Closing Night: Little Miss Sunshine

Sun., July 2, 7:30 p.m.

Wadsworth Theatre

Just when it seems the dysfunctional family film has run out of gas, along comes a film like Little Miss Sunshine to reinvigorate the form. The Hoover family has fallen on some hard times. Dad’s a motivational speaker who tries a little too hard; his son Frank has taken a vow of silence; and Grandpa just got kicked out of his nursing home for snorting heroin. When seven-year-old Olive qualifies for a beauty pageant, circumstances dictate that the entire family — mom, dad, big brother, grandpa and a suicidal uncle — all make the drive from Albuquerque to Redondo Beach in a beat-up VW bus. This half-melancholy, half-hilarious road trip marks the feature directing debut of the veteran music video team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who have a predictably crisp sense of pacing, a keen eye for production detail and a lovely sensitivity to character and performance. The truly exceptional cast — Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin, Steve Carell and Abigail Breslin — are all marvelous, faithfully hanging with the story as it veers from pathos to broad comedy and back again. Little Miss Sunshine may start out as an acid-etched portrait of despair and desperation, but it all builds to a finale so exuberant and all-embracing that you may find yourself fighting the urge to hug the person next to you, whether they’re family or not. 100 min.

DIRECTORS Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
WRITER Michael Arndt
PRODUCERS Marc Turtletaub, Peter Saraf, David Friendly, Ron Yerxa, Albert Berger
CAST Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano