LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (15)
D: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
20th Century Fox (Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, Marc Turtletaub,
David T. Friendly & Peter Saraf)
US 2006
102 mins
Comedy
W: Michael Arndt
DP: Tim Suhrstedt
Ed: Pamela Martin
Mus: Mychael Danna
Greg Kinnear (Richard Hoover), Toni Collette (Sheryl Hoover),
Steve Carell (Frank), Paul Dano (Dwayne), Abigail Breslin (Olive), Alan Arkin (Grandpa Hoover)
A
brilliant black comedy about a dysfunctional family's road trip from Albuquerque to California so their young daughter can participate in a beauty pageant. Along the way they suffer domestic
arguments, financial hardship and tragedy, not helped by their beaten-up Volkswagen transporting them across the states which constantly breaks down.
The humour is delightfully un-PC without crossing the border into the gratuitously offensive or puerile. Alan Arkin & Abigail Breslin are standout performers, but the entire ensemble deserves
credit for their contributions.
8/10