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Murphy Public Library film showing Thursday at 6 p.m. After years of partnering with my husband Jerry, there is a special place in my heart for couples who work together. The next movie at the Murphy Public Library is the first feature film by a husband and wife directing team about a dysfunctional family taking their little girl to a beauty pageant. They will make you laugh and cry and remind you what family is all about. The library will show their film this Thursday at 6 p.m. It is rated R for language. Olive (Abigail Breslin) is a seven-year-old island of sanity in a family full of woe. Her father Richard (Greg Kinnear) is an unsuccessful motivational seminar leader who can only converse in terms of winners and losers. Her mother Sheryl (Toni Collete) is trying to make her second marriage work and be everything to everyone. Older brother Dwayne (Paul Dano) hates his family and has taken a vow of silence. And Uncle Frank (the incredible Steve Carell) is a Proust scholar who recently lost his gay lover, his job, a MacArthur Fellowship, and just attempted suicide. Last but not least, Richard's father Edwin (Alan Arkin), is a sometime heroin user who has been kicked out of his retirement home for bad behavior. When Olive receives an invitation to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant in Redondo Beach, California, the family sets out in a VW bus from their home in Albuquerque on a three-day road trip full of angst, laughter, sorrow and ultimately, love. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris are the husband and wife team with a reputation for making music videos with heart for such groups as Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chili Peppers. They fell in love with the script by first time screenwriter Michael Arndt about a family on the ultimate road trip. The script won Arndt an Oscar for Best Screenplay. The quality writing attracted the stellar cast although filming in the tight quarters of a VW bus in the Southwestern desert was not for the faint of heart. Yet this group won countless awards for ensemble acting and Alan Arkin won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor The spoken dialogue is not the only part at perfect pitch. The camera takes its time to watch family members in their silent looks at each other. They also speak volumes. And when the VW bus has its own dysfunctional problem, the family has to push it. Thus is created one of the all time best teambuilding exercises on film. Watch the family bond as they run to get on the bus.
The quirky charm of the music comes from acclaimed composer Mychael Danna and Denver-based quartet DeVotchka with lead singer Nick Urata. DeVotchka uses odd instruments such as the sousaphone, theremin and bouzouki that easily back up the odd characters of the film. Ultimately it reminds you of what a winning team a family can be.
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