Plenty of Nuts in This Tree

Rating: 9/10 (22 May 2012)

This is such an offbeat piece of work I don't know where to start. I think the Miss Sunshine part tells us that no matter what a mess life may seem, there is a ray of sunshine. This is a story about a group of the most diverse and often dysfunctional characters ever put on a screen. The point of the story is to get to a beauty/talent pageant across country. The positive energy put forth by little Abigail Breslin is astonishing. We know from the start that the little waif with her big glasses isn't going to outshine all those little beauty queens with their overbearing mothers and thousands of dollars for dental work and hair styling. But the movie is about the journey and the love that develops along the way. When push comes to shove it is the "weird" who seem the most normal and the Normal who seem "weird." Alan Arkin is great in his brief appearance. The profane munching that goes on among the characters is precious. Underlying their schizophrenic rants is true love.