For their latest project, Little Miss Sunshine’s producers, Peter Saraf and Marc Turtletaub, haven’t strayed too far from what they’re good at. Apart from the same word in their names, Sunshine Cleaning and Little Miss Sunshine also share one cast member, and the two films have a similar tone. Both focus on three generations of one family, including a cute kid and a grandad, who in both cases is played by Alan Arkin. There is even a van at the centre of both stories.
The two sisters who take the lead roles are played by Amy Adams, who I love, and Emily Blunt, who I’m not usually so keen on. Amy was as great as ever as Rose, the older sister whose life has been on a down-turn since her days of being the most popular girl at school, and even Emily created a likeable character as the younger girl, Nora, who lacks direction in her life and is still dealing with the death of her mother, who she can barely remember. Together they start a business cleaning up at crime scenes, which provides us with a few stomach churning sights, but they are balanced out with sweet and funny moments.
Just the other day I was thinking about how I hadn’t seen a really great film in ages (the last was either Milk or Nick and Norah), so I’m pleased to say that I finally found one. Anyone who enjoyed Little Miss Sunshine should definitely see it, as it fills the same function of being cheery but not meaningless. Both of the lead roles are very well performed and I now have much more admiration for Emily as an actress. My only criticism was that it could have been a bit longer as I would have liked to know a little more about what happened next in Rose’s love life.
After writing, directing and starring in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, John Cameron Mitchell then made waves with the controversial Shortbus, but the high profile cast list for his next film suggests it’ll be a little less daring. Rabbit Hole will be out in 2010 and stars Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart and Sandra Oh.
I’ve loved him since he played Daniel Deronda for the BBC, but Hugh Dancy is fast becoming more popular in Hollywood than fellow British Hugh, Mr Grant. He was lovely in Confessions of a Shopaholic and new film Adam, in which he does a very convincing American accent, is set to be another big hit.
One of my favourite TV shows of all time is Gilmore Girls, so I’m pleased to see that both Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel have new films coming out. The girls can be seen in The Answer Man and Post-Grad respectively, and both of the films look well worth seeing, especially Answer Man which has had great reviews.
