Little Miss Sunshine: An OGR Protest Review

Little Miss Sunshine is one of those films that the mainstream audience inexplicably decide to embrace for no tangible reason.

Warning: From here on in this is SPOILER FILLED.

If you have seen this and don’t see where I am coming from, consider this;

  • The entire film exists only because a young girl has aspirations of stardom that begin and end with a child’s beauty pageant. She spends countless hours working on her routine, honing and perfecting her every move and gesture. The entire family move heaven and Earth (some reluctantly) to accommodate her dream, barely making it to the venue in time.

Then they are all shocked to see the final product when Olive performs it on stage.

One girl. One family. Days, weeks, months (?) of preparation in the SAME HOUSE. And no-one has seen it.

This is why they are surprised.

‘Look’ I hear you say, ‘It wouldn’t have been a surprise to them or us if they had already seen it, and their reactions wouldn’t have been so genuine and life affirming’.

Granted on the surprise angle. But their reactions are both fake and stupid. Save the girl from embarrassment. It’s one thing to indulge a mildly talented girl who thinks she is a star – another to allow a seven year old strip tease in front of a group of strangers.

‘Don’t quell her self-esteem Richard. Cheer the precocious girl dancing like a slut!’

Not enough? Consider this also;

  • Cute pre-teen girls acting like whores aside, the characters in this film range from aggravating to reprehensible, aside from the well meaning Mum least aggravating and/or reprehensible is the suicidal Uncle Frank. Richard the self help ‘guru’ is an obnoxious self absorbed prick who constantly waylays the entire mission with his own selfish wants, Dwayne the emo-teen is a gormless hateful git whose vow of silence would be better served with a side order of not breathing, and the porn loving, profanity spewing, drug using Grandpa. What a guy.

The fact is that these scumbags are played by famous actors; Greg Kinnear, Steve Carrell, Alan Arkin and Toni Collette. If it were Joe Smith, Betty Green and Shia LeBeouf the reprisals would be instant and damning.

A junkie grandfather imploring a teenage boy to ‘Get some. No lots!’?

A family that not only endorses an especially adult dance by a 7 year old, but jumps onstage and grinds next to them?

A film where it seems everyone argues and snipes at each other constantly – but my doesn’t it finish in such a life affirming manner?

(Don’t you understand? She’s a tiny bit fat but they love her anyway!)

No, nuh-uh, not on your little yellow combi, and what the fuck?

I know I am over-thinking this, but the very fact that this film was not only accepted but garnered several awards is in my opinion symptomatic of all that is wrong with the American mainstream.

Show a pair of tits in a movie; gross. Have a married couple having sex; disgusting. Having a bunch of name actors ‘playing against type’, degrading each other, swearing constantly and indulging in what should be viewed as especially anti-social, taboo breaking activity; praise worthy.

Just make sure that it sounds fun and Steve Carrell is in there somewhere.

Final Rating – 5.5 / 10. Fuck Little Miss Sunshine. The film, not the cute little chubby girl.

About OGR

While I try to throw a joke or two into proceedings when I can all of the opinions presented in my reviews are genuine. I don't expect that all will agree with my thoughts at all times nor would it be any fun if you did, so don't be shy in telling me where you think I went wrong... and hopefully if you think I got it right for once. Don't be shy, half the fun is in the conversation after the movie.
This entry was posted in Crappy Movies, Film, Movie Reviews. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.