Little Miss Sunshine

Review By: Ryan Piccirillo
RyanPiccirillo@thecinemasource.com

It’s interesting to see what happens when music video directors move over to the feature film sector. Their tendencies almost always lean towards surrealism. I like to call it the “Charlie Kaufman condition.” His scripts are brilliant and the photography in his films is mind-bendingly seductive. You can thank his friends, directors Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze for their psychedelic spectacles. Their music video résumés give them an altered sense of what looks good on film, and the outcomes are an unexpected glimpse into the mind of the characters. I have a soft spot for their work, but I’ve been waiting for something that is equally startling yet embraces honesty and unmitigated realism.

Well, it’s here, kids. Married co-directors, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, bring us Little Miss Sunshine. It’s their first film, but their catalog of music videos (including the award winning Tonight, Tonight by The Smashing Pumpkins) prove to be all that was necessary to produce a film that’s unforgettable. Little Miss Sunshine is their triumphant launch pad into what I hope will be a long and intimate relationship with the film industry. They were lucky enough to team up with screenwriter, Michael Arndt for their first movie. This is also Arndt’s first time up, but his script screams out something different. Little Miss Sunshine reads as if it’s the apex of his career. I don’t mean to say this is a Godfather or a Citizen Kane. It’s too delicate and the subject matter isn’t lavish enough. But it’s so successful because of the script’s flair for balance. Some of its scenes are emotionally heavy, but it never gets sappy in a movie that is first and foremost a comedy. It’s so successful because of its idiosyncratic wit. It keeps you laughing even through the most touching moments of the film without ever preventing you from feeling the dramatic affects. It’s so successful because of its message of the importance of family, the idea of prosperity, and subjective beauty.

Little Miss Sunshine redefines what we should expect from the road trip movie. It keeps itself away from the silly slapstickiness of National Lampoon’s Vacation and the melodrama of a movie like Thelma and Louise. The film shocks the genre’s body and revives it with uncommon and compounded characters, and a fresh, but timeless humor. It reminds us of what’s fundamental to our lives and what’s trivial to the big picture. It makes us search for the humor even in life’s tallest hurdles. When all else collapses.