Worth A Damn - An Artifacts Film Review

I know, I know..I usually only report on movies that are on DVD and have all but been forgotten. But in a rare break from tradition I have stepped out and seen something shiny new!
For those that share my sense of humour, you will really enjoy Little Miss Sunshine.

In case you need any more argument for than Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear and Alan Arkin, delightful young Abigail Breslin gives a performance that makes me momentary reconsider my belief that no children should be part of the Hollywood machine - ever. (Breslin was the intuitive little girl in the film Signs.) The ensemble cast creates a believable and yet comfortingly - weirder than yours - family who embark on a road trip to enter 7 year old Olive in a beauty pageant. Amidst all of the adults' own preoccupations and neuroses, only Arkin as Grandpa has had the time to work with Olive on her dance routine for the pageant, and we wonder if the family will ever get there, and what Olive's performance will be. Hilarity really does ensue, especially in Carell's and Arkin's performances - two gifted comedians who play off each other well. Anchoring the film are Kinnear and Collette as a painfully familiar husband and wife who are holding family and marriage together while everyday rage and disappointment simmer beneath the surface.

There is a hint of Wes Anderson's Royal Tenenbaums' sweetness to this film, though happily for most viewers these characters stay closer to the ground. Not only are they low - but they are all casually depressed like so many people in the world. Olive aims to be crowned "Little Miss Sunshine", a role she plays in daily life for her family. Poignant and very funny, this is the best time I have had in the theatre in a long time. 8/10