lots of miss sunshine

Wow - Little Miss Sunshine is one fantastic movie! A and I went to see it on Wednesday night on his brother's recommendation, and it was just amazing. Funny, touching, brilliantly acted, intelligently written. Its been so long since I've really laughed out loud in a movie, and meant it. I never realized until now, but sometimes I laugh just because my companion is, but don't really find the jokes funny. But the number of memorable moments here kept me chuckling all night, just thinking back at it. My favorite was when the very-terrifying looking MC at the Little Miss Sunshine contests asks Olive where her grandpa is right now. I won't give away the joke, but her face and delivery are both priceless.

The acting was also terrific. There's not one actor that I thought was bad - I even thought Greg Kinnear did an amazing job, contrary to what some of the critics have said. I don't usually like Toni Collette, but she was great. And of course, Abigail Breslin is adorable!

But the best part of the movie is that is has an amazing heart at the core of it. This movie is not just about a dysfunctional family, or their adventures, or their ups and downs. Its about how each adventure, each up and down, and how they interact as a family because of them. I almost wrote "brings them closer together", but that's a cliche movie premise. You can tell here that the family was already close; it just took the events to reveal it to the audience. My favorite scene by far is the one in the diner, when Olive orders ice cream for breakfast. Lovely.

Definitely go see the movie. Its one of the best that I've seen in a very, very long time.