Ok, so I guess this movie was up for an award or something.......big deal!

I just watched this one today. I admit that because of those "award somethings" I had high hopes about this one. Maybe too high........

I didn't hate it, but it scored very low on my "movies that I like" list. Why? Oh I don't know....maybe because I felt like I'd seen it all before. This movie brought nothing new. It had the family of "odd" characters including the Hippie type Grandpa (one of only two characters that I liked) the perky and adorable Olive. The token gay guy, the moody teenager and of course the married couple that doesn't really get along.

These characters all set out on a roadtrip in a (guess what?) an old junk car!!!! How original! So far the characters and the situations are sooooooooooo original that my eyes are popping out of my head and I'm thinking WOW! no wonder this was up for some award type thing.

This gets even better, Grandpa, (one of only two characters I liked) dies and these people put him in the trunk of their car and drive around with him. Now this is really new territory!!!!! Don't think I ever seen that before!

I also hated the parents! What morons! How can they get their daughter into any REGIONAL competition of any kind without being aware of what they are up against? Completely unbelievable to me! Even though that scene at the contest was funny, it made me absolutely HATE the parents!

The only thing about this movie I did like was how they made beauty pageants look bad. Other than that this wasn't bad, but certainly not good either.

Quite disappointed.....  

Everything you've said in your review is what I want to think about this film. Unfortunately, it's not. I'm afraid to say I actually enjoyed this one.

Films about dysfunctional families leave a bad taste in my mouth. They always make the filmakers look all high and mighty, like they think they're being clever and observant for making a film about families who are able to come together despite their differences. Like their audience is too dumb to think it's possible. Yet they forget everyone has a dysfunctional family. No family can get along at all times. It's old news. Sorry, Wes Anderson. You're not showing us anything we haven't seen before.

Yet Little Miss Sunshine seemed different somehow. Yes, the characters were stereotypes and generic to boot and yes, they should've known better than entering oddball Olive in a beauty contest and yes, it all concludes with the same old, same old happy ending that every film of the subgenre ends with. Yet at the end of the film, I thought who am I to judge them? Good for the family for supporting their daughter in whatever she wants to do, no matter how out of place she is and boy, is she out of place. The same can not be said for the Royal Tenenbaulms. I felt like this film spent more time trying to make its audience feel good than teaching them a lesson about family and bonds. I found its intentions to be very honest and I respected that.

I hope my words make sense. It's only an attempt to explain why I liked the film, not a solid answer. By all means, I should have hated it but, for some reason, I didn't.

I hear you James.

I was just really disappointed that this was even mentioned at the Oscars. I didn't hate it, but I expected more from it. Was this really the best original screenplay of the year?

The girl was adorable, but I felt like I had seen everything before.

I thought Little Miss Sunshine was an awesome film. It should've snatched best film in my opinion.

I think it's sort of easy to completely dismiss the film by basically recounting plot-elements in a sarcastic tone. Well, are they unoriginal? If the characters and situations are so rehashed, it would really be useful with some references to specific films, because I didn't feel that way about the movie at all, so it's kinda difficult for me to follow your train of thought here.

For me, the film had me at the very first image of Olive watching TV. The film was just shot beautifully and scored incredibly well; but getting past the technical stuff I thought the movie avoided most, if not all, pitfalls of both the road-trip genre and the dysfunctional family genre.

I liked how the dysfunction of everything was't vulgar for shock-points or in your face all the time. Todd Solondz has a way of being this way, I feel. Wes Anderson too. I didn't feel like the characters were caricatures, but instead pretty normal people under abnormal circumstances. Sure, Grandpa was outspoken and blunt with his 'fucks' and talk about getting laid all the time, but he wasn't relegated to shock-laughs as in "Oh look that old guy swears again. How quaint". It wasn't like he only popped up for comic relief. It goes to the core of his character. The bluntness. That's what we see in the scene where he says good night to Olive before he dies.

I loved to hate Greg Kinnear in this film; him and his self-help program. Toni Collette was fabulous as a multi-tasking mom with an incomplete answer-sheet for when her kids ask delicate questions. Their maritial crisis isn't fleshed out and is always a backdrop, not something the film really wants to deal with. Because the point isn't their dysfunction. The point isn't to comment on the modern family unit (like Storytelling or American Beauty for instance) so much as it's about doing something with your life, right or wrong, failing or succeeding.

In the case of Dwayne, you may end up saying the wrong things, but you have to speak to find out.

Well, I'm ranting. Sorry about that. But the movie really got to me, and I easily lose myself in long reviews of stuff I like.

And Abigail Breslin...man, what a find. Amazing.

Who was being sarcastic? Me? Surely you meant that as a joke.

I think my problem with this movie was that my expectations were higher due to the fact that it won an Oscar for best original screenplay. .....and bert also said somewhere that this movie "was that good". I respect his opinion.

This movie didn't do much for me at all. I felt like I had seen it all before and I didn't care for any of the characters other than Olive and her Grandpa.

THE biggest problem I had however was that this got an Oscar for its screenplay. Comparing this one to American Beauty for example is like comparing the Yankees to a minor league team, or a softball team even. Not even in the same league!

Maybe last year was just a crummy year for screenplays, I don't know. I admit that I don't even watch movies that much. But I find it hard to believe LMS was the best one of the year. I had just finished reading Pan's Labyrinth when I watched LMS and in my opinion, Pan's wins hands down.

Anyway, that is my humble opinion and I'm nobody so I'm perfectly willing to believe I'm wrong. LMS was just so so to me.

Quoted from Death Monkey If the characters and situations are so rehashed, it would really be useful with some references to specific films, because I didn't feel that way about the movie at all, so it's kinda difficult for me to follow your train of thought here.

I don't think Little Miss Sunshine is guilty of ripping off any specific films. I think it's guilty of using character archetypes that have popped up in many films before it. I have to admit I'm drawing a blank as to which films exactly but come on. The workaholic dad. The dedicated mother. The potty mouth grandpa. The angst-ridden teen. The naive younger child. These are all characters we've seen before. The only exception IMO is Steve Carrell's character. I just don't think the "gay guy", as Pia put it, is a token of the dysfunctional family subgenre.

The situations, on the other hand, are completely original. I have no beef with them.

Quoted from tomson I had just finished reading Pan's Labyrinth when I watched LMS and in my opinion, Pan's wins hands down.

Thank you, Pia!

While I liked both films, I thought Little Miss Sunshine was simple and contrived while Pan's Labyrinth was complex and original. I don't know the Academy's critera for what makes a "Best Screenplay" exactly but I do know it's easier to write something based on personal experiences than it is to merge a historical drama with a fantasy film that doesn't rip off Lord of the Rings. In this day and age where remakes run rampant, I think a film that brings something new to the table has the edge on one that hits close to home.

Sorry. I'm still trying to resist the urge of pimping Pan's Labyrinth whenever I have an opportunity . Like I said before, I think Little Miss Sunshine is a good film.

James,

But isn't it only when we label the characters in broad terms such as "Potty-mouthed grandpa" they become unorigial? Because to me these labels are gross simplifications of the characters. That would be like calling Holden Caulfield an angst-ridden teen stereotype. It simply doesn't encompass the entire character. I think most mothers out there have a certain degree of dedication to their kids and family so it's not *wrong* labelling Toni Collette this way, but it's not completely fair either, because it's a very thin premise we create the stereotype in then.

Like labelling Steve Carell a token gay guy, based pretty much solely on the fact he is gay, is like calling every straight protagonist in every film ever made "the token straight guy".

However, I just finished watching Pan's Labyrinth yesterday and I must admit that film takes the cake. That's a genuine masterpiece. But can a foreign film compete in best screenplay?

