LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

US, 2006, 101 minutes, Colour.
Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Abigal Breslin, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin.
Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.

On paper, this film seems unexceptional, a road movie with a (very) dysfunctional family driving from New Mexico to California so that the young daughter can participate in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant, one of those American institutions where six and seven year old girls are dressed and made up to look like provocative sex symbols and have to parade, sing and dance as if their life depended on it.

Well, this synopsis (which does not contain a half of what happens) may not appeal. But, with the smart writing, the very good performances and a satiric tone, Little Miss Sunshine turns out to be an intelligent, sometimes incisive portrait of odd America which ends in a surprisingly positive way.

Pre-credits quickly introduce and establish the six characters who seem to be in search of some kind of identity. Richard (Greg Kinnear) is a pro-winner, anti-loser who has a 9 step system for success which he hopes will be published, otherwise they are bankrupt. His wife Sheryl (Toni Collette) is divorced with a teenage son and has married Richard and they have a daughter. She is, by and large, the sensible one and the family anchor. However, her brother Frank (Steve Carell) has attempted suicide because a student he has fallen in love with has rejected him and gone off with a rival professor, expert on Proust. Dwayne (Paul Dano) is the son who wants to be a jet pilot but has read Nietszche and has taken a vow of silence. Olive (Abigail Breslin) is a bespectacled, curious young girl besotted with pageants. And Grandad (Alan Arkin) lives with the family, snorts drugs and expresses a permissive philosophy of life to all and sundry.

That’s just the beginning.

Actually, we get to know the characters quite well and learn to have some sympathy for them. Their journey has its hilarious moments (including a running running joke about pushing their bus and hopping in as it revs up). It also has its clashes and disappointments. There are some fine moments as when Grandad offers some heartfelt support to Richard when his plans collapse, when Frank tells his story to Dwayne, when Dwayne discovers he is colourblind.

The pageant is all that we expect it to be – except for everyone realising that Olive does not need to do this, except for the surprise at the dance moves that Grandad taught her, and the grand finale on stage.

The screenplay is very critical of the characters but offers them the possibility of waking up to themselves and the possibility of a better life.

1. The appeal of this black comedy? Strong satire, kinder satire? Offering some kind of emotional resolution – for the characters and the audience?

2. The settings, Americana, New Mexico and the ordinary household, the open road through the desert states, Arizona, California and the hotel and the beach?

3. The title, the pageants, the American style for children’s pageants, treating them as adults, little girls, glamour, dress, sexy, singing and dancing? The film’s critique of the pageants? A symbol of Americana? Yet the family joining in to support Olive at the end?

4. The introduction to each of the characters: Mood - Olive, watching the television about the pageants and the reactions of the beauty queens and their winning, her imitating them? Richard, his lecture on the nine steps for success, his strong emphasis on success – and finding the small group in the class and the mild applause? Dwayne and his bodybuilding exercises? Sheryl and her driving, smoking, going to the hospital, helping Frank? Frank, his story, being in the hospital, the suicide attempt? Grandad and his snorting the drugs? The overall effect of this introduction?

5. The dysfunctional family, the comparisons with other films about dysfunction? Her being the anchor of the family, preparing the meals (though takeaway)? Giving the orders in the house, having respect yet nice? Her exasperation? The discussions at the table? The pageant and the conditions about going, her making the decisions? Her reaction to Richard and his nine steps, Richard and his control, interrupting, dominating the conversation? Dwayne and his sharing the room with Frank? Dwayne and his wanting to be in the air force, fly jets, reading Nietszche, his vow of silence? Olive, her reaction to the pageant, squealing around the house? Grandpa and his blunt talk? Frank and his story, his explaining it at the table, Olive’s curiosity?

6. The revelation at the meal about Richard, his book, his phone calls? High hopes?

7. The decision about going, the plane or the bus, in the bus, the conversation in the bus, Olive listening to the music, Grandpa and his blunt talk, the breaking of the gears, the continued running joke of starting the bus and getting in? The motel, Richard and Sheryl and their fight about the book? Dwayne listening in? Frank telling him not to listen? Grandpa and his death? The police holding up the bus, the horn, discovering the pornography – and liking it? The test for Dwayne about being colour-blind, his discovery, his tantrum, not being able to fly jets? Their waiting for him, Olive going down and simply being with him, changing his mind, his coming back up? The time limit, hurrying to the pageant, driving on the one-way lanes?

