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beelikejLast week I finally saw Little Miss Sunshine. As a bonus for being (too) late with this review I promised I would add the discussion I had about it with movie-buddy Jelle (before I saw the film). Here it is. Since I don't like spoilers and I had a hard time translating the strange style Jelle and I use to describe movies and people, the following transcript may be a bit cryptic;-) Also possibly only funny to me and Jelle. You had to be there;) Plus: un-beta'd: all mistakes are mine.
Jelle mailed me about Little Miss Sunshine in november 2006: 'A comic drama or dramatic comedy, combined with a road-movie. Wow, that sounds kind of like... Transamerica, but even though it's kind of like that, it's also completely different. This time a whole family goes along for the ride to get the daughter to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Daughter dearest is an adorable, but not very pretty ten year old, who wants to compete. Father (Greg Kinnear) divides the world in winners and losers, mother (Toni Collette) works hard to keep the family together, grandpa (Alan Arkin) is acting (up) like a teenager, son just hit puberty and refuses to talk and last but not least there is gay uncle Frank (Steve Carell) a Proust scholar who tried to kill himself when the guy he crushed on got together with another Proust scholar. - Steve Carell is a genius, he made me laugh in Bruce Almighty and the 40 Year Old Virgin and as it turns out he is not only great in comedy, he can do drama as well. He deserves an award for his role in Little Miss Sunshine. Great movie, go see it'
My response: 'Are you sure? Because the story just sounds a bit overdone.' And I copied a review I found, it was hilarious, but also pretty nasty: "the story and characters are a little too conveniently made up and the film is a typical example of a so-called independent American movie, made to please lazy-ass indie-lovers with no imagination." (and it goes on like that)
I added: 'nuff said. I know you are a bit on the bright side and I'm the cynic, but when I combine your review and his together, I think I get a pretty good impression of the film. It is on my to-see-list, but mostly because of the actors, not the story.'
Since Jelle is very defensive of the movies he loves, I guessed he wouldn't like this... and I was right *g*... I can't even translate all the curses he used, but here is an impression of his reaction:
Jelle: 'What kind of fucking review is that? Jesus, that guy is one cynical asshole! People like that shouldn't even write. Or live. Why doesn't he just end it instead of bothering other people with his crap. It really is a sweet, heartwarming beautiful film. Dear sir (madam? I doubt it): please die! Now!
G-damned. This kind of shit really pisses me off, it's really easy to write stuff like that. How about I do a review of life in his cynical style? Wouldn't that be funny. What a jerk. Is cynisism in his job-description?
I'll say it again: OFCOURSE YOU SHOULD GO AND SEE THIS MOVIE. And hopefully this is the last time you are influenced by some external reviewer/asshole in avoiding a movie.
Damn. Of course you can make up your own mind after seeing it.'
My response: 'Hey, that was nice. Thank you for making me smile. I love (un)reasonable rants *g*. I had a feeling you wouldn't like that review (but I mailed it anyway, since I'm such a nice person;) And I put the film on my to-see-list, but even though I realise it's easy to smack this kind of story down, I do feel the writer tried to like it, but was severely dissapointed. I think I know what he means by 'cliché-characters' and they don't necessarily make a bad movie, but it does sound more 'american' than 'independent' (does that make sense? It did in my head;)
Of course I will save my final opinion until I've seen it :-p
Now take a breath. And another one. Feel better?'
Jelle then mailed me an article about LMS winning the Critics Choice Awards to prove he was not the only one who liked the movie. And he added this: 'What I especially liked about the movie was how -despite the cliché-plot of putting all these different characters together in a little van to have them travel together and inevitably get closer, etcetera - the people turned out not to be caricatures after all. I was very impressed by Steven Carrel, whom I only know as a funnyman. I certainly didn't expect him to be this subtle and subdued gay guy, recovering from an attempted suicide. It would've been easy to make him a screaming queen, his lines could go either way. But he was very vulnerable, I loved it. Also: the interaction between the siblings was very recognisable. Plus there is a lot of physical comedy, what more can I say? No clichés, that's for sure.'
