Another reason to go on road trips

Rating: 9/10 (3 October 2006)

After a summer of excruciating, tedious, bland and generally rubbish blobkbusters, I'm really glad that small independent movies like this one are gracing our screens again. It's one of those classic little gems about dysfunctional families, growing up, getting old and going on a roadtrip of self discovery.
Most of the movie will have you laughing, even though most of the time it is dealing with serious issues such as suicide, death and the horror of beauty pageants for children. Serious types will probably say it's a bit shallow and contrived, and I'll agree that it lacks any real depth, but at the end of the day it made me smile. Hah!
Great performances all round, but for me the standouts were Alan Arkin as Grandpa, and Abigail Breslin as Olive.