@@osmanyousif7849 Oh damn, that's who Eddie lost to? He was fantastic in Dreamgirls, I remember being really disappointed. I don't think I'd seen LMS yet.
Rest in peace, Alan Arkin. He was only in about 15 minutes of the film, yet he still gave a memorable performance. I love how he assures Olive that she's beautiful when she's feeling insecure.
During the scene with Abigail where she cries in the hotel room, he immediately yelled cut concerned about her, until she explained that she was acting, which cracked him up. He made certain that during the scene in the van where he used the colorful language, that Abigail's headphones were turned up so she couldn't hear and would check before each take. At the world premiere, he asked her mother to take her out of the theater at that scene as well.
My favorite Alan Arkin movie would have to be Freebie and the Bean with him and James Caan. A black comedy action movie. The movie set to formula for other action comedies like Lethal weapon, Beverly Hill's Cop, 48 hours etc.
The Hoovers are the epitome of dysfunctional, and don't really like each other all that much, they will stop at nothing to ensure that Olive makes it to the titular pageant. She's like sunshine in between clouds of rain, and Abigail Breslin deservedly got an Oscar nomination.
Olive: I'd like to dedicate this to my grandpa, who showed me these moves. Pageant MC: Aww, that is so sweet. Is he here? Where's your grandpa right now? Olive: In the trunk of our car.
Paul Dano is fantastic in this movie, using just his facial expressions most of the time. My heart breaks for him when he discovers that he can't be a pilot, and has to be calmed down by his little sister.
Fun Fact: Creepy guy was actually a long suffering beauty queen Dad, not a random dude watching kids in swimsuits. I'll also add that I love that Olive is basically the glue for the family. Everything is going to hell, but her optimism and gentle spirit pulls everyone up when they need it most. I mean notice how she is the only one that Dwayne doesn't lash out at when he snaps and she's the one who gets him back to the van with a simple hug. Damnit, who's cutting onions. So glad you reacted to this movie because it doesn't get the attention it deserves. So well written, such great actors, so funny, so much love.
“A real loser is someone who’s so afraid of not winning, they don’t even try.” That’s the beauty of it all, putting your best efforts in life. Even after going through the toughest times, you can still look back and be proud of putting up with the challenges.
Alan Arkin was such a sweet man. During the scene with Abigail where she cries in the hotel room, he immediately yelled cut concerned about her, until she explained that she was acting, which cracked him up. He made certain that during the scene in the van where he used the colorful language, that Abigail's headphones were turned up so she couldn't hear and would check before each take. At the world premiere, he asked her mother to take her out of the theater at that scene as well.
I absolutely love Alan Arkin. Anyone wanting to see him in his prime, and at his best, should watch the great comedy “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming” from 1966. It’s a forgotten gem of a film.
Little Miss Sunshine was absolutely brilliant. I can watch it time after time. The acting, the story, the comedy, the tragedies. I was so happy how it portrayed the absolutely disgusting child beauty pageant scene. I recently watched this with my oldest daughter, and she loved it too.Every character was so well portrayed. Love this movie with all my heart.
Yay! Glad you loved it. This movie never gets old. It came out like 17 years ago, and will still be totally rewatchable and relatable decades from now! :-)
I was gonna suggest "Muriel's Wedding" also. Toni Collette has been in so many mainstream American movies since then, it is so easy to forget she is actually Australian. And Muriel's Wedding is a gem.
The irony of the finale is is painfully accurate. The (in-film) audience claps and cheers for the sexualized children in skin tight clothing, but when Olive performs a completely sexless burlesque routine, that's when they act offended. Completely backwards, but totally real to life.
Not sure if this was completely true, but apparently the dance was suppose to be more crude, with a pole involved, but the studio and creators thought that's going a bit too far so tried to keep the dance more "tamed". But considering what you mentioned I'd argue, that should've been the whole point.
@@cheebees, that’s not what I’m saying. Children obviously shouldn’t be sexualize, but I do believe that there’s a right and wrong way to go about it. Like that would controversy with Cuties, which I believe is justified. Not only was that movie awful, but in comparison to Little Miss Sunshine, the main difference between the two is the fact that Cuties tried so hard to be a drama movie with something to say, but ended up doing the thing it was trying to criticize, therefore failing to do so.
