Inspirational and touching. Mixed emotions both dark and bright.

Rating: 8/10 (8 February 2007)

"Little Miss Sunshine" is without a doubt one of the most endearingly family movies in film history. The Hoover family is certainly likable and down to earth, but each have their own faults some very dark. It all begins with over-caring mother(Toni Collette) who lends support to her depressed and homosexual college professor brother(Steve Carell) who just got away from the hospital after a suicide attempt, moves in with the family. To further bring differences the household is rounded out by a hard working father(Greg Kinnear) who is trying to sell his motivational success as a book, but the sales pitch has little success among both family and his employers. The dark person in the family is certainly grandpa(Alan Arkin) who's brilliant as a foul-mouthed extrovert who's very profane with a snorting heroin habit. Now the children of the family are different as daylight and dark, the son(Paul Dano)who's taken a vow of silence to reach his goal, pales in comparison to the daughter(Abigail Breslin) who's bright and adorable as an average little girl with above average dreams of someday being Miss America. The journey and complex light of these people all come together when they take a road trip from their New Mexico home to California so little Olive can compete in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. The family just creeps along in their white and yellow VW bus which is running on it's last legs. Along the way you see this family as very dysfunctional and their souls appear tortured, but as a whole all seem to roll along together. "Little Miss Sunshine" is a film about an unbending family wanting to be winners, and it's nice to see a film that highlights a common family with real and believable problems, proving it's not always if you win but how you play your game, and it's important to get enjoyment out of your experiences and journeys. Some of the scenes are memorable and all performances are good, but the work of Abigail Breslin and Alan Arkin is super.