little miss sunshine

‘little miss sunshine’ does seem to go through the expected formulae of independent american cinema; a cast of representative outcasts – the gay suicidal man, the heroin addict, the motivational speaker, the beauty pageant obsessed girl, the sullen angry teenager- people we have seen before in many a film; a group of radically different outcasts huddled together in a cramped space who through a road trip to the west (such an american metaphor) find each other again.

there are two rather sly maneuvers that save the film from being just another alternative rant against the culture of skinny, big smiling and over stuffed americana. the first is to make the oddball family likeable, their eccentricities endearing- the result of a world that has treated them badly; the second trick is to demonize through grotesque caricature the world outside, whether that is the grievance counselor in the hospital; or the gaggle of mothers and little girls with puffed up hair and too much make up at the beauty pageant. the film ends up being a feel good film, fluffy and quite funny.