ViewGuide

Created Mar 12, 2008 06:00AM PST • Edited Mar 12, 2008 06:00AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Perfect 5.0

   A hilarious, sweet independent comedy that wound up being the underdog in the Best Picture category at the Academy Awards for which it was nominated, “Little Miss Sunshine” was as such despite being, for my money, the best contender in the category. Joyous, intelligent and wonderfully written, “Little Miss Sunshine” comes off as a family film rebelling against the masses by adding in profanity, drugs and death, all resulting in a motion picture that for all it’s would-be familiarity stans invigoratingly apart from the general crowd. I found it impossible to dislike a single second of it.

4. Acting

   Really Great 4.5

   The acting is great all-round, with stand-out performances coming from Alan Arkin as a foul-mouthed grandpa (a part for which he surprisingly took home Best Supporting Actor) and Steve Carell as a homosexual man who recently tried to committ suicide. These two are members of a family travelling cross-country to the titular beauty pageant in which 7-year-old Olive (Abigail Breslin) will compete. Rounding out the rest of the family, Abigail Breslin is adorable as Olive, Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette strong as her sparring parents, and Paul Dano very good as the voluntarily muted teenager Dwayne.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Perfect 5.0

7. Female Costars Really Great 4.5

8. Male Costars Really Great 4.5

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    The directing is splendid, the dialogue immaculately thought-out and funnily delivered, the music score modest but effective, and the visuals memorable if not for being the sort of rich, beautiful imagery found in more high-budget films.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Perfect 5.0

13. Music Very Good 3.5

14. Visuals Very Good 3.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.8

    There’s a lot of rudeness here, the bulk of it coming from the mouth of Alan Arkin’s grandpa character, approximately zero sex and about a millisecond of violence to be seen.

17. Sex Innocent 1.0

18. Violence Gentle 1.0

19. Rudeness Profane 3.5

21. Reality

    Glib 1.4

    Feels a little glib in it’s belief that a cash-strapped family could travel cross-country to a beauty pageant with all the obstacles already holding them back and further ones that present themselves. When one character unexpectedly passes a way, too, the reactions of the other characters, all things considered, isn’t quite as valid as it might have been. None of it detracts from the major quality of the collective film, however, but is just another example of sacrifices being made for the sake of righteous entertainment.

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.7

23. Biological Glib 1.4

24. Physical Natural 1.0