Little Miss Sunshine

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We all have quirky family member’s, heck, I’m one. And in far reaching, extended families we may have several two-headed, gun-totting cousins, uncles and/or aunts, but rarely could we imagine a road trip where most everyone in the car is a complete social, financial, physical, kooky failure. These are the personalities that fill every minute of Little Ms. Sunshine.

The struggling Hoovers, an entire household of geeks and losers, reluctantly get behind their one shred of hope--and the only real winner in the family, 7-year-old Olive (Abigail Breslin)--when good news arrives. By default, Olive has been chosen to participate in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, Calif. While she goes crazy with her preparations, the losers figure out how in world they are going to arrange their lives to get Olive from Albuquerque to California. Road trip!

Much like the Ship of Fools the Hoover family sets out, only this is the Vehicle of Dysfunction. Olive’s father, Richard (Greg Kinnear), is a driven mess of a motivational speaker who’s spoken professional dialogue is constantly internalized. In his heart-of-hearts Richard feels like the loser he constantly rants against. Olive’s mother, Sheryl (Toni Collette), serves dinner, chicken in a bucket on paper plates and we get the idea real quick that this is not a pleasant departure from regular nutrition, but nightly fare. Sheryl is done with her husband’s rah-rah attitude and constant get rich quick business failures. Brother Dwayne (Paul Dano), hates everyone in his loser family, except Olive, and has taken a Nietzschean vow of silence until he graduates high-school and can attend the Air Force Academy. Frank (Steve Carell), Sheryl’s brother and world renowned Proust scholar, has just been picked up from the hospital after his failed suicide attempt. He learned that his boyfriend had dumped him for another, much older Proust scholar. Rounding out this mess is Grandpa (Alan Arkin), who lives with the kids because he got kicked out of his retirement facility when they discovered he was snorting heroin.

During the journey there is continued failure by this group of losers. There is also great success, but in those areas that are not often considered when victory is only related to in terms of dollars in the bank or what kind of car is in the garage. While Little Miss Sunshine could have easily wandered into Griswold family vacation territory, the character’s surprise us with moments of sincere humanity and smart humor that keeps the film from falling down for cheap laughs. There is nothing sappy about any of it, instead the carefully balanced approach by the husband-and-wife team of co-directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, is so winning that it’s dark-edged bite comes off as totally human and enjoyable for even the most demanding film aficionado. Add to that an absolutely superb, but understated cast and the overall effect is heartfelt, real and hysterically funny. We know these people, and riding with them is like riding across country with our own family. We may want to shoot ourselves at various stages in the journey but by the end of the trip we have grown to love the people we started out with.