Little Miss Sunshine

I skipped school this afternoon and went to the movies -- well, to be more precise I left about 30 minues early... but, it felt like skipping.

If you want to know when the old folks see movies (and, I'm sure you are dying to know that...) -- the answer is that they go in the afternoon. The AARP-set is nice to go to movies with. They don't talk, they laugh in the right places and they don't get up to buy snacks every 10 minutes -- probably because getting up and down the steps in the dark risks breaking something..

Anyway -- the movie, "Little Miss Sunshine" was really good. There is plenty in the movie that will make you smile, laugh and think about your own family dysfunction. All the characters are nicely developed, quirky and engaging. At the center of the movie is a little girl who has worked hard and is excited about the pagent... and who is more brave than most adults I know.

I'm not sure I can do it justice here -- but, when the suicidal "most prominent Proust scholar in the U.S." and the kid who doesn't talk turn out to be the normal ones in the family and the end of the movie makes strong statements about beauty pagents, feminine beauty and the value of the family -- it can't be a bad movie.

Go see it... you'll be glad you did.