Movie Review: “Little Miss Sunshine”
This poster was created by “MonsterGallery” on Etsy.
February 5, 2018
“There’s two kinds of people in this world, winners and losers,” according to Richard Hoover, and this movie is definitely a winner in my eyes. “Little Miss Sunshine” is a 2006 Sundance Film Festival movie with a big budget (about eight million) and a small filming time frame (about 6 weeks).
If you weren’t lucky enough to be in Dr. Easterling’s Introduction to American Film class at MSMS these past two weeks, I’m here to expose you to a beautifully filmed “Indie” movie filled to the brim with dark humor and wildly interesting characters.
Welcome to the Hoover family, a completely dysfunctional merger of once separate lives brought together by unfortunate circumstances. Richard Hoover is a motivational speaker who isn’t the best at his job and believes there are only winners and losers in this world. I find this logic to be ridiculous in the ever-changing and complicated world that we live in. Richard, aptly named in my opinion, is one of my least favorite characters in this movie as his attitude towards life makes him brash and almost unlovable.
There’s two kinds of people in this world, winners and losers
— Richard Hoover
His wife, Sheryl Hoover, provides the support and control that this family needs. Her hands are constantly juggling the pros and cons of every choice the family makes. Her first child and son, Dwayne, brings the nihilistic humor that everyone watching seems to appreciate despite how depressing it may be. The character of Dwayne communicates in pen and paper, facial expressions, and head shakes as he has taken a vow of silence in his aim to be a jet pilot. He is a character that I love from beginning to end.
My next favorite character is young Olive Hoover, an adorable, pudgy seven-year-old with wide rimmed glasses and dreams of becoming a beauty queen. Without Olive, this movie would not exist as her goal to become the winner of Little Miss Sunshine drives the family together in their topsy-turvy journey to California. Despite my hatred for beauty pageants, especially for girls so young and impressionable, I can’t help but silently cheer Olive on throughout the entire movie.
The final two characters are far more recent additions to the family. Richard’s father, Edwin, is a carefree grandfather whose life of sex, drugs, and rock and roll got him kicked out of his nursing home. His nonstop support and coaching of Olive is truly admirable, and you almost forget about his drug addictions. Lastly, there is Frank, Sheryl’s brother who, after a failed suicide attempt, is now under the family’s care. Frank has to learn how to function in this crazy family and rise up from his personal rock bottom of being surpassed by his number two.
In addition to the extremely well-thought out and “well-rounded” characters, the cinematography is fantastic as the bright blue skies and dusty roads of the south-west are beautifully captured. The contrast of the bright yellow family bus against the cloudless blue is very aesthetically pleasing. Even the variation in camera shots is intriguing to see as they range from close family contact in the bus to birds eye view of the bustling road. The final aspect I loved of the movie is the soundtrack; it added to the “fun” family adventure. One of my favorite songs from the soundtrack is “First Push” by DeVotchKa & Mychael Danna as its upbeat tune starts off a new adventure.
With these six individuals trapped for hours in a broken down yellow VW bus, miles of memories are created both good and bad, and you get to see each and every character grow as a person. Laughter will overcome tears every time in this film; there was only one moment where the desire to cry for a character lasted longer than a minute. You won’t necessarily get a happy fairy tale ending, but you’ll find yourself appreciative of the realism that you receive from beginning to end.