And then I finally saw the film... and told Jelle what I thought about it...
First of all: the cast was perfect. Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear both had the right amount of dispair and together with grandpa Alan Arkin, the little girl and her brother, they were a real family. I loved how they were even nice to each other during the trip and not only after they spend a whole journey/movie together. That was lovely.
You were right; Steven Carrell was great. Although he was terrifyingly skinny and beards give me the creeps, his character was beautiful. His completely believable climb out of the darkness back to living was subtle and human, with sarcasm as a bonus. Fantastic journey.
And at first I was pleasantly surprised by the story and I had to disagree with cynical-review-guy, because it all felt real and honest. But then it turned into slapstick and they lost me. They 'jumped the shark' in the middle of the movie! WTF? Everything that followed after that moment felt unreal and contrived. Luckily there where some scenes that made me connect with the characters again and they had a couple of wonderful dialogues in between the madness, but at the end it all went downhill yet again.
Because of the brilliant cast it wasn't a complete let down, but a wrong turn in the story and too many 'funny' scenes were dissapointing.
In conclusion: you were right about the characters and cynical-review-guy is a nasty man, but I suspect he shares my lack of humor;-)'
Jelle couldn't resist and yesterday he let me know Little Miss Sunshine was named Best Film at the Producers Guild Of America (PGA) and how it is now a favorite to win the Academy Award for Best Picture (FYI: 11 movies voted for by the PGA in the last 17 years have gone on to win the Oscar)
We'll see, we'll see. I suspect the discussion will continue;)
Jelle mailed me about Little Miss Sunshine in november 2006: 'A comic drama or dramatic comedy, combined with a road-movie. Wow, that sounds kind of like... Transamerica, but even though it's kind of like that, it's also completely different. This time a whole family goes along for the ride to get the daughter to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Daughter dearest is an adorable, but not very pretty ten year old, who wants to compete. Father (Greg Kinnear) divides the world in winners and losers, mother (Toni Collette) works hard to keep the family together, grandpa (Alan Arkin) is acting (up) like a teenager, son just hit puberty and refuses to talk and last but not least there is gay uncle Frank (Steve Carell) a Proust scholar who tried to kill himself when the guy he crushed on got together with another Proust scholar. - Steve Carell is a genius, he made me laugh in Bruce Almighty and the 40 Year Old Virgin and as it turns out he is not only great in comedy, he can do drama as well. He deserves an award for his role in Little Miss Sunshine. Great movie, go see it'
My response: 'Are you sure? Because the story just sounds a bit overdone.' And I copied a review I found, it was hilarious, but also pretty nasty: "the story and characters are a little too conveniently made up and the film is a typical example of a so-called independent American movie, made to please lazy-ass indie-lovers with no imagination." (and it goes on like that)
I added: 'nuff said. I know you are a bit on the bright side and I'm the cynic, but when I combine your review and his together, I think I get a pretty good impression of the film. It is on my to-see-list, but mostly because of the actors, not the story.'
Since Jelle is very defensive of the movies he loves, I guessed he wouldn't like this... and I was right *g*... I can't even translate all the curses he used, but here is an impression of his reaction:
Jelle: 'What kind of fucking review is that? Jesus, that guy is one cynical asshole! People like that shouldn't even write. Or live. Why doesn't he just end it instead of bothering other people with his crap. It really is a sweet, heartwarming beautiful film. Dear sir (madam? I doubt it): please die! Now!
G-damned. This kind of shit really pisses me off, it's really easy to write stuff like that. How about I do a review of life in his cynical style? Wouldn't that be funny. What a jerk. Is cynisism in his job-description?
I'll say it again: OFCOURSE YOU SHOULD GO AND SEE THIS MOVIE. And hopefully this is the last time you are influenced by some external reviewer/asshole in avoiding a movie.
Damn. Of course you can make up your own mind after seeing it.'
