Dysfunction plays winning role in ‘Miss Sunshine’

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In theaters

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, written by Michael Arndt, 101 minutes, rated R.

“Little Miss Sunshine” is all about failure – personal failure, public failure, professional failure, romantic failure, car failure, eye failure, even heart failure. And yet the film, from newcomers Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, is a winner.

This trippy, caustically funny road movie – a smash at last winter’s Sundance Film Festival – is one of the brightest (and darkest) comedies to hit theaters in awhile.

From Michael Arndt’s script, the film follows the beleaguered Hoover family, a seemingly hopeless wreck of geeks and losers who reluctantly get behind their one shred of hope – endearing, 7-year-old Olive (Abigail Breslin) – when good news suddenly strikes. By default, this goofy, bespectacled girl has been chosen to participate in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, Calif.

Since the Hoovers live in Albuquerque and have zip for money, that means a road trip is at hand, with everybody in the family climbing aboard the Hoover’s dilapidated Volkswagen bus, itself a rather sizeable metaphor for their broken relationships, and setting off for parts unknown – literally and figuratively.

At the wheel is patriarch Richard (Greg Kinnear), a third-rate motivational speaker who has developed the nine-step program “Refuse to Lose,” which is designed to turn losers into winners, though one wonders when Richard himself will start to see the benefits of his own work. He is a grinning mess, so tightly wound and relentlessly positive – except, of course, when he’s shouting at his family – that you know the moment he finally comes undone, as he must in a movie like this, it won’t go well. And so it doesn’t.

There’s Richard’s harried wife, Sheryl (Toni Collette), the matriarch of the group, whose idea of dinner is chicken in a bucket served on paper plates. Nice touch. It’s tough to fault her, though, particularly since the film opens with Sheryl picking up her brother, Frank (Steve Carell), at the hospital after his failed suicide attempt.

A renowned Proust scholar, Frank slashed his wrists when he learned that his boyfriend had dumped him for another, much older Proust scholar. Since the hospital won’t release him without supervision, Frank agrees to live with the Hoovers, the remaining two of whom include teenage son Dwayne (Paul Dano), who hates his family and has taken a Nietzschean vow of silence, and Grandpa (Alan Arkin), who got kicked out of his retirement facility because he was hooked on heroin.

Dysfunction is a river that runs through “Little Miss Sunshine,” but so do the characters’ unexpected moments of humanity, caring and understanding, which keep the film from being the black comedy it otherwise might have been. The actors also serve that end, with Carell, Dano and the marvelous Breslin striking a comparatively calming balance against the manic heat provided by Collette, Kinnear and Arkin.

In the end, “Sunshine” embraces an increasingly manufactured, self-conscious wackiness that strains believability, but since believability seems beyond the point when the point is buried in metaphor – much like their van, this clan continues to chug along in spite of so many stripped gears – it doesn’t harm the entertaining outcome, which is a free-wheeling blast.

Grade: B+

On DVD

FRIENDS WITH MONEY, written and directed by Nicole Holofcener, 90 minutes, rated R.

Nobody in Nicole Holofcener’s “Friends with Money” is especially happy, which on paper might make it sound like a downer but which in reality turns out to be part of its charm. The film has a satisfying edge, dialogue that cuts, rage that burns, with performances from a fine ensemble cast – Jennifer Aniston, Catherine Keener, Francis McDormand, Joan Cusack – that are amiably askew.

Working from her own script, Holofcener focuses on four female friends at different stages in their lives – three have grown into money while one is nearly destitute. The dynamics of their relationships are observed by Holofcener, though never judged by her – she leaves that to the women.

Aniston, once again strong in an independent movie, is former teacher Olivia, who is unhappily single after a messy breakup with a married man and who now is something of a pot-smoking mess. She cleans homes for a living, which her more-accomplished friends think is beneath her, and she has slumped into a relationship with a bum personal trainer (Scott Caan), who uses her for sex and for cash, and who doesn’t do much for her self-esteem.

Keener is Christine, a screenwriter whose fiery marriage to fellow screenwriter David (Jason Isaacs) is about to fade to black in the midst of a house renovation, and Cusack is Franny, a multimillionaire snob married to unlikable Matt (Greg Germann). Rounding out the fold is Jane (McDormand), a successful dress designer who has sunk into a funk. With rumors swirling among her friends that her doting husband, Aaron (Simon McBurney), is gay, she has retreated into herself, with her anger manifesting into frequent violent outbursts targeted at strangers.

Like “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Friends with Money” is one of those small, character-driven movies in which the writing and the acting are everything. Screw them up and the film is finished. Since the plot doesn’t allow for the concealment of any flaws within a distracting haze of special effects – and since it lacks anything that might be considered a sense of style – it has to succeed on the strength of its story and its relationships, which it does.

There are no tricks employed in this movie, nothing particularly groundbreaking, just competency on all levels. That proves more than enough.

Grade: B

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays in Discovering, Fridays in Happening, and Weekends in Television. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.

THE VIDEO-DVD CORNER

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Akeelah and the Bee – B+

Arrested Development: Season Three – A-

ATL – B-

Basic Instinct 2 – D+

The Benchwarmers – D

Big Momma’s House 2 – D

Bob Newhart Show: Season 4 – A

Breakfast on Pluto – B

Brokeback Mountain – A-

Capote – A

Cheaper by the Dozen 2 – C-

Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – A

The Constant Gardener – A-

Conviction: Complete Series – C

Date Movie – D-

Derailed – C+

Double Indemnity – A

Eight Below – B+

Failure to Launch – C-

The Family Stone – D

Freedomland – C-

Friends With Money – B

Fun with Dick and Jane – C

The Hills Have Eyes – D

A History of Violence – A

Hoodwinked – C

Howl’s Moving Castle – A-

Inside Man – B+

Junebug – A

Kinky Boots – B+

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – B+

Last Holiday – B

The Libertine – D

The Matador – B+

Match Point – A

Munich – A-

Nanny McPhee – B-

North Country – C

Oliver Twist – B+

Paradise Now – A-

The Pink Panther – C+

Poseidon – B

Pride & Prejudice – A

Prime – B-

The Producers – B+

Red Eye – B+

Rumor Has It… – C-

Scary Movie 4 – D+

The Shaggy Dog – C-

Shakespeare Behind Bars – A-

Shopgirl – B+

Silent Hill – C-

16 Blocks – B

The Squid and the Whale – B+

Syriana – B+

Take the Lead – C-

Transamerica – B

United 93 – A

Walk the Line – A-

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit – A

The Warrior – B