Yes, well said. The real perverse, toxic-culturally-accepted shit they were fine with, but a girl's innocent dance with "bad" moves offended them because it was "bad."
21:55 "How can this movie be so funny but so sad?" Because of everything you said in your post reaction analysis. This is an absolutely brilliant gem about a dysfunctional family that learns to love & support each other by the end. Plus the social satire in this movie is so incredibly funny. Adorable little Olive and her quest to win the pageant is the binding force that makes it all happen. Her pageant performance was a brutally honest satire of what makes those children's pageants so very cringe worthy to begin with.
The 9 steps in "Little Miss Sunshine" are hilarious and a little over the top! Here they are: Leaving Loserhood (basically, moving on from your past failures) Aspiration, Inspiration, Perspiration (basically, working hard and staying motivated) No Hocus Pocus, Just Focus (don't waste time on magic or distractions) Say No to the Negheads (don't let negative people bring you down) Good Enough is Never Good Enough (always strive for excellence) Trust and Be Trusted (build relationships based on trust) Think Big. Act Big... Be Big (go for big dreams and goals) Reject Rejection (don't let rejection hold you back) Have a Great Time (pretty self-explanatory!)
Cassie, Nietzsche was a 19th Century German philosopher. Frank used Nietzschean philosophy with his suffering monologue to get through to Duane. He knew how to reach him
My impression when I saw this was that for all the contest people were scandalized by Olive's performance, it was less exploitive than what the other girls were doing.
So many wonderful scenes in this movie that don't get enough attention. The family working together to help Olive ignore Richard, with Dwayne playfully teasing her to convince her to have the ice cream after her dad tries to manipulate her, and Dwayne shooting the straw wrapper at him. That is topped by Miss California confirming she loves ice cream to help her(and being one of the few who loves Olive's act). The grandfather telling Richard how he's proud of him taking a chance is a sweet scene. Loved Alan Arkin. Such an amazing actor and the perfect crotchety old man. And him giving Olive the pep talk when she's afraid her dad will hate her if she's a loser. RIP. Dwayne breaking down and then Olive just sitting and hugging him being enough to convince him to get up is sweet. He never said he hated her, he only yelled insults at the three adults(Divorc(mom), Bankrupt(dad), suicide(Uncle Frank). Fun fact: This movie was being filmed before "the Office"came out and Steve Carell was relatively unknown before then. But stuff went together so this movie came out AFTER "the Office"started, so it might have helped it some!
The power of film and music. This instantly took me back nearly twenty years to seeing this movie with a special lady, at a beautiful, old fashioned art house theater. This song that starts the film "Devotchka - Already Gone" is a hallmark of a very special time.
A great film with a terrific ensemble cast. Alan Arkin emerges as my favorite of the characters. My two favorite scenes of his are first, when he’s telling Dwayne not to do drugs as he’s young and it would be crazy for him to do that yet defends his own drug use by saying he’s old, thus it’d be crazy for him NOT to do that. And second, when he assures Olive’s fears of being a loser by pointing out she’s trying, which means she’s not a loser.
😊 My favorite scenes with him as well. The Family tree is a little hard to pick up on, Dwayne is Sheryl's kid from a previous marriage (early on, she references Dwayne spending time with his dad elsewhere), so that's why Grandpa isn't sure of his name...😉. And I love how he (Grandpa) takes his strong feelings about everything, including child beauty pageants I'm sure, and sets his granddaughter up to do a stripper routine to "Superfreak" 😂 I agree with you that the family will be alright in the end. They must! They are all so wonderfully weird. 😊
This is honestly one of the sweetest movies I've ever seen. I just love the part when the whole family jumps on the stage and start dancing together with Olive as all the stuck-up people get mad lol. During their most difficult moments they all supported each other and that's what family is all about.
Marcel Proust was a French author in the early 20th century. His novel Remembrance of Things Past is considered one of the greatest novels of all time, and one of the longest. EDIT: I should note that as far as being a Proust scholar, Proust might be remembered for writing that one novel, but you really could spend your whole life and career studying it.
