Of sunshine and sundance

Oh, for an American film, comedy or drama, which didn't resort to self-congratulatory irony (it's smugness really; blame the Brothers Coen) or tag characters with one or two quirks in place of actually developing them. If National Lampoon's Vacation is your idea of a great comedy worth ripping off, then Little Miss Sunshine is for you.

The latest littlefoot spanked on its pert bottom before being sent on its way by the chiefs of the Land of Sundance has the advantage of a superlative cast whose rhythms mimic a Hollywoodized rendering of how a Wacky Family would interact. No one plays dim, chirpy WASPs on the verge of collapse like Greg Kinnear; Toni Collette has her desperate groundedness (she seems to be looking for a film that can support her verisimilitude); a bearded and rather handsome Steve Carrell deftly underplays an offensive character; and Alan Arkin savors every "fuck" he utters as if, seventy years later, he's still appreciating the word's nuances. (I should note a lovely little performance by Paula Newsome as a wearily empathetic "grief facilitator").

But here's the problem: one look at the cast and you know exactly what stereotypes they're supposed to embody. Carrell plays a Proust expert, but so what? Oh, right, Carrell and Proust are both gay and they suffered and wore facial hair -- that takes care of that. The only payoff is a tete-a-tete with a nephew that betrays an acquaintance with Wayne E. Dyer rather than the novelist of A la recherche des temps perdues (had Preston Sturges created this character he'd have found innumerable ways to plumb his lunacy).

Finally, anyone with at least a passing acquaintance with me knows my intolerance of the proselytizers of optimism; but, Christ on a crutch, aren't self-help seminars the world's easiest targets? If you're thinking Donnie Darko, then brace yourself for the gentle mockery of those breeding grounds of future JonBenet Ramseys: child talent shows. I cannot blame Little Miss Sunshine for overlooking the bizarre twists the Ramsey case has taken recently, but it's a measure of how gormless its satire is that the film doesn't even suggest the perversity of talent-porn.