Little Miss Sunshine

"Little Miss Sunshine" is one of those quirky independent comedies that is designed for the intelligent crowd who understands the darker underbelly of the story. This is a quality film with Oscar-worthy performances across the board.

The story follows the highly dysfunctional Hoover family as they road trip from Albuquerque to Redondo Beach in order for seven-year old Olive (Abigail Breslin) to take part in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. The immediate humor there is that Olive is as normal and plain as can be. The entire family reluctantly piles into their aging VW van, which comes across as a character on its own, and set out for what becomes quite an adventure.

Greg Kinnear is the father obsessed with success, but has yet to experience it himself. Steve Carell is the uncle who has joined the family just after being released from the hospital after his failed suicide attempt. Alan Arkin is the drug-addicted grandfather who trains his granddaughter on how to perform in beauty pageants, using his years of going to strip clubs as his experience. Paul Dano is the older brother who has opted to never speak, writing his wants and needs on pieces of paper. Finally, Toni Collette is the mother attempting to keep the entire group together while also trying to maintain her own sanity.

All of these characters combine to create humor stemming from their inability to get along together. It's only when they have to work as a whole unit that we see the suppressed emotions behind the person. The moral of the story seems to be that it's okay to not be number one, that you're not a loser if you don't achieve the greatness that you aspire to realize. It's okay to just be getting by in life.

Every performance is stellar. Kinnear and Collette play well off each other as the struggling parental units. Arkin is both sensitive yet gruff in the same scene. Breslin shines as the little girl longing to be a beauty queen, and Dano provides some of the strongest emotions of any of them. It's Carell who will surprise you with his quiet sense of humor while also continuing to be at emotional odds, keeping some of his deepest pains to himself.

The story flies by at a brisk pace, never hitting a rough spot in the road. With its insightfully moving script and combination of both dark and physical comedy, "Little Miss Sunshine" may be the bright spot of the summer for those who enjoy quality movies. I give it an A-.

"Little Miss Sunshine" is rated R with a running time of 101 minutes.