Film

Little Miss Sunshine  

By Junius  

What's new this week? Miami Vice—loved the TV series, won't see the film. The Secret Life of Words: Sarah Polley, who I have no reason to believe can act, nursing Tim Robbins as English-Patient-on-an-oil-rig—camera shots too jerky for me, I think. Shooting Dogs—I saw Hotel Rwanda, a great film, and I can't risk this remake. The Night Listener—Robin Williams being serious again, very serious. Maybe I’ll see it later, in another life.

All these seem too risky. I think I'll fold. Going to the movies is like blind black-jack. I quake at the box office counter like anyone else; I don't have a film critic's pass for special screenings. I wouldn't have it any other way. This way, you have to think of the cost, the potential waste of time. Never walk into a movie unless it seems at though it's going to be worth it. Shake the brains, try to think it through on the basis of previous experience. Work the hunches, then take the plunge.

OK, I think I'll go with Little Miss Sunshine. There's a bit of healthy sarcasm in the title. Somebody's thinking. Saw the preview, lots of laughs. But caution: maybe the preview has all the laughs there are in the movie. They do that sometimes, load the preview up. Anyway, Alan Arkin is pretty reliable.

I can put my money on him, no?

Epilogue: Yes, I was right. Alan Arkin came through. So did all the others. Want to see a picture you can enjoy? Little Miss Sunshine is it. Because it's deadly serious. Nothing is played for laughs. Life with these ingredients is just funny. Even the VW van that loses its first and second gear en route is more than a comic bit. It's like middle-class America: it used to have four gears, it used to have gears to spare; now it's down to two and hurting.

I see the Vancouver Courier really liked Little Miss Sunshine and gave it four stars. But they have to go and call it a "dysfunctional" family and the VW van a "tin can on wheels." Not fair. The family is what they are and the van is what they—until their better prospects materialize—have. Spare us the disparaging adjectives.

The Georgia Straight calls them an "unhappy" family, and the van, "crappy." The dad is "lame" and is "constantly undercut" by his wife. No, don't pay any attention to these belittling comments. Each individual member of the family is fine, or feels fine to the audience. The VW is an old friend. I'm not going to say anything derogatory about this hilarious film.