Synopsis:

Little Miss Sunshine tells the story of a family on a quest to get their youngest to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant.  Greg Kinnear is the father figure of the group, a failing motivational speaker.  Toni Collette is the housewife that has had enough of being a wife.  Steve Carell plays a mental case who attempted suicide recently and the adorable Abigail Breslin plays the little girl vying for the LMS title.  The family takes a road trip and their bumps along the way make for an interesting tale of family bonding.

The Freak's Rating: A : When Little Miss Sunshine trailers started appearing, I was instantly attracted to it.  Greg Kinnear was overlooked for his performance in As Good As It Gets and I have loved his work ever since.  Steve Carell was just starting to take off as the boss nobody wanted in The Office on NBC, Toni Collette has always been solid in supporting roles and Alan Arkin was being praised at all the film festivals for his performance.  I was as pumped as I could have been and convinced Jen we should see it.  We knew our friends Eric & Leah would love it, so all four of us packed up for the movie on opening night in Rochester.

I had a few moments in the film where I laughed hysterically.  It was quirky, funny and unique.  It made me feel happy, sad and excited all in an hour and half.  I have been hoping that 20th Century Fox would release this gem on Blu Ray so I can pick it up and watch it again.  Has there honestly been as quirky and enjoyable a film in recent memory?

Sebastian's Rating: B+ : yes sweet and cute funny, but not really funny but its something im still proud off having in my DVD collection

Jen's Rating: A : Awesome!  Loved this movie all around.  I actually can't wait to see it again!  Acting by everyone is great...you will laugh and fall in love with these characters.

Nate's Rating: A- : Very cute film.  Excellent blend of dramatically crushed dreams and hysterical mundanity (if that's a word).  Steve Carrell is absolutely perfect in a very different role for him.  I'm starting to think he can do anything.  The "-" was because I thought a couple parts were too far-fetched, but for the most part, the movie makes up for them.

Brian's Rating: A- : What a surprisingly excellent movie!  I saw the A ratings on the site, but shrugged them off thinking "yeah, whatever, it looks boring".  Getting into watching it, I did not really know what to expect from it.  I though it was going to be a slapstick comedy with one liners galore, but it actually displays the smarter quiet humor that I tend to enjoy much more.

The movie strongly reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite.  I don't have Scott's mind of encyclopedia movie knowledge and didn't bother to look it up on IMDB, but even so I would not be surprised to learn that this has some connection to Napoleon.  If it didn't share writers or director or something, then at the least it directly stole the style from Napoleon Dynamite.  Comparing it to ND is also a good way to determine if you would like it.  If you didn't like Napoleon Dynamite, then you wouldn't like this one.

Drawing from the pattern, the movie is mostly slow moving, although heavily laden with mild situational humor.  There were quite a few times where I was either smiling or chuckling, and a few where I laughed out loud, but for the most part, the humor is subtle throughout most of the film.  From the misery loves company relationship between the uncle and the son, to the unknowing loser in the dad, there are plenty of moments that make you chuckle.

Then, like ND, the ending sequence is flat out hilarious.  I laughed harder than I have for any movie for about 5 minutes straight, and then my wife and I were laughing still after turning it off.  I don't want to spoil it, but if you're watching this for the first time and thinking the movie is sort of boring, remember my review and stick around till the end.

Other reviewers were gushing over Steve Carell.  I do not entirely agree.  I think many people were relieved to see that he could play a non-comedic role, and he does is well enough, but I did not think he was awesome.  He did not make the film, nor did he ruin it.  It was a competent job, but nothing that I would pick out over other things.

Like Nate, it falls short of the "A" for me due to some things that do not mesh very well for plausibility when compared to most of the rest of the material.  Also, although it reminded me a lot of Napoleon Dynamite, it was not quite as good.  I would put it on par with Burn After Reading for the best comedy I have seen in the past year.
 

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