Amusing Despite Borrowing Too Heavily From an Overused Formula

Rating: 6/10 (1 June 2008)

THE PLOT A very dysfunctional family goes in a VW van from Albuquerque to Los Angeles in order to allow their young daughter to fulfill her dream of being a contestant in the 'Little Miss Sunshine' contest.
THE NEGATIVE: The dysfunctional family thing going on a road trip is getting to be a bit of a tiresome formula. Just about everyone of the family members fit into a dysfunctional stereotype from the father that is too preoccupied with his career, to the alienated teenage son, and the foulmouthed grandfather. Only the two female characters seem to rise above it. The broken down VW van is an overused and much to obvious comic device. Does anybody, even the poorest of families, still drive one? Also having the elderly Arkin character pass away halfway through the film is a real letdown. Arkin's edition to the otherwise young cast gives the film a real balance. It seems like the only reason films these days have elderly characters anymore is just to get some cheap laughs by having them say uncharacteristically vulgar things and then when that wears out they kill them off just to get some forced sentiment. What is even worse is that they take the old man's body and stick it into the back of the van and continue on with their trip, which seems much to imitative to what the traveling Griswold family did to the elderly Imogene Coco character in VACATION. Also seeing girls under age 10 trying to look like mature beauty queens, like they do in the film's climactic beauty queen contest, is pretty creepy looking. Of course the film is trying to make a point with this, but it ends up not quite working because it may remind viewers too much of the Jon Benet Ramsey case.
THE POSITIVE: Abