Movies GF Movie Review Club - Week 8: Little Miss Sunshine

[Stegosaurus]

Good morning all! I hope I've picked a film that not too many people have already seen, but one that many people will enjoy.

This is a film I saw in theaters a few years ago, but I'll be re-watching it for a thorough review. Rating to come soon.

Synopsis:
The Hoover family treks from Albuquerque to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, California, to fulfill the deepest wish of 7-year-old Olive, an ordinary little girl with big dreams. Along the way the family must deal with crushed dreams, heartbreaks, and a broken-down VW bus, leading up to the surreal Little Miss Sunshine competition itself. On their travels through this bizarre landscape, the Hoovers learn to trust and support each other along the path of life, no matter what the challenge.

 

[Impact]

I think i've seen half of this movie, or at least parts of it. Be good to actually watch it all the way through. Thanks for posting so quickly.

Also, Croutons movie from last week is still open for reviews as no-one seems to have gotten a review in yet. A couple of you have said you'll have late ones, but I think it should be open to everyone.

 

[sunrise]

My review:

Spoiler

This is a film I had heard about but never got around to watching. The story is a very simple one of a family who to begin with are a family where every member of differing problems be it, depression, suicide, unwilling to accept failure, addicted to pornography or simply not able to cope with things that are happening to the family.

The story follows the story of a young girl trying to follow what is her present dream of being "Little Miss Sunshine", a beauty pageant which I believe is if not really at least very close to what happens in real life and to be honest I find the whole thing a little bit disturbing, recently we had a discussion of a mother who gave her eight year old daughter botox and I thought this was insane and if these pageants are for real and this is genuine I am concerned. The great thing is there is a certain pay off which is basically a big "f**k you" to the whole community and for that reason I will let it off.

I am not sure how much to say about this film as there is very little to it. I felt that the problems faced were somewhat filler material and that the film could have been ten minutes shorter if not for randomness that was not entirely needed. Its not to say it is bad film because it is not, is a nice film, it is uplifting and it is funny but as the story goes it is very much a to b and include c in between because we have to.

Despite how my review may sound I did enjoy this film but it was not great however it foes get a respectable 8/10 from me.

 

[Crouton]

I have just posted my review for this weeks film and I will try to get a review of this up earlier! - I am really falling behind.

Me too, I think a lot of us are struggling to keep up with how fast this is moving. Perhaps we should have a week or two where instead of watching any new films, we just go back and review any of the ones we may have missed out on in the past. Or maybe we could extend the timeline a bit longer so more people have a chance to review as sometimes it's hard (especially for those who download) to get a hold of these films each week.

 

[Crouton]

I just thought I would say that I have this on DVD and have seen it heaps of times before. I have been really busy with school though and haven't had a chance to rewatch it it so I probably won't get around to it till Friday night or the weekend. My review may be a couple of days late but it is coming.

 

[Impact]

I started watching it earlier. I'm having trouble actually finishing it, so a forewarning that it probably won't be getting a good review from me.
------
Alright, I just got around to finishing it.

My rating: 3/10

Spoiler

I'm not even sure what I didn't like about this movie, I just know I didn't enjoy it. I had to watch it in two parts, it was that hard for me to finish. I'll try and focus on the good parts, because I know what parts they were. Dwayne and Grandpa. I enjoyed their characters and performances. I really don't have anything else to say

sorry steg

 

[Stegosaurus]

Awww, I'm genuinely sorry, folks. :-/

Spoiler

I gave it an 9/10. I hear what many have said about it progressing in a formulaic manner at times, and I took off points for that. I liked the clean progression because it allowed me to focus on the finer existential pieces.

I think what drew me in was that it wasn't too sweet like other "feel goods." It broke the division between the idealism of childhood and the gritty realism of adulthood.

Maybe I really liked the acting. Paul Dano actually made me well-up a few times--I got chills when he learned he was color blind and had the freak-out on the side of the road. Carell has always been hit or miss, for me, and he hit it with this one.

Where a lot of other dark-comedies come off as pretentious to me, this one seemed more like an "every-man's" D/C.

Sorry it wasn't liked too much. :-/

 

[Impact]

It's cool Steg, it seems to be just me who didn't like this one. Besides, that's what the review club is about, watching movies we wouldn't normally. I still don't know why I didn't enjoy it, because there were parts that I laughed, parts I felt slightly emotional and I loved some of the acting in it. I just think the overall story was too...bland? for me

 

[Crouton]

Steg, don't be sorry. I LOVE this film. I have already seen it heaps of times and I can guarantee you after I rewatch it that I will be giving it a very high review.

 

[Crouton]

I was so glad when I saw Steg had picked this film as it is a personal favourite of mine. I love it so much that I own it on DVD in my own collection, that’s also a bonus as I didn’t need to download anything.

Spoiler

Little Miss Sunshine is to me a fantastic, funny, emotional road movie and even though I have seen it many times before, I never get sick of it. This ragtag group of characters in this unconventional family never fails to make me at times frustrated with them, happy for them and even crying alongside them.

Even though this film is 5 years old it is still a very strong social commentary on how body image issues are treated in today’s age. This is not something that is only worrying for teenagers and adults now, but the films draws in the shocking idea of children as young as 7 struggling with their image, worrying about their figure and what they eat. It really is scary and it’s highlighted throughout the film and is shockingly thrown in our face during the pageant at the end of the film.

Those girls may have all been under 10 years old but they way they were dressed up like adults is sickening. No wonder poor Olive was hiding in the change rooms, looking in the mirror and holding her stomach in, which is probably one of the most powerful images of this film. Also I’d like to add that this film is more important than ever right now with the recent images in the media of a woman giving her 8-year old daughter botox for this very style of pageant.

I find it really hard to fault this film, the pacing was perfect all the way through and the audience really had time to bond with this family. I’ll admit it, I shed some tears more than once, yet at the same time I also laughed out loud quite a few times. There is a perfect balance of comedy and family drama here which is something many other films struggle to maintain. I would love to list some stand-out performances here but I really can’t. As an ensemble the whole lead cast was so amazing that I really would struggle picking out favourites. Even actors that I haven’t really liked in other films I immensely enjoyed in this one. I would highly recommend this film to anyone.

10/10