Why “Sunshine” Will Win
And The Winner Is… blogmeister Scott Feinberg has written a very thoroughly thought-out, fairly persuasive explanation why Little Miss Sunshine is going to win the Best Picture Oscar. I love this little film but I’d personally rather see Babel or The Departed take it. Both are more exciting to watch and think about later.
There is absolutely nothing at all to discuss after watching LMS, except for ‘wasn’t it funny/cute when…’
The film is not exactly ambiguous or contain characters whose intentions are not loudly defined.
Finally watched and enjoyed LMS. But while it’s charming and fun with some interesting (if slightly written) parts, it’s not a film I see as a BP candidate. Then again, it wouldn’t offend my sensibilities like Crash or Chicago. Blech. I guess my way of saying that there are far worse films that have won.
It’s too slight to win. DEPARTED and QUEEN are not “serious” enough, and IWO suffers from Eastwood fatigue. Winner by default: the ultra-serious, ultra-depressing, ultra-”important” BABEL.
…says the guy who has had a Little Miss Sunshine ad on his blog for months!
NOTHING good can come of “Sunshine” winning. NOTHING. It won’t make the film itself more successful, it’s already got all the mainstream attention that a “cute” Sundance-y R-rated comedy is going to get. It’s not going to help anyone from the cast: Arkin is already a legend, Carell, Kinnear, Collette and Dano are established character actors already, Breslin by now is THE frontrunner for EVERY role Dakota Fanning just became “too old” for. It’s an “actor’s film,” so very little of the publicity and popularity is helping it’s directors at all, especially since they aren’t even nominated in their category.
The ONLY thing that’ll happen is that LMS will go, in the blink of eye, from a nice lil’ movie to being synonym for “overrated.” It’ll be quickly yanked from it’s proper historical place on the “Sundance Movies That Actually Had An Audience” and chucked into Movie Buff Purgatory with “Dances With Wolves,” “Shakespeare in Love,” “Beautiful Mind” and everything else that “stole” an Oscar from something ‘cool.’
Well said, MovieBob!
I wanted to forget about Babeling even before I finished watching it.
Goodfella’s is cool. Dances is better.
I gotta say that I know a lot more people who DON’T like Babel than who don’t like any of the others. Granted, Oscar isn’t always a general audience popularity contest but I’m surprised how many friends, real movielovers, who aren’t blown away by Babel or who just don’t like it. Me, I don’t think it’s as good as 21 Grams, but i think there are a lot of good ideas and performances and it’s done in an interesting way. But yeah, I can see it not being anyone’s first choice when it comes down to picking one out of 5. I would say it’s between Little Miss Sunshine and The Departed right now with the only possible surprise spoiler being The Queen.
Isn’t it funny how a lot of people complain that the Oscars always overlook comedies. Now here we are with one funny movie in real contention for the big prize and everyone is starting to batty over this? LMS was a fun movie and if it wins, good for it. If nothing else, we can all rejoice that “Crash” won’t win again (or will it?).
As persuasive a case as MovieBob makes for the wrongness of ‘LMS’ winning, I’d take that victory in a heartbeat over ‘Babel.’
Seriously, Jeff √¢‚Ǩ‚Äú the writer’s your friend, you’ve been rooting for the movie all year…and you’d rather see that overheated, doesn’t-actually-mean-anything ‘Crash’-manque Innaritu flick win? Seriously?