes, but, of course, it's also Olive. She holds the family together. Whenever there is a problem with one of the members, she brings them back to the group and keeps them going. And it's Olive at the end of the movie who finally pulls them in collectively, and that's where the final redemption happens. Dwayne and Frank help each other come to terms with the unfortunate realities of those things they can't change. Richard understands that there is so much more beyond the impeding black and white concept of winners vs. losers. And for Olive, she sees that beauty and talent as well as winning and losing aren't so easily definable. Just being herself is a much greater reward than winning the contest by which she would've conformed to the standards of others. Her youth and kindness more than qualify her as a beautiful and talented human being. The other girls weren't talented, or at least had nothing on Olive. They were flat, boring, fake products without character. Olive was alive, thinking, caring. We are shown that standards and certitudes aren't always right and in some cases are harmful to society. We see this not solely with the pageant, but throughout the story. The whole movie thoughtfully fought against the norm.
It's fun, quiet, and very weird. It's wonderful.
P.S. It would've been great to see Bill Murray as Frank, but it was just as well, I suppose.
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