thePeanutBloggery

This week spend Friday night in watching Little Miss Sunshine, a movie about winning that has just received four Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. The first feature film by husband and wife directing team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, it is the story of the dysfunctional Hoover family who take a road trip from Albuquerque to Redondo Beach, so their flawed but charming young daughter, Olive, can compete in a beauty pageant.

Both Abigail Breslin, who plays Olive, and Alan Arkin, who plays her ribald grandfather and talent coach, are up for supporting actor Oscars. Still, these nominations seem arbitrary, as the rest of the cast is equally strong. Greg Kinnear and Toni Colette play Richard and Cheryl, the quarrelsome parents who are barely holding their family together, and Paul Dano is the brother who has taken a vow of silence until he can realize his dream of becoming an Air Force pilot. However, Steve Carell is most noteworthy; he quietly proves himself a powerful actor as the clinically depressed gay uncle.

This movie is satisfying on two distinct levels. First, it is a smart story involving serious issues like drug addiction and suicide (the screenplay is also nominated for an Oscar). Second, it is universally appealing and wildly funny. With the sunshine yellow VW van that is falling apart at the same rate this family of assorted personality disorders is coming together, it is reminiscent of both Vacation and The Munsters.

Perhaps if they follow Richard’s “9 Steps to Winning”, the Hoovers will be standing up on the stage at the Kodak Theatre on February 25.

Little Miss Sunshine is available on Movies On Demand.