delightfully funny

Rating: 8/10 (28 October 2008)

The little indie that defied the odds, 2006 may become known as the year of Little Miss Sunshine. A film that took 5 years to make, lost and gained finance and studio backing, but went on to make millions at the box office, and even win an academy award. Travelling cross country in a battered old VW van, a dysfunctional family is brought together by daughter Olive's determination to compete in a beauty pageant, the Little Miss Sunshine of the title. Greg Kinnear is the father, a motivational speaker whose motto's and talk of winners brings groans to the other family members. Toni Collete is the mother, over-worked and exasperated, trying to keep everyone together. A brilliant Alan Arkin (academy award winning performance) is the foul-mouthed, heroin-snorting granddad. Steve Carell is the uncle, pre-eminent Proust scholar, fresh from a failed suicide attempt. Paul Dano is the son, obsessed with Nietzsche and refusing to talk. Abigail Breslin is Olive, the chubby, bespectacled, wannabe beauty queen. Their road trip inevitably hits some hilarious pitfalls. Debut directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris keep the pace sprightly and the comedy flowing. The more sentimental scenes are a delight, never feeling forced or soppy. The final scene, where Olive finally gets to participate in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant, is a contender for funniest scene of the year. It exposes child beauty pageants for the paedophillic pantomime that they are and it really needs to be seen to be believed. This film was a treat from start to finish.