Charming "Sunshine" is a long shot

Of the five Best Picture nominees, it is the only comedy. It's the only one whose directors (the husband-and-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris) are not nominated for best director, and the only one to make its way to theaters by way of the Sundance Film Festival. It is "Little Miss Sunshine," the tale of a dysfunctional family making its way to a kid beauty pageant in a cranky VW van, and it's the wild card on the ballot: Virtually no one thinks it will win.

Reasons it won't take home the top prize are plentiful. Comedies rarely win at the Oscars, unless they're musicals ("Chicago"), sumptuous period pieces ("Shakespeare in Love") or heartwarming Hollywood tales featuring movie stars ("Forrest Gump"). The last time a quirky, low-budget comedy took the big prize? You'd have to go all the way back to 1978's awards, and to a film that became a classic: "Annie Hall."

Released in theaters last summer, "Little Miss Sunshine" will suffer from being old news (the other four films all hit theaters late in the year), and the lack of a directing nomination makes for limited support for the film. (The last film to win best picture without a directing nomination? "Driving Miss Daisy" in 1990.) Where "Sunshine" has a better shot is in its acting nominations, both of whom are sentimental favorites: Supporting-actor nominee Alan Arkin, at 72, is the second oldest of the nominees (he's 18 months younger than Peter O'Toole) and was last nominated in 1969; supporting actress Abigail Breslin, all of 10, is the youngest. And Michael Arndt's original screenplay, a favorite in many year-end awards, could well take its category.

But even if "Little Miss Sunshine" ends up in the it's-an-honor-to-be-nominated slot, its makers will likely remember what the movie charmingly demonstrated: It's the journey, not the arrival, that matters.

OSCAR TRIVIA

Lots of answers came in for last week's question: Who was the last person to win an Oscar for playing a teacher? The answer I had in mind was Maggie Smith, a best-actress winner in 1970 for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," but points also go to those who suggested Robin Williams, who won best actor in 1998 for playing a community college instructor and psychotherapist in "Good Will Hunting."

Since we all have Oscar professions on the brain, try this week's question: Of the past 20 years of Oscar-winning characters, what line of work was most often represented? And who were the winning practitioners?

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com