Little Miss Sunshine
What a wonderful movie! I was hoping I'd like it, but I completely love it. So good. Plus they were handing out free shirts so I now have a bright yellow shirt that says "Everybody Pretend to Be Normal" on it. Yay!
Everyone in it plays their part wonderfully. I've never been a huge Steve Carell fan, but I'm completely in love with him after this movie. In the commentary for Serenity, Joss Whedon talks about how he likes to cast comedic actors for dramatic roles. Something about if they have the skills/timing necessary to be funny they can usually translate that into really powerful dramatic work. I agreed with him at the time, and Carell's performance really just perfectly illustrates this. So well done.
I'm sure part of the experience was enhanced by seeing it opening night at the Uptown in a very full theater - we all wanted to see the family succeed, we wanted them to hold it together. Even when the story takes some absurd twists, the emotions are really genuine. The connections feel very real, and there's some really nice contrasts/comparisons between the two generations - both from the two sets of siblings and the two sets of father and son.
Good pacing, really nice production design, some really great humor made it just really enjoyable. It also has some really interesting things to say about winners and losers and the pressure parents put on their kids and themselves. Even with their faults, I ended up caring about each member of the family. And at the end we see that even with their faults, even with their struggles to connect and support each other - they're really a family who loves each other very much and because of that are able to keep moving forward despite the odds.
Everyone should go see it. One of the best movies I've seen in a long time.
Everyone in it plays their part wonderfully. I've never been a huge Steve Carell fan, but I'm completely in love with him after this movie. In the commentary for Serenity, Joss Whedon talks about how he likes to cast comedic actors for dramatic roles. Something about if they have the skills/timing necessary to be funny they can usually translate that into really powerful dramatic work. I agreed with him at the time, and Carell's performance really just perfectly illustrates this. So well done.
I'm sure part of the experience was enhanced by seeing it opening night at the Uptown in a very full theater - we all wanted to see the family succeed, we wanted them to hold it together. Even when the story takes some absurd twists, the emotions are really genuine. The connections feel very real, and there's some really nice contrasts/comparisons between the two generations - both from the two sets of siblings and the two sets of father and son.
Good pacing, really nice production design, some really great humor made it just really enjoyable. It also has some really interesting things to say about winners and losers and the pressure parents put on their kids and themselves. Even with their faults, I ended up caring about each member of the family. And at the end we see that even with their faults, even with their struggles to connect and support each other - they're really a family who loves each other very much and because of that are able to keep moving forward despite the odds.
Everyone should go see it. One of the best movies I've seen in a long time.