8. At the pageant, the official and her officiousness, not allowing them to register? The kindly assistant and his comments – and his later applauding Olive? The style of the pageant, the children and the make-up, the clothes, their age around six and seven, being provoked to be sexy? The parents and their fussiness, all applauding? Frank hurrying to get the registration, Sheryl and Olive and the change into the costume, Richard handling the funeral directors? Frank and Dwayne and their going off to have a talk on the pier, their discussions about suffering and unhappiness, that Dwayne would be missing out on a great deal of suffering and character development if he omitted high school? The performances? Olive and audiences not knowing what to expect, the family saying that she didn’t have to go on, her father supporting her – and her always being worried about being a loser? Her decision to go on, everybody aghast at the striptease routine – though with the baggy clothes? Her father applauding her, the rest of the family joining in, going on stage, the few applauses, the reaction of the official, their being kicked out by the police?

9. The character of each – type, story, flaw, change?
- Richard: the lecture, his theory about winning and losing, the few in the class, the hopes for the book, the continued phone calls, going to Scottsdale to confront the agent and his being disappointed? Bankruptcy? Control, discussion about food, the situation in the diner with Olive and the ice cream, the family combining against him? And Olive later asking Miss America whether she ate ice cream or not? His reaction to Frank’s suicide? Driving the bus, the problem with the gears and Sheryl driving, going to the garage? The clash with Sheryl? His father’s death? The horn, the police and his fear, the pornography? The arrival, driving desperately to the pageant? His supporting Olive, handling the situation? The funeral directors and the body? His memories of his father affirming him in the bus? The experience, supporting his family, the destruction of his hopes – and the possibility of a more sensible life?
- Sheryl: sensible, her love for Frank, sister? Taking him home? The meal, organising, Frank telling his suicide story and letting Olive ask the questions, the issue of the pageant, the decision to go, her exasperation, her interactions with each? Her continued looks – especially while driving, listening to everyone talk? The motel, her disappointment about the book? Grandpa’s death? The police, Dwayne and his tantrum, trying to persuade him to come back, his saying that he hated her, her being a divorcee? His coming back, the pageant, supporting Olive?
- Grandpa, snorting the drugs, his blunt talk about sex and promiscuity, talking to Dwayne in the bus, his blunt comments about homosexuality? Yet his love for Olive, teaching her the moves – and everyone surprised when they were striptease? His talk in the car, rehearsing with Olive, his strong affirmation of Richard with his disappointment? His death, in the hospital, the comedy of everybody getting his body out the window and into the bus?
- Frank, the suicide attempt, his being an expert in Proust, his falling in love, sacked, the professional jealousies, the book by the other author, the other author taking his lover? With Sheryl? Sharing a room with Dwayne, telling his story at the table? The decision to go with the family? Silent, receptive, Grandpa wanting him to buy the pornography? His meeting the boyfriend in the shop, seeing the author in the car, reading the paper about the success of the book? Helping in the hospital with Grandpa? Going to the pageant, talking to Dwayne on the pier, the bond between the two?
- Dwayne, doing the exercises, wanting to fly jets, reading Nietszche, the vow of silence, writing his messages down? Saying that he hated everyone? His being present with the family, going on the trip? His urging Olive to hug his mother in the hospital with her grief? The colour-blindness, his outburst, the destruction of all his hopes, talking again? The bond with Frank? His supporting Olive?
- Olive, her age, curious, squealing and caught up in the world of the pageants, listening to the music, rehearsing, with Grandpa, his death? Her hugging her mother? Her hugging Dwayne and helping him back into the bus? The pageant, getting ready, the possibility of not going on, the family urging her and not worrying about whether she was a loser or not? Her performance?

10. The officious pageant official, demanding on time, the performances, her anger with the family and ousting them?

11. The police, holding up the bus – and the surprise about the pornography?

12. The hospital, the doctor and his yelling for the grief counsellor, the grief counsellor and her standing on dignity?

13. The final performance, the family joining in with Olive, everybody joining in, each member of the family reconciling and realising their foibles? The happy ending?