Sunshine & A Bond Between Women

August 04, 2006

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A RAY OF SUNSHINE

Last week I caught a matinee of Little Miss Sunshine. I’ve been dying to see this family road comedy since it became the toast of Sundance with a $10 million-plus sale to Fox Searchlight. This movie has such a unique power. It’s undeniably funny and the kiddie pageant delivers all the JonBenet freakshow spectacle you could hope for. But it’s the journey to the pageant that made me cry like a little girl.

That’s right, I cried. For something like five times. With the convulsions and the snot and the whole bit.

I have a history of crying at shows and movies that are classified as comedies. I howled in the fetal position when Carrie’s computer crashed and Miranda’s mom died on Sex and the City. If you saw me coming out of The 40 Year-Old Virgin, you’d think it was Terms of Endearment.

Here’s why I think the movie got to me: Each members of the Hoover family has a dream, something they’re longing for and working toward that’s going to change everything and put them on the road to happiness. Then, one by one, their dreams come crashing down around them like giant dominoes leaving them with nothing but each other. And the actors really show us how devastating this can be -- there’s a look on Greg Kinnear’s face as he gets some bad news over the phone that I just know I’ll think of the next time I get a telephonic rejection, which should be sometime later today.

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