Crazy about "Little Miss Sunshine"

So I saw "Little Miss Sunshine" this weekend, and absolutely loved it. It's hysterically funny—seriously, the crowd I was in was gasping for air from laughing so hard—and it's also irreverent, moving and occasionally downright heartbreaking, and often all of those things at once.  And even though the characters at first seem to be painted somewhat broadly, as the movie moves along the nuances of the relationships between all of them unfold perfectly, and everyone becomes real, multi-dimensional, loveable and irritating—you sense the history between all of them without being clubbed over the head with it. And the family is just so recognizable as a...well, typical middle class family, in the rhythms of the way they relate. There were little grace notes in the beginning of the movie that told us who this family was in a way I easily recognized, too...the quick little close-up of the Mayor McCheese drinking glass at dinner, for example. At my house, it was the Jellystone Park plate (Yogi Bear!)—the sibs and I used to squabble over who got to eat off of it.

The acting was fabulous, too: Toni Colette is always amazing, Steve Carell was great, and Greg Kinnear was a revelation. I've seen him in lighter movies, but I didn't know he could really act.  LOL. He was brilliant. And the movie wasn't flawless, but it's probably not like anything you've seen recently, and it's filled with little surprises and wonderful little moments. It'll linger with you when you walk out of the theater, and you'll walk out feeling good.

Also, a little plus: they used quite a few Sufjan Stevens songs in the movie, and I love him.

Anyway, that's my movie recommendation! And I suppose my unadulterated enthusiasm could be a result of the fact that I haven't exactly been getting out much lately, and that I would have been delighted by anything, anything I saw. LOL. But—nah. I did love it. Have you guys seen anything you loved/hated lately, whether in the theater or on DVD or what have you? I have a wee little breather between projects, and after I scrub down my flat and organize it within an inch of its life—everything in the bathroom cupboard is going on those little Lazy Susans, I decided, because I'm tired of lotions, etc. flying out out at me every time I open the cupboard door—I'm going to catch up on my movie watching. (We'll see how long my organizational systems last.)

And in case you guys didn't see it in our comments down below, the winner of the signed book is Courtney Crowely! Woo hoo, Courtney! She chose TO LOVE A THIEF, and I'm popping that in the mail this week to her this week. Happy Monday!

Comments

[Isabel]

Hi Julie :)

Congrats, Courtney, you'll love TLAT. It's an awesome read. Enjoy!

[Lareign]

You know, I really want to see Little Miss Sunshine, too. But I live in a small-town, and it's not here, and I would be surprised if it ever gets here, or even to the slightly better movie-theater town 20 minutes away. But the cast looks great. I have an odd little crush on Steve Carell, even though he's probably 20 years older than me. And I think it's cool that this character seems to be so different from his usual roles.

As far as good movies I've seen recently, I watched Sideways the other night with a friend, and we both really liked it. It made me want to try wine, haha, even though I never really have before (I'm just 22, so I've only been able to buy alcohol for a year, and before that I really didn't drink at all, for various reasons). So I went to buy some a couple days ago and went into the wine room, and it was all cooled and there was a little whirlpool and I was just amazed. I know, I'm easily impressed. But now I have some merlot in my fridge, although I'm saving it for a bit. Anyway, you may very well have seen Sideways already. It kind of takes place around your area and all.

Next up is Match Point. I hope it doesn't make me want to play tennis. Or commit adultery. Last movie I saw in theaters was Devil Wears Prada. Fun and fluffy, although I didn't really like the ending, and it made me realize just how ridiculous the fashion world is.

[Julie Anne Long]

Lareign, I heard that "Little Miss Sunshine" is going into wider distribution, so who knows? It might make it's way to a theater in your neck of the woods. I've wanted to see Matchpoint, so I'll have to rent that; I've also heard good things about Sideways. So I'll check that one out next, I think. :) Life for the past several months was pretty much wall-to-wall work for me—seriously—so movies were an indulgence I couldn't afford, time-wise (besides, I *had* to watch American Idol. LOL. That, and House were pretty much all the TV I watched for quite some time). I'm just starting to catch up on everytyhing. I did see "Capote" and "Station Agent" recently, because friends loaned me DVDs. Capote was riveting—I highly, highly recommend it. And "Station Agent" was fabulous, too. It was more wrenching than I anticipated, somehow, but that could have just been the mood I was in. Both movies lingered in my mind for quite some time after I watched them, and for me that's the test of a good movie. And around here, non-matinee movies are $10, and for that price I kind of want a movie to linger. :)

[Ranurgis]

I went past our biggest multi-plex theater on Saturday afternoon and saw the movie advertised there. It was one of the two playing there that I would have gone to see if I had the money. I'm not much of a movie theater person. I prefer to wait for the movies to come up on TV. Cheaper that way.

Personally, I prefer the older movies anyway.

I know what you mean about finding any movie interesting if you haven't been to one in a while. One of my friends gave me a free ticket. So I decided to see "The Da Vinci Code" more for the scenery than anything else really. I lived in the Paris area for over a year and loved exploring the streets. Of course, I also went to the Louvre numerous times but a lot of things there have changed since the early 1960s--a lot more security for one thing. I think the Mona Lisa still hung there without protection of any kind though there was a guard close by and it was still in one of the long galleries. My favorite was always the Victoire de Samothrace at the top of the stairway but I also went exploring in the lesser known areas.

I've also been to London several times and know quite a few of the scenes shown there. And I loved the Lincoln Cathedral which doubled for Westminster Abbey. On our tour to see the churches, we had to wait for a service to finish in Lincoln--where the famous "imp" is. Actually hearing a service there with choir and everything is much more engrossing than just the church by itself.

Saw some of Scotland too but not Rosslyn. So seeing the movie was a journey into the past for me but some things I really could have done without (e.g. the self-flagellation). And I didn't like some of the changes in the movie from the book, though that I guess is inevitable. Otherwise I found it a so-so movie.

[Julie Anne Long]

I know what you mean, Ranurgis, by seeing a movie for a sense of place...one movie that immediately leaps to mind for me is "Enchanted April," set in Italy. Watching that movie is nearly as good as taking an actual vacation. :)

[Pam Rosenthal]

LOVED Little Miss Sunshine.

Another wonderfully loopy movie with strange-but-true family rhythms is Junebug. We missed it at the movies, but rented the DVD this weekend. Really good.

And my husband and I are suckers for anything by Kevin Smith (even Jersey Girls, which maybe grossed about $10,000). I cried real tears.

And then on the Big Shiny Romantic side is The Illusionist. Loved it too.