Little Mister Sunshine

I am a little ashamed to report that I am and have always been someone who has a tendency to judge books (and albums) by their covers (and titles--Elton John had a great streak of fabulous albums from 1970's Elton John to 1975's Rock of the Westies, but just because Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is such a great title, I think that's my favorite). Maybe "judge" isn't quite the right word, but a striking or interesting cover is a good way to get my attention. So the other day, I picked up a movie I'd never heard of at the library because of its cover.


Kabluey fits neatly in that "indie films about quirky and/or dysfunctional families" niche which goes back at least as far as 1995's Flirting with Disaster, and hit critical mass a couple of years ago with the success of Little Miss Sunshine. This one concerns a 30-something guy (Scott Prendergast) who would have been called a "slacker" a decade ago--don't know the current lingo. He's schluby, can't hold a job, and isn't the best socializer. In another movie, he might be a serial killer, but here, he winds up being a babysitter for his nasty sister-in-law (Lisa Kudrow) whose husband in stationed in Iraq. She's gotten a job (to keep health benefits for her kids) at a dot-com company which is in the midst of a major downsizing, and she gets Prendergast a part-time job with them, dressing up in the company's mascot costume (on the DVD cover above).

The guy can't make small talk and doesn't get along with Kudrow or her bratty kids, but when he stands by the roadside in his big puffy blue outfit, looking cutely melancholy, like a gigantic kid's teddy bear, he becomes a figure of interest to travelers. Some of the attention is positive, as when Christine Taylor drives by with a carful of kids and asks him to entertain at a birthday party, and some is negative, as when he triggers very amusing conniption fits in Terri Garr, a woman who was shafted by the company he's representing. Prendergast fits in more with people when he's stuck, unable to speak, inside the outfit, and he even starts getting along with Kudrow's kids. A plot develops about an affair Kudrow is having with a slimeball from the company, but the film is at its best when it is simply observing the big blue guy interacting with others.

All the actors are good. Prendergast (at left) nicely underplays his role--you can imagine Ben Stiller or Jim Carrey doing this but with all kinds of overblown tics and unnecessary slapstick--and Kudrow is very good going against the Phoebe grain; the character isn't likeable, but you can feel her pain as she, a bit like Prendergast, feels herself becoming unmoored in her own life. Best of all is Conchata Farrell as Prendergast's irritable boss, prone to yelling obscenities in the empty warehouse that has become her office. Unlike Little Miss Sunshine, this doesn't resolve itself quite so neatly for all concerned; Kudrow gets a happy ending, but Prendergast is left more or less where he was at the beginning. This is one time I made a good choice based on a catchy cover picture.