Little Miss Sunshine ***1/2
Cast: Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin
Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Running Length: 1:40
MPAA Classification: R

When a beauty contest winner is forced to abdicate her position, Olive (Breslin) is elevated to the top spot. Now she will compete in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in California. Various situations force her entire family to come along with her. Richard (Kinnear), the dad, is a motivational speaker who is a few steps away from making it big. Sheryl (Collette), the mom, is the glue that is holding the family together. Dwayne (Dano) the teenage son, has taken a vow of silence and likes to read Nietzsche. Uncle Frank (Carrell), is living with them after recently attemting suicide. Grandpa (Arkin) is a heroin addict and lives an edgy life. The group sets off on a trip that will test all of them.

“Little Miss Sunshine” is a genuinely funny and sweet movie. All the actors give their characters real life. This could very well be the most dysfunctional family around, and first time directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris succeed in making them real. At times funny and sad, their trip to the pageant is a memorable one that will have audiences talking well after the film is finished. I highly recommend this film.