I love the realistic ending of the movie. They family grew closer and realized some important things, but not all of their problems were solved. Grandpa died. Olive lost the beauty pageant. Dwayne is color-blind and will have to figure out the rest of his life now. Frank is fresh off a suicide attempt, is effectively homeless, and depending on what kind of scene he made, will probably have a hard time getting another job in academics. And Richard is still bankrupt with no identified way to support his family. But they have just a little more hope now that maybe--POSSIBLY--they just might be okay somehow. It's so simple yet so beautiful.
It is one of the funniest comedies ever, but incredibly earnest and heartfelt. It's one of those movies that just yanks empathy from you and makes you love all the characters, especially Olive. There is so much cynicism in comedy these days and I think that's one reason why this movie always seems so fresh and wonderful.
I'll add in a kudos for Alan Arkin. He MADE this movie. He passed away a few months ago at 89. He was still making movies. Abigail Breslin was Mel Gibson's daughter in 'Signs'. This was Steve Carrell's first major role - he filmed it before The 40 Year Old Virgin and The Office, although both were released before it. The studio was concerned he wasn't a big enough name for marketing purposes, but then pushed for him as "The Star" during promotions.
Since Frank was written as a sarcastic character, Bill Murray was considered for the part. The film makers however wanted to cast an unknown actor at the time, so they casted Steve Carell for the role of Frank.
I was already highly entertained, but I absolutely DIED when "Super Freak" came on, LOL. Great movie with an amazing cast, especially Alan Arkin. I was so bummed he wasn't in the whole movie.
I like to think that the grandpa was always very motivational in an effortless way and Richard grew up wanting to emulate him and have that affect on others that he thinks his dad was able to achieve.
I remember watching this with my daughters in a really nice hotel in Boston. We were laughing so hard at the dance sequence that hotel security came and knocked on our room to tell us to hold it down. It wasn't even late night but we couldn't stop laughing. Good memory.
Now THIS is the kind of movie I want to see on this channel - special, out of the ordinary, smart, powerful little films that get overlooked by the torrent of Marvel nonsense.
@@ct6852 oh man, a very quirky comedy Napoleon Dynamite (2004), a couple delightful and sweet foreign ones would be Amelie (French), Shall We Dance (Japanese), Cold Comfort Farm (British); powerful dramas would be Ordinary People (1980), Secrets and Lies (British), Man On Fire (Denzel, violent but so moving), some very interesting tiny-budget thought provoking thrillers like Pi (1998) and Primer (2004), just for starters!
She really was the Sunshine in their lives. Sometimes all it takes is one little angel in the family to bring everyone together, no matter how dysfunctional and unhappy the family is.
“Wait he’s happy about this?” Dwayne’s not happy because of his parents bickering, he’s happy because his mom took a stand by giving her true thoughts on Richard’s nine step rule. I’m glad Rich finally came to his senses in the end.
This movie has a beauty, depth, and warmth that is so earnest and sincere. It couldn't have been cast any better. I wish there was this much originality in cinema these days.
Another real hidden Gem, "The Boys in Company C" (1978). A "TRUE" story. Also the 1st movie R. Lee Ermey plays his famous role as a Drill Instructor. (Made most known in Full Metal Jacket) This movie will make you laugh, proud, cheer, and cry. NOBODY has done a review on it yet. PLEASE be the First!!
Glad you enjoyed it, I have loved this movie for a long time. I actually feel it has improved with time. It's such a strongly written film with great performances from literally all the main cast. It feels real and the cast had such great chemistry together. Abigail Breslin was adorable as well and that scene with her grandpa where he tells her how great she is is really touching. A very charming film with a lot of heart to it. Since I'm watching Breaking Bad again, I love that both Walter White and Hank are in the movie. 😂
This feels like The indie movie of all popular indie movies. The only other one that I think really rivals it is Juno, which is incredible in its own right and worth checking out.
This movie was so popular when it came out and it’s because it wasn’t the feel good movie people it to be. It was a genuinely heartfelt examination of slice of life. Every character was written and acted to perfection.
