Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Movie Review: Little Miss Sunshine

Although the movie released in Indian theaters just a week back, it was available on the internet for a long time. It got great reviews at IMDb and a few Oscar nominations as well(finally received 2 Oscars). I liked the storyline and decided to download it. My friend who I share my movies with had already downloaded it and deleted it before sharing it with me. His excuse:"There is nothing in the movie, Bekaar hai". But after reading a rave review(a four-star rating) for the movie from Hindustan Times's Vinayak Chakrovarty(I trust his reviews, simple and unbiased), I finally put it on download. And now after watching it, I can surely say that it really deserves the appreciation it has received. Below is a very well-written plot outline proudly copied by me from IMDb.
Olive is a little girl with a dream: winning the Little Miss Sunshine contest. Her family wants her dream to come true, but they are so burdened with their own quirks, neuroses, and problems that they can barely make it through a day without some disaster befalling them. Olive's father Richard is a flop as a motivational speaker, and is barely on speaking terms with her mother. Olive's uncle Frank, a renowned Proust scholar, has attempted suicide following an unsuccessful romance with a male graduate student. Her brother Dwayne, a fanatical follower of Nietzsche, has taken a vow of silence, which allows him to escape somewhat from the family whose very presence torments him. And Olive's grandfather is a ne'er-do-well with a drug habit, but at least he enthusiastically coaches Olive in her contest talent routine. Circumstances conspire to put the entire family on the road together with the goal of getting Olive to the Little Miss Sunshine contest in far off California.
Its not like the regular Hollywood nobrainer comedy. It is more of a dark comedy with some amazing road movie situations. The movie has no big stars but the casting is perfect, really everyone is nothing short of excellent in the movie. It has been made on budget smaller even than the Bollywood movies produced these days.

My two cents: You shouldn't miss it unless you are not much of a fan of dark humor. It is still running in theaters in India.

3 comments:

Reel Fanatic said...

"there is nothing in this movie" .. what in the world was he watching? It surely couldn't have been this movie, which, as you correctly pointed out, is indeed a real treasure

Aseem Behl said...

I just cannot disagree more with my friend after watching the movie.

Ajay said...

hey aseem .looks like clg life is taking a toll on ur writing skills...damn .......started copying n pasting ur assignments too!!!!!sheesh....nice movie tho...jus saw it myself @uv's room and saw d namesake today