The Bottom Line
Pros
- Laugh-out-loud-funny, heartwarming comedy
- Movie offers interesting view of contemporary American life
- No weaknesses in a fine ensemble cast headed by Toni Collette
Cons
- If you're a stickler for plausibility, you might not be drawn into the story
- Movie's visual style is on the workaday side
Description
- DVD containing comedy Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
- Movie stars Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell and Alan Arkin
- DVD provides commentary by directors, a husband-and-wife team
- DVD has second commentary by screenwriter accompanied by directors
- DVD contains 4 alternate endings with optional commentary by directors
- Music video "Till the End of Time" performed by DeVotchKa on DVD
- One side of DVD has feature film in widescreen, other side has it in full screen
- MPAA rating: R for language, some sex and drug content
- Feature film run time: 1 hour 42 minutes
- DVD release date: December 19, 2006
Guide Review - Little Miss Sunshine DVD
I laughed loud and often while watching the heartwarming comedy Little Miss Sunshine, and thinking about some of its scenes still makes me smile. The movie has received Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture and Best Actress (Toni Collette). There's a terrific ensemble cast that in addition to Collette includes Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Alan Arkin and two child actors (Paul Dano and Abigail Breslin).
Collette plays Sheryl Hoover, an Albuquerque mother of two, a teenage boy (Dano) and a seven-year-old girl (Breslin). Sheryl's husband (Kinnear) is struggling to make a go of it as a motivational speaker with a nine-step program called "Refuse to Lose." Also living with the Hoovers is Grandpa (Arkin), who got kicked out of his retirement home for snorting heroin. As the film opens, the family is forced to take in Sheryl's brother (Carell), a Proust scholar, because of his attempted suicide.
The story takes place over a weekend when the six members of the extended family travel in an old VW bus to Redondo Beach, Calif., for the seven-year-old to compete in a beauty contest for little girls. On the road trip they have a series of wacky adventures, and when they finally arrive, the contest turns out to be a hoot. It all comes down to the talent competition, leading to a hilarious, if implausible, finale.
Little Miss Sunshine is an impressive feature film directorial debut for the husband-and-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who have extensive experience in making music videos and commercials. On the DVD, you can listen to Dayton and Faris give a running audio commentary on their movie. There's also a second audio commentary track spotlighting screenwriter Michael Arndt, and he is joined by the directors. Finally, the DVD contains four alternate endings which can be viewed with or without directors' commentary.
