Little Miss Sunshine
March 2007 Reviewed by: Anthony Di Marco Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

The world of Little Miss Sunshine is full of both failure and hope. Young Olive dreams about being Miss America. Her father, Richard, dreams about succeeding as a motivational speaker. His wife, Sheryl, is battered and beaten by life and struggles to hold her family together. Grandpa feels that he’s thrown away his life, so he aggressively endeavors to relive his youth. Olive’s older brother, Dwayne, has given up speaking because he feels communication has failed him. Uncle Frank, a Proust scholar unrecognized by his peers and a failure at love as well, has attempted suicide and been put under the care of his sister Sheryl. The superb ensemble cast bolsters the narrative.

The Hoovers are one big dysfunctional family, who despite its own failings and selfish needs -- and its mechanically-challenged Volkswagen bus -- pull together to get Olive to the talent show final. They do it not because they believe it is important, but because of what it means to the young, impressionable, and innocent Olive.

Besides the story’s valorizing of family, it makes other compelling observations on and challenges to what the societal majority considers important. Does a person’s real worth rest on whether he succeeds as a Proust scholar? Or on what he offers as a feeling, sympathetic member of the human race?

Little Miss Sunshine is a style of comedy that’s black rather than laugh-out-loud. Its humor is in showing how the fickleness of life decides our fates and how we attempt to remove our insecurities through empty social beliefs.

The DVD extras amount to a few deleted scenes and two good commentaries. The first commentary involves the husband and wife directing team. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris deliver some insightful observations about the film-making process and its difference from their earlier experience directing commercials. Both come across as very impassioned with their work. A second commentary teams them up with screenwriter Michael Arndt. Arndt describes how he developed the Hoover family and where he found inspiration in their dysfunction.

Technically this is a good-looking disc. Image quality, while not reference caliber, is clean and free of any major defects. Some shots look a bit out of focus and on the noisy side, while tight shots offer some very realistic samples of well-lit complexions and sharp detail. Sound quality is good overall. Surround sound is of the front-heavy, back-filler variety. The music in particular is excellent. Songs from Mychael Danna and the rock group Devotchka complement the off-kilter, melancholy mood of the story.

All these elements deliver a good-natured yet realistic look at how messy -- and rewarding -- life can get when you concentrate on the people that matter.

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