Hi Cassie...the best of your genre 😁Just wanted to make some movie suggestions. I'm too lazy to check the list right now but here goes... The Outsiders - This one has a very young Tom Cruise & Patrick Swayze Rounders - Starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton The Devil's Own - This film has two of your favorite actors in it...Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt Tango & Cash - A buddy cop action comedy film starring Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone Before Sunrise - romantic-drama starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy Lars and the Real Girl - A weird love story but very touching and original starring Ryan Gosling
I love the moment when Steve told Paul he couldn’t drive a plan because he was color blind and then got out of the van and started freaking out😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂
As many times as I've seen this movie, watching it along with you was even more enjoyable than the first time I saw it. By the time we got to Olive's dance in the talent competition, I was laughing so hard I was crying. Your reaction was really priceless! This movie made me realize long ago how much better independent films can be. Some of them are much more creative than the mainstream blockbuster movies, and they seem to attract such talented actors. RIP Alan Arkin. His Academy Award was so well deserved in a role that captured him on film for only 15 minutes. That's some great acting from him as well as the rest of the cast. Thanks again, Cassie, for bringing me to tears laughing so hard during a time when the news around the world gives us so little to even smile about. Happy Holidays!
I love this movie. Any movie that makes you laugh and cry in equal measure is almost always my favourites. They feel so human in a way. Like someone else suggested, ‘Lars and the Real Girl’ with Ryan Gosling is one of those movies. ‘Lost In Translation’ is another. ‘Garden State’, ‘Beautiful Girls’ and ‘Almost Famous’ which could very well be my absolute favourite of all time. Thanks for this one Cassie 👍
you have this uncanny ability to make me cry at movie reactions when, with any other reactor I would barely shed a tear. thanks for this. Little Miss Sunshine is one of my favorite movies of all time and Olive is my favorite character. I enjoyed watching this one with you for sure! 😃
This was such a good movie. For more of Toni Collette I think you would enjoy Muriel's Wedding (1994). A memorable staring role of Alan Arkin was Popi (1969). Lesser known movies my recommendations are, The Station Agent (2003), Sweet Land (2005), The Way You Look Tonight (2019), Earth Girls Are Easy (1988), Lone Star (1996), The Wedding Banquet (1993).
Love this movie! And very happy to see you liked it, too! Also, fwiw, 2 films I think you might enjoy... 1) About a Boy (not quite as quirky, but similar-ish tone? also has Toni Collette!) 2) Grosse Point Blank (a rom com w/ John Cusack playing a hitman going to his high school reunion)
Did you really ask, "Who is Nietztsche?" Friedrich Nietzsche is the father of modern analytical psychology and believed humans should focus upon self-realization above all else. I recommend his book Beyond Good and Evil. He hugely influenced Sigmund Freud although Freud went on to develop his own unique psychology theories based mostly upon sex and ego.
21:49 Cinematography note: top half of the screen shows the sky, where he can no longer be, and the bottom half shows him on the ground, where he’s now forced to stay.
a severely underrated indie movie that i think you would really like is "lars and the real girl", starring ryan gosling. it's one of my favorite movies, for sure. weird and quirky, but also warm and subtly funny. just a huge gem of a movie. no one really ever talks about it, which is so sad. it'd be great if you reacted to it!
"Sunshine" from Nazareth was one of the first songs I heard in my life. My dad had a cassette with 4 Nazareth songs recorded from radio. It still is one my favorite guitar solos. More recently I got to know "Sunshine" by Gun and it became one of my favorites too. "The sun shines brightly everyday Let it shine Let it shine When you see me please be kind Please be kind Please be kind"
Sometimes , the best films are these little Indie gems made on a small budget by independent film makers. Many big budget movies get destroyed by the ""corporate"" office.
Alan Arkin directed the first Broadway show I ever saw, which was coincidentally entitled The Sunshine Boys. And the moment in this movie that destroyed me was that little note in the hospital, "Go hug Mom."
I know reading suggestions are in the comments are basically dime a dozen, but my two cents - Steve Carell is in The Way Way Back, another indie, coming of age film that's really great.
For another hidden gem of a lovely comedy/drama/romance with Steve Carell in the lead, you should go for 'DAN IN REAL LIFE'. It's one of those movies, that when you find it playing on a channel you keep on watching it. No matter how many times you've already seen it. And it's a beautiful autumn movie too.