Quoted from Death Monkey James, But isn't it only when we label the characters in broad terms such as "Potty-mouthed grandpa" they become unorigial? Because to me these labels are gross simplifications of the characters. That would be like calling Holden Caulfield an angst-ridden teen stereotype. It simply doesn't encompass the entire character. I think most mothers out there have a certain degree of dedication to their kids and family so it's not *wrong* labelling Toni Collette this way, but it's not completely fair either, because it's a very thin premise we create the stereotype in then. Like labelling Steve Carell a token gay guy, based pretty much solely on the fact he is gay, is like calling every straight protagonist in every film ever made "the token straight guy". However, I just finished watching Pan's Labyrinth yesterday and I must admit that film takes the cake. That's a genuine masterpiece. But can a foreign film compete in best screenplay?

This would be a fair assessment if the characters were developed beyond such stereotypes but I just didn't think they were. What do we learn about Grandpa? It's not like he's a war veteran or anything. He really is little more than a "potty-mouthed grandpa" (an archetype not of dysfunctional family dramas but teen comedies - see Road Trip, among others). Same goes for everyone else. Greg Kinnear's development doesn't extend beyond his occupation just as Toni Collette's doesn't stem beyond her family. Steve Carrell's character was the only one I found to be unique. The son's character came close with his aspirations of flying and his interest in Neitzsche but then it makes sense that an angst-ridden teenager would take interest in philosophy as most of them think they know more about the world than anyone else. On the other hand, there's his silent strike. Discipline is an attribute unique to this character so he is able to "stray" from his designated stereotype but not completely break free.

None of these characters are underdeveloped BTW. They were all strong in their own way. I just felt like I'd seen them before.

That's just my opinion though. We're all entitled to our own.

Sure, it's all just opinion, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't discuss, right?

Greg Kinnear's character does go beyond his occupation. But his occupation is an extension of his personality so I agree it can be difficult to tell them apart. He isn't really a work-aholic as such, well, only because of his loser/winner mentality. His sin is self-deception, not negligence, and he transfers his own insecurities and failed paradigme to his daughter and those around him, as if if he can make them believe in it, he can believe in it. The nine steps that is. And then he'll be a winner. But he's a loser.

As for Grandpa, like I said I don't consider him a comic relief prop, simply because we DO learn stuff about him. And in fact he was a war-veteran. Remember the "I've got nazi bullets in my ass, I can say what I want!" line? But really, I think what it comes down to is his relationship with Olive. It's between the two we learn most about grandpa, and which is what redeems him and saves him from being a one-dimensional character.

But that's just my opinion, yeah.

Quoted from Death Monkey Sure, it's all just opinion, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't discuss, right?

Always open to discussion, my friend .

I have to say you made a very good point in saying Greg Kinnear's occupation is an extension of his personality. I found them to be basically one and the same as his character was extremely shallow (in terms of personality, not development). My mistake. Grandpa was a war veteran. Can't say I remember that line. Perhaps I should've. I don't think that changes my thoughts on his character though. His relationship with Olive was well developed but I still think the only thing he really brought to the table was comic relief. His death was a key even that brought the whole family together but it wasn't exactly his choice to die, was it? Same goes for the dance he teaches Olive. Now that I think of it, considering the impact he had on the other characters, I think his own should've been more developed.

That's true, it wasn't a character decision to die. Would've been peculiar if it had been.

I think the Dance he teaches Olive is central to the criticism of the beauty pageant. Here we have all these tiny girls, tiny human beings, putting on tons of make-up, smiling flirtatiously, giggling amorously, basically doing every BUT taking their clothes off. Olive's routine exposes the latent sexuality, hypocrisy and abuse of the pageant by dragging it in to the open. This, of course, goes to grandpa's bluntness, or perhaps more appropriately in the context, cander.

But it's not like I think Little Miss Sunshine is a multilayered, complex story that can be interpreted again and again. I just really, really enjoyed it.