This movie arrived on my screen with a lot of baggage. I knew it was both an award-winner and crowd-pleaser, but I wasn't over-optimistic since none of the cast seemed likely to make my day; but I was wrong, it's a real charmer. We have a family group of six very different characters. Toni Collette is a mother doing her best to keep her dysfunctional family together. She is married to Greg Kinnear, a would-be motivational speaker who is unfortunately unable to find his own success. The other adults in the household are his father, a foul-mouthed, sex-obsessed Alan Arkin who won a best-supporting Oscar for what was a somewhat surprisingly small part, and Collette's newly arrived brother, Steve Carell, a suicidal, gay professor who keeps exclaiming that he is the number one Proust expert in America. The two children of the family are a 16-year old son by Collette's previous marriage who hates everone and everything and has taken a vow of silence and the couple's daughter, a plain, chubby seven-year old obsessed with beauty pageants, played by the remarkably good Abigail Breslin.
When she has the opportunity to appear as a finalist in the Little Miss Sunshine competition in California, the family have little more than a day and a half to make the long journey from New Mexico in their cheery yellow van with its broken gear box -- a journey filled with incident. When they finally reach their destination the real fun begins and is at times laugh-out-loud funny. I wasn't terribly taken with Carell in his breakthrough role as the 40-year old virgin, but he is excellent here, especially when he plays off Kinnear's uptight would-be-something. The pageant itself is as black a satire as one could hope with the other prepubescent contestants coming across as a group of miniature hookers. And when young Breslin goes into her highly salacious routine (she was coached by grandpa), the laughs are genuine and warming. Her gobsmacked family feel the need to join in her joyful act and one loves them for accepting her and being able to shed their own inhibitions.
4 comments:
From zero to hero everyone can be a winner. The word sugar-candy comes to mind (is that two words?) with this film, just trying too hard. The thing with sugary food though is ta you feel hungary quite soon after you've consumed it.
Also it feels like an extension of the Donnie Darko sub-plot with his sister's troupe led by the mother who takes herself way to seriously. What would have been good was a Carrie-like ending......
Oh - and you didn't even mention Grandfather Bergman.....
I may not always comment but I do read your recommendations and reviews on movies. I'm tempted to rent this one on your recommendation alone. (Hugs) Indigo
I just can't bring myself to watch this one.
http://journals.aol.co.uk/acoward15/andy-the-bastard
Post a Comment