My response: 'Hey, that was nice. Thank you for making me smile. I love (un)reasonable rants *g*. I had a feeling you wouldn't like that review (but I mailed it anyway, since I'm such a nice person;) And I put the film on my to-see-list, but even though I realise it's easy to smack this kind of story down, I do feel the writer tried to like it, but was severely dissapointed. I think I know what he means by 'cliché-characters' and they don't necessarily make a bad movie, but it does sound more 'american' than 'independent' (does that make sense? It did in my head;)
Of course I will save my final opinion until I've seen it :-p
Now take a breath. And another one. Feel better?'
Jelle then mailed me an article about LMS winning the Critics Choice Awards to prove he was not the only one who liked the movie. And he added this: 'What I especially liked about the movie was how -despite the cliché-plot of putting all these different characters together in a little van to have them travel together and inevitably get closer, etcetera - the people turned out not to be caricatures after all. I was very impressed by Steven Carrel, whom I only know as a funnyman. I certainly didn't expect him to be this subtle and subdued gay guy, recovering from an attempted suicide. It would've been easy to make him a screaming queen, his lines could go either way. But he was very vulnerable, I loved it. Also: the interaction between the siblings was very recognisable. Plus there is a lot of physical comedy, what more can I say? No clichés, that's for sure.'
And then I finally saw the film... and told Jelle what I thought about it...
First of all: the cast was perfect. Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear both had the right amount of dispair and together with grandpa Alan Arkin, the little girl and her brother, they were a real family. I loved how they were even nice to each other during the trip and not only after they spend a whole journey/movie together. That was lovely.
You were right; Steven Carrell was great. Although he was terrifyingly skinny and beards give me the creeps, his character was beautiful. His completely believable climb out of the darkness back to living was subtle and human, with sarcasm as a bonus. Fantastic journey.
And at first I was pleasantly surprised by the story and I had to disagree with cynical-review-guy, because it all felt real and honest. But then it turned into slapstick and they lost me. They 'jumped the shark' in the middle of the movie! WTF? Everything that followed after that moment felt unreal and contrived. Luckily there where some scenes that made me connect with the characters again and they had a couple of wonderful dialogues in between the madness, but at the end it all went downhill yet again.
Because of the brilliant cast it wasn't a complete let down, but a wrong turn in the story and too many 'funny' scenes were dissapointing.
In conclusion: you were right about the characters and cynical-review-guy is a nasty man, but I suspect he shares my lack of humor;-)'
Jelle couldn't resist and yesterday he let me know Little Miss Sunshine was named Best Film at the Producers Guild Of America (PGA) and how it is now a favorite to win the Academy Award for Best Picture (FYI: 11 movies voted for by the PGA in the last 17 years have gone on to win the Oscar)
We'll see, we'll see. I suspect the discussion will continue;)
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-24 11:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-24 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-25 12:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-25 08:37 pm (UTC)Can't wait for your review (and of course I'm secretly hoping you'll be on my side of the discussion;)
no subject
Date: 2007-02-22 12:40 pm (UTC)Was it good? Yes. Was it as good as I'd expected? No.
I can say nothing wrong about the cast, since they were nothing short of brilliant and worked beautifully together. I do agree though that it's 'independent film 101' for the lazy indie-lover.
It struck me as a bit odd that the movie started off as a bittersweet family drama with a flair for sarcasm, and then turned into a blatant comedy; but I have to admit that it never really bothered me that much. With any other cast, that final scene might have bugged me tremendously, but they played it so real and with such a lovely disregard for the indignity of that scene, that it turned out nicely.
I think I would have preferred it if they kept up with the grim, wry humor from the first hour of the film, and this won't go on my all-time favourites list; but with all the crap in theatres these days, it was a breath of fresh air to see an indie film that doesn't take itself too seriously.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-22 02:39 pm (UTC)The cast was marvelous though and all the signs point to another 'best-cast-equals-best-film'-award like last years 'Crash'-Oscar for Best Motion Picture. I still hope it will be Babel...