If you look at my list of favorite films, you’ll see quite a few that could hardly be considered “world-weary jaded.” (And I never say in my review that people should only go to the movies to be challenged.)

My chief problem with “Little Miss Sunshine” wasn’t that it lacked Dreyer’s starkness, Bergman’s psychology, or Antonioni’s sense of ennui. As far as I’m concerned, “Little Miss Sunshine” fails because it pretends to be something it isn’t. It’s phony.

As to your question about my getting upset if others find my writing “predictable,” the answer is, No, that doesn’t upset me.

Now, the two hours of my life I wasted watching “Little Miss Sunshine.” Well, *that* made me mad…

But hey, thanks for sharing your opinion. I’m sure most people will agree with you — not with me. (I’ll grant you that.)

I read your review of Little Miss Sunshine (only recently released in Australia). You are the sort of film reviewer that I have become accustomed to in my reading of 1001 films … The choice of favourite films is calculated to tell us about the reviewer not the film. Your review sits nicely in this genre – does that upset you that your writing is predictable?

I am someone who deals daily with the tragedy of the lives of others. They don’t need to go to the cinema to be “challenged” or to be ‘cutting edge’. I have enough ‘profound’ or intellectual dialogue with my friends and family to not require it of every piece of entertainment I view. LMS was entertaining and engaging. I liked the characters – rather than this tired world-weary jaded artist view of the world that you obviously prefer.

As an Australian I frequently object to the neo-colonial American mass media. But LMS is not part of the problem. The only moment I was reminded of the origin of this movie was during the family dance sequence at the end (I will grant you that).

Matt