Film Review: LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (2006)

Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Writer: Michael Arndt
Running time: 101 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Adventure/Comedy/Drama
UK Release date: 8^th September 2006

Watched on DVD Monday 9^th April 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I bought this DVD several years ago by mistake and it has lurked at the back of my collection ever since. Having heard several good things about it I decided to take the plunge and give it a look. I was pleasantly surprised; it wasn’t the usual ‘dysfunctional family’ cliché ridden rubbish I was expecting. No, it was so much better than that and I must say I even enjoyed it! I will give you my thoughts after this brief summary.

There are six main characters; first there’s seven year old Olive Hoover who has won a place in the finals of the ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ beauty contest. Then we have the mother, Sheryl, harassed as all mothers are in these films and Richard, the father, he has business problems that are causing friction with Sheryl. The fifteen year old son, Dwayne, hasn’t spoken for nine months; he has decided that until he achieves he ultimate goal of becoming a fighter pilot, we will not speak. The grandpa, Edwin, who swears, takes drugs and really doesn’t much care what the others think of him, apart from Olive (of course). Finally, there’s Sheryl’s brother, Frank, who has just attempted suicide and cannot be left alone. This unlikely collection has to get Olive the 700 miles to the beauty contest in a broken VW Camper van in just two days. What could possibly go wrong?... Well, I’ll leave it there or the Spoiler Police will be having me towed (again).

Now I’m not usually a fan of comedies, but the humour in this one is so dark that I actually enjoyed it! Very well made with some great dialogue and some characters that I could actually relate to (makes a change!). All the performances were great; the young Abigail Breslin did a great job as Olive Hoover and I really loved Alan Arkin as Grandpa Edwin Hoover, he really nailed it! Greg Kinnear as Richard Hoover and Toni Collette as Sheryl Hoover both did a good job. I thought Paul Dano as Dwayne also did a good job and Steve Carell showed what a good actor he can be as Frank Ginsberg.

As road trip movies go, I must say that this is the best one I’ve seen in quite a long time. The mix of characters and the way they interact works pretty well and I found the film quite engaging (I even laughed a few times!). Yes, some of the situations they got themselves into were a tad far-fetched, but I can forgive that (this time) because the characters actually had some substance. Would I watch it again? Yes I would and so I have no problem in deeming this one… Recommended.

My score: 8.2/10.

IMDb Score: 7.9/10 (based on 194,846 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0449059/

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 91/100 (based on 205 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 90/100 (based on 379,546 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/little_miss_sunshine/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Sheryl: [after Frank tried to commit suicide] I'm so glad you're still here.
Frank: Well, that makes one of us.

Richard: There's two kinds of people in this world, there's winners and there's losers. Okay, you know what the difference is? Winners don't give up.

Grandpa: Are you gettin' any?
Richard: Dad!
Grandpa: You can tell me, Dwayne. Are you gettin' any?
Richard: Come on, please.
Grandpa: [Dwayne shakes his head] No? Jesus. You're what? Fifteen? My God, man!
Richard: Dad!
Grandpa: You should be gettin' that young stuff.
Richard: Dad!
Grandpa: That young stuff is the best stuff in the whole world.
Richard: Hey! Hey! Dad! That's enough! Stop it!
Grandpa: Will you kindly not interrupt me, Richard! See, right now you're jailbait, they're jailbait. It's perfect. I mean, you hit 18, man! You're talkin' about three to five.

[Dwayne looks around van; writes frantically on notepad... ]
Frank: [reading notepad] "Where's Olive?"...
Sheryl: Oh!

Olive: What are you guys talking about?
Grandpa: [thinks for a moment] Politics.
Olive: Oh.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:

Film Review: MARY AND MAX (2009)

Writer/Director: Adam Elliot
Running time: 92 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12

Genre: Animation/Comedy/Drama
Australia Release date: 9^th April 2009

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 11^th December 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I knew very little about this film before seeing it; I knew it was animated and that it was an Australian film. Someone had mentioned it online, stating it was pretty good and so I added it to ‘The List’ and waited for it to appear. It finally did and I duly recorded it expecting some strange Aussie humour. To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to see when I hit the play button. Imagine my surprise when I found a wonderful, funny and deeply touching story, beautifully animated with such great characters. I would even go so far as to say I loved it! (And I don’t say that often!). Rather than give a summary, I’ll give you a very brief outline of what the film is about.

Mary is a lonely eight year old girl who lives in the suburbs of Melbourne (Australia). One day she randomly picks a name from an American phone book she finds in the local post office. She writes to one Max Horovitz, a forty four year old man who lives in New York (USA… that’s just for balance). The unlikely pair strike up a friendship and write to each other on and off over the next twenty years. I really don’t want to say too much more, but the film covers issues like loneliness, mental health, love and hate, it’s all quite grown up, so not really one for the kids. I think I stopped just before the Spoiler Police wrapped me up and sent me to their pen pal… in Alaska.

The two main characters are fully rounded and you get a great sense of what they are feeling due to an excellent script and also to the voice talents of the actors playing their parts. So I must give praise to the voice talents of both Toni Collette as Mary Daisy Dinkle and Philip Seymour Hoffman as Max Jerry Horovitz. Also, the narrator, voiced by Barry Humphries had a great part to play, so a big chunk of praise going his way too.

Made in the ‘claymation’ style favoured by the Ardman studio here in the UK (responsible for the likes of ‘Wallace and Gromit’ amongst others), I thought it was really well done. Lots of little visual gags in amongst the rather serious story that unfolds. It’s witty, intelligent, charming, but there are also some serious messages in there. I found it quite touching at the end, but I can’t really talk about the ending here. Over all… HIGHLY Recommended.

My score: 9.2/10.

IMDb Score: 8.2/10 (based on 31,658 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0978762/

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 94/100 (based on 54 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 90/100 (based on 17,282 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1209767-mary_and_max/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Max Jerry Horovitz: Do you have a favourite-sounding word? My top-five are "ointment," "bumblebee," "Vladivostok," "banana," and "testicle."

Young Mary: [about Len Hislop] He's scared of outside, which is a disease called homophobia.

Narrator: Max knew nothing about love. It was as foreign to him as scuba diving.

Max Jerry Horovitz: [to Mary] You are my best friend. You are my only friend.

LINKS:
Official Site: http://www.maryandmax.com/
Trailer: