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‘SUNSHINE’ STATE

There are plenty of subplots as the world waits for the announcement of the Oscar nominations Tuesday morning, but one potential debate sticks out like little Olive Hoover’s potbelly.

Is “Little Miss Sunshine” the best movie of the year?

The offbeat comedy, about a semi-functional family trying to help their little girl Olive (Abigail Breslin) win the Little Miss Sunshine pageant, was the surprise winner of the top feature film award presented by the Producers Guild of America.

The film beat back tough competition from such films as “Babel,” “The Departed,” “Dreamgirls” and “The Queen”–all considered likely to receive Oscar nods.

So will “Sunshine” be among the nominees? Does it deserve to be nominated?

Entertainment Weekly doesn’t seem to think so. In its original review of the movie, critic Owen Gleiberman wrote, “Sorry, folks, but these are not organic characters; they’re walking, talking catalogs of screenwriter index-card data.” He graded the movie a “C.”

On Monday, EW blogger Michael Slezak wrote: “While it usually peeves me that comedies don’t get the awards-season respect that they’re entitled to, I can’t bring myself to hop aboard the yellow mini-bus on this one. I mean, ‘Sunshine’ has some cute moments, but best picture? Seriously?”

The American Film Institute, meanwhile, named “Sunshine” one of the top 10 movies of 2006, and the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures included it among its top picks. On rottentomatoes.com, which compiles movie reviews, the movie gets a 90 percent “fresh” rating, meaning it was almost unanimously applauded.

“The characters in the Sundance hit ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ are so adeptly drawn–and superbly played–that you can easily forgive the film’s sometimes forced kookiness,” wrote Glenn Whipp of the Los Angeles Daily News in his review.

Duane Byrge of The Hollywood Reporter called it “one of those movies that veteran moviegoers complain they don’t make anymore.”

We’ll find out Tuesday if Oscar voters feel the same way.

Repeat performance

Is there another “Little Miss Sunshine” in this year’s batch of features at the Sundance Film Festival? “Sunshine,” with a skimpy $8 million budget, won raves at Sundance last year and has gone on to make nearly $60 million in theaters. That kind of success will be hard to match, but at least one film found an immediate buyer, Variety reports. The Weinstein Company paid $4 million for distribution rights to “Grace Is Gone,” an indie drama starring John Cusack as a man who can’t bring himself to tell his daughters that their mother was killed in Iraq.

Hate it or love it

Several recent films divided critics and left moviegoers scratching their heads as they received the Academy’s blessing. Which side were you on? [REDEYE]

* DENOTES YEAR OF RELEASE

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HATE IT LOVE IT

‘CRASH’ (2004*)

Melodramatic and preachy. Gut-wrenching look at racism.

‘LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING’ (2003*)

Overblown and cutesy. Triumphant and visually spell-binding.

‘SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE’ (1998*)

Heavy on cast, light on substance. Witty and superbly acted.

‘FORREST GUMP’ (1994*)

Simplistic tearjerker. Original, genuine and touching.

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Nicole stands by Keith

In a video posted Monday on his Web site, Keith Urban praised his wife, Nicole Kidman, and thanked his fans for their support during his three-month stay at a rehab center for alcohol abuse treatment.

Urban entered the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., on Oct. 19 for what he thought would be a 30-day stay. The country singer, who has publicly acknowledged a former addiction to cocaine, said he decided to stay for three months because he realized that learning to abstain was only part of the process to recovery.

Urban said there “was no big cataclysmic event that happened right before I went in,” but said his life was becoming “unmanageable.”

“My wife stayed extraordinarily strong and loving, and my friends and family were there, and man, it’s just been really overwhelming,” he said. “I feel so much gratitude, and it feels really good to have gone through it and be where I am right now.”

Busted

Paris Hilton was placed on 36 months probation and ordered to pay fines after pleading no contest Monday to alcohol-related reckless driving, a reduction of an original charge of driving under the influence. Judge Michael Sauer also ordered her to attend an alcohol education program and imposed other conditions. Hilton, who was arrested Sept. 7, did not appear in court.

Back-tracking

That hot new Britney Spears track on the Web? It’s not a Britney Spears track. The song, titled “Fed Up,” sounds like Spears, but it happens to be the work of New York musicians Adam and Jesse Blockton and singer Amy Miles. Adam Blockton said the song was written in the hopes that Spears “might pick it up.” But it was leaked to the Web, where people were led to believe it was the pop tart singing.

Rage returns

Vocalist Zack de la Rocha and a reunited Rage Against the Machine will headline this year’s Coachella Valley music festival in California, billboard.com reports. Sources say the performance will likely be a one-time deal. Other announced headliners include the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Bjork.