I’m a huge fan of this movie. It was a nice, consistent funny buzz all the way through, and then the dance just killed me. I was doubled over laughing, which might be a first for me in a movie theater.
H.
Houngan:
That’s what I was like. The very end of the dance should have been cheesy and probably would have been in a lesser movie but for some reason it worked.
I just saw this on DVD last night. My wife and I enjoyed it and we laughed out loud often. I thought Paul Dano (Dwayne) did a great acting job considering he was only using facial expressions and body langauge throughout most of the film. Steve Carell was hilarious, but then I just got done enjoying the first two season of The Office, so I’m a total Steve Carell convert now. The final 15 minutes of the film (at the pagent) was disturbing to say the least, but Olive’s dance scene and the characters reactions to it managed to redeem the moment and had us laughing in the end.
But even with all that, I just don’t see this film as being Oscar worthy as “Best Film”, especially in a year where so many other features are more deserving.
When you say the final 15 minutes were disturbing, what do you mean?
I assume he meant the pagent itself, and the way the girls are made up, how they are dressed and how they act.
SPOILERS :
I mean the scenes at the pagent, with emphasis on the scenes of 7 and 8 year old girls made up like Latoya Jackson that are reminiscient of the Jon-Bennet Ramsey thing and a stark reminder that there are some sick fucking people out there that would do that to their little girls. While Olive’s dance is an unintentional (on her part, intentional on the writer’s part obviously) parody of this, it makes it no less disturbing.
That’s what I thought you meant, but I wasn’t sure if you meant ‘disturbingly bad’. It was supposed to be vaguely disturbing I suppose but I thought Olive’s dance was absolutely spot-on.
Why do so many people keep giving Wes Anderson the credit for this movie?
I really liked this film, but it’s not up to Anderson’s standard. Plus, you know, he didn’t direct it or write it or have anything to do with it that I could see.
Spoilers.
Saw it and loved it. I could have done without the National Lampoon’s Vacation steal of the dead grandparent but it was hilarious none the less.
I liked it, mostly because it was a refreshing change of pace from the pretentious überdrama of The Departed, Babel, and Children of Men (which I thought were OK, good, and crap, respectively). The Prestige is still the best movie in recent memory, however.
I was driving down Central Expressway in Plano about 2yrs ago with my twin boys, age 5, when I had a flat and had to pull into the parking lot of a hotel to change the tire. As always for 5 yr olds, they had to pee before we could leave. It just turns out the hotel was having some sort of pageant JUST LIKE the one in Little Miss Sunshine. All the dresses and makeup and hair… on girls the same age as my boys ages (and up). YIKES! And the parents, well that was like the movie too.
Needless to say, I hurried us out of there as fast as I possible could.
Finally saw this and I have to say that I thought this movie sucked. While the acting is decent (and in my mind, only decent except for a few moments with Breslin), the script was pretty weak, contrived, shallow, and absurd at times. I like Arkin, but I don’t think he strained himself too hard with this one (did no one in the academy see Little Children when considering the Best Supporting Actor category?). Stealing Grandpa was ridiculous, but the film had already established it would probably choose the more stupid of the two options when logic was involved.
I don’t know, maybe my judegement is clouded because I’ve had to listen to a lot of people I know gush over this film all year, but it felt like screenwriting 101 put to film and even a more than solid cast couldn’t save this one. I did finally laugh once, at the end with Breslin’s dance, but the rest of the pageant was sooooo creepy that I wasn’t feeling the urge to laugh too strongly.
One thing, out of curiosity… is it really possible to not realize you’re color blind the way the son did? I honestly don’t know, but it seems like it’s something you would pick up on somehow, or get tested for during a routine eye exam at some point.
It wasn’t supposed to be a slapstick LOL comedy. It’s a dark, yet upbeat, dramedy. The pageant was supposed to be creepy as hell, those pageants are creepy.
I thought the script was great. The dialogue was fantastic, and the story had a good flow to it. The dinner scene at the beginning was a smart way of introducing you to quite a complex little family, and their situation.
It happens. I had a buddy in the Navy who was booted out of flight school for being color blind. He had passed 4 years of ROTC physicals but flunked one particular lantern test given at the start of flight school. He says he can do those red-green numbers tests all day though, so that part is probably bogus.
Why can’t you be a pilot if you’re colour blind? We let “legally blind” people drive cars.
Jets move in three dimensions, very rapidly, and their pilots must be able to visually identify small dots against a completely blue background to find other jets.
A bit different from driving a car, especially considering the costs involved.
Generally, Navy pilots have to be able to land on an aircraft carrier. If you can’t “call the ball” and see the prism landing system, you’re screwed.
Out of curiousity, how would you classify The Squid and the Whale?
Because one of these two films is an example of a film that works. That is funny without betraying the gravity of its drama. With characters that are consistent and real. And one is not.
Furthermore, one deserved to be nominated for Best Picture. And the other deserved to be nominated for Films I’d Put on My Shelf Next to The Breakfast Club.
I’ll let you figure out which is which.
“We didn’t discuss the cat.”
-Amanpour
I liked it, mostly because it was a refreshing change of pace from the pretentious überdrama of The Departed, Babel, and Children of Men (which I thought were OK, good, and crap, respectively). The Prestige is still the best movie in recent memory, however.
I can’t believe we’re debating the merits of The Squid and the Whale versus Little Miss Sunshine when somewhere in this thread, someone claimed that Children of Men is crap compated to Departed and Babel.
For the most part, I did like Little Miss Sunshine. Yes it isn’t as genuine as The Squid and the Whale, but it was also a lot less depressing and possessed some funnier moments and actual likeable characters. (Who really hates Steve Carrell anyway?)
The contrivance didn’t bother me so much, mainly because it felt built in right from the start. (It could also be because I’m a Wes Anderson fan)
Little Miss Sunshine is Wes Anderson minus the actual Wes Anderson. And that’s a pretty important part of the equation.
-Tom
“I wish you didn’t have so many freckles.”