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Little Miss Sunshine, in the genre of ‘on the road’ films, flatters only to deceive and is a waste of talent, writes
Ervell E. Menezes
A few years ago, there was a diaspora film called ABCD meaning American-born Confused Desi. Little Miss Sunshine could pass off as AC meaning Americans Confused but one could add Family to be more specific. So it would be ACF, right? It is indeed an odd family to say the least. Richard Hoover (Greg Kinnear) is trying hard to sell his nine-steps-to-success programme with little success. His wife Sheryl (Toni Collette) is a pro-honesty mother wanting to smoothen the rough edges of her extended family, which includes her suicidal gay brother Frank (Steve Carell), her son Dwayne (Paul Dano) who is on a vow of silence, cute little Olive (Abigail Breslin), a seven-year-old would-be beauty queen and a foul-mouthed father-in-law (Alan Arkin) who has been thrown out of Sunset Manor for snorting cocaine. With such an assortment of weirdo’s, there are bound to be various pulls and pressures. They all want to be winners, a typically American trait. So when little Olive is invited to take part in a fiercely competitive Little Miss Sunshine contest, they all lend support to her and are on the road to California in their ramshackle VW bus. Richard and Frank are always picking on each other and old grandpa doesn’t hesitate to say things as they are. "On the road" films generally lend scope for inventiveness and this is no exception. In fact Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farris start well and the screenplay by Michael Arndt is quite supportive. The non-performing vehicle provides more scope. In fact it’s hunky-dory till the halfway mark. It is the contest that really palls. It is the usual dose of Americana. If it is meant to show that love conquers all, it surely succeeds in doing so but it traces a rather circuitous path. What’s more, it then deteriorates into a farce. Actually good cameos by Steve Carrel and Paul Dano give the film its best moments but Abigail Breslin is an American stereotype and Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette do the best of a bad job. Alan Arkin is okay but scarcely deserves a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for it. At best Little Miss Sunshine flatters only to deceive and is a sheer waste of talent as far as Greg Kinnear (remember him as Jack Nicholson’s neighbour in As Good As It Gets over a decade ago?) and Toni Collette are concerned. See it only at your own risk.
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