I wasn’t planning to do a post about the potential Best Picture nominees. After all, the last thing we need is another blogger weighing in on the big categories. However, a reader asked. Plus, I just returned from AMC’s all-day marathon showing of the five nominees. I’m drunk enough off an odd sense of accomplishment–earned by what amounts to sitting on my butt for 12.5 hours–that I’m feeling entitled to an opinion.

My plan had been to watch only the three movies I had not previously seen. But there’s something about that room full of film geeks, all sucking on the included large soda and munching the included large popcorn (it was actually loud enough to distract me during the first movie…) that made me stay for the whole deal.

So here’s my quick-and-dirty take on why Little Miss Sunshine deserves the prize.

My day started with Babel. Good film. Compelling. Probably going to win. Yet I leave the stories unsatisfied because of lack of growth in most of the characters. I’m not saying every movie ever made needs to be a full-on hero’s journey, child-to-adult, ignorant-to-wise. But Babel has story arcs that are just bad things happening to people. And while I normally love storybraiding, Babel doesn’t do it as intricately or as interestingly as other that have come before it, including of course Amores Perros.

The Queen was up next, and I thought it was quite an accomplishment, in terms of pulling off what it set out to do. And they managed a surprisingly light tone, considering the subject matter. Still, as my roommate pointed out, it felt a whole lot like a TV movie. So I say give Helen Mirren the Actress win and move on. The Departed is solid, but similarly, let Scorsese finally win Directing and call that the movie’s due. (We’ll all agree, of course, that if Scorsese wins, it would be more about his past work than about anything special about his current movie, even if it is his best lately.)

I was surprised that Letters from Iwo Jima was my least favorite of the day. I had heard strong reviews. It is an artfully made movie, but perhaps a losing proposition. I found myself reminded of what I thought about Passion of the Christ: I know how this is going to turn out, so no amount of flashback character development is going keep me invested enough to make me want to see that much blood. Not that the filmmaker seems that interested in the flashback character development anyway, even though it’s the best part of the film.

I had seen Little Miss Sunshine when it came out, but after those other movies I needed a laugh, and besides, who does four-fifths of a marathon? I was reminded of just how special I thought LMS really is. It is a fantastic ensemble piece, marvelously acted, about a group of people whose passions are intense and real. It walks the line between comedy and pain perfectly (or rather, it knows that there is no line, and that comedy and pain are the same.) The movie is filled with wonderful little moments. Pretty much any time that only two people appear on the screen, some fabulous, touching, insightful dialogue passes between them. I love the ice cream through line, and the movie’s ultimate slap at an institutionalized hypocrisy.

OK, so I admit that I’m biased. If a (mostly) comedy could win the Oscar this year, it would make me much more employable, and who isn’t cheering for that? However, my real reasoning is that the other movies nominated this year all feel like good movies, but not Best Pictures. LMS leaves me not wanting to change a thing.

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