Little Miss Sunshine
 

I saw a preview of this a few days ago, and I thought it was really good. It is kind of a strange hybrid of a dysfunctional family + road trip + kiddie beauty pageant, but it is very funny, and there is a great cast, including Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, and Alan Arkin. Carell and Arkin in particular, but the kids in the movie, are really good too.

The only negative was that it was a little contrived in places(more than a little in some). If you don't like 'quirky' movies, you probably wouldn't like this.

But I liked it, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars, it is really very funny in places, it sort of feels like an indie version of National Lampoon's Vacation at times.

The other reason for mentioning this is that Fox is having tons of free screenings(that's how I saw it). Anyway, there are almost 50 cities(many with multiple previews) listed on the foxsearchlight website. Remember that they do overbook these, so you may have to get there early, even if you have rsvp'd......

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/lms-sc...x.php?movie=38

Cool. Thanks! I'm not sure if I can make the screening, but I'm looking forward to seeing this.

Thanks chimpy, I signed up for the Hollywood screening.

Saw this last week. Wasn't awful, but it wasn't that great either.
Lots of missed potential and plot devices that were forgotten
or seemingly had their lead in left on the cutting room floor
2, maybe 2 and a half stars tops out of 5
(and a star and a half of that is specifically allotted to the payoff at the end).
Think a cross between Vacation and Slums Of Beverly Hills, but more in a
homage sense instead of one of complete originality. To borrow the term
quirky used in the original post, I thought the film tried to be so (quirky/dark)
but only managed to be so in a few places.

For those who are going to see it soon, a fun way to pass time if you're finding
it slow is to see how many shots of the police escort car you can spot in the
frame while they're driving in the van. :)

Thanks for the heads up! I'll definitely go see it at one of the screenings. Look forward to it.

Checking it out on Thursday. Can't wait, looks very interesting.

MATT

2 and a half? I LOVED THIS MOVIE!!!! It was heartbreaking, yet heartwarming and had laughs throughout. I was in tears from laughing so hard at the big finale and other moments nearly had me in tears from emotion. The whole cast really does a great job and takes material that could have been trivial and gimmicky and SELLS THE SHIT OUT OF IT. The theatre was packed and the audience enjoyed the hell out of the movie. One of the best of the year easily.

Today was one of the best movie days I've had in recent memory...I saw A SCANNER DARKLY and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE...two movies that are NOT TO BE MISSED this summer.

MATT

Great. No Pittsburgh showings. :(

The acting was top notch, but that alone doesn't make a film a 4 or 5 star
event. I felt the film was just far too predictable (aside from the end), left
some important things forgotten/not led up to, had editing and camerawork
that could have used a little more work, and just wasn't that funny (while I
enjoyed the routine at the end I also feel they dragged it on too long). I
thought I was going to love it, but alas I didn't.

I hope to see Scanner this weekend.

I'm really looking forward to this. It's currently at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes (22 reviews)and I love quirky movies. I'm seeing a screening next week in Baltimore.

I saw a screeing last night at a Drive-In. It was great. KROQ and Fox Searclight threw the screeing. They were filming commercials too. There must have been at least 50 VW buses there. Everyone had a great time, it was a total party atmosphere. Lawn chairs, coolers, beer, cocktails, free popcorn and soda. Great movie BTW. Abigail Breslin is really good in this.

I saw this on Monday and really liked it-
The cast was great, the ending was a classic :)
In addition to the positive reviews so far, word of mouth will also help this film.

Does anyone know if this is going to be expanding? I'd love to see it but I'm not driving up to NY.

My wife and I saw this movie this weekend and loved!

DVD Talk review of 'Little Miss Sunshine'
 

I read Brian Orndorf's DVD review of Little Miss Sunshine at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=22931 and... the the first 45 minutes or so are probably the best movie I've seen all year. It doesn't conclude as well but by then you like the characters so much, it easy to forgive the film when it loses focus. If you want how a comedy should be done, check this film out!

its expanding to 600 theaters on the 18th

I'm seeing another screening on Wednesday, can't wait to see this again... been telling all my friends about it...will definitely see it a third time once it "opens".

MATT

I'm not sure if I'd see it 3 times (in the span of a couple of weeks) but I'd definately recommend it to fans of small, quirky films.

Little Miss Sunshine ..
 

Just saw this last night, very good film, great cast, and a nice look into the all american dream of win at all costs.

Alan Arkin was brilliant as the grand dad.
And Carrell for me was fantastic, I was amazed at how good his acting skills were, the opening scenes with him were fantastic.

Toni Collete has been a favourite for sometime, and Greg Kinnear is not so bad.

Quite a fun little independent movie which has now got a pretty wide release.

Personally, I can't wait for this one.

= J

I saw the trailer and when he was on Letterman. I am not a huge fan, but he is a very good actor and has been in some really good films and was excellent in Auto Focus & As Good As It Gets, had some good roles in Stuck On You, Smile Like Yours, Nurse Betty, Dear God, Godsend, and some smaller ones like You've Got Mail, We Were Soliders but he was perfectly cast for a role like this. They could have tried to get any other kind of leading man I suppose, but Greg Kinnear I am sure was perfect casting. I have not seen Little Miss Sunshine yet, but I want to really bad when it comes to a theater near me. It looks to be a very entertaining flick for alot of people. I hope this becomes the sleeper hit of the year and does big at the box office.

Is it supposed to get any sort of a wider release? I've been looking for it for awhile around here but it hasn't been showing.

I've been looking forward to this ever since I stumbled upon the trailer on the Apple website. I love Carrell's work - along with Will Ferrell one of the best comedic actors this day and age.

It is opening week by week in more theatres and should be available in most markets in the next week or two... already some good discussion going on about the movie in this thread here http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread....=miss+sunshine

MATT

our search sucks!