Some familiar trappings still can't tarnish the sunshine

Rating: 7/10 (20 December 2006)

Taking the current crown for dysfunctional family ensemble work, Little Miss Sunshine is the most warped fun you will have with an eccentric clan since Family Stone or The Squid and the Whale. A little more predictable then the latter, slightly less naturally paced then the former, LMS still manages to be morbidly sweet in it's stereotypically indie manner. Following the exploits of the bitter unit, we are invited along for a road trip that will take this extended family 800 miles across the country in order to enroll their youngest daughter into a child beauty contest, essentially portrayed as a final bastion of hope for the ailing camaraderie between the members. Modeled, perhaps a little too closely, after the classic first National Lampoon's Vacation movie, Little Miss does sometimes suffer from these parallels as well as the predictability that all of these fractured personalities bring to the table. To see the fine cast working together to create this completely modern portrait of family though nearly compensates for any of the generic trappings the concluding part of the script might have succumbed to. Anyone in the mood for a dark comedy with it's fair share of heart will be far too entertained to point out the few but obvious flaws that forbid this movie from becoming another true inept family classic; the bus is leaving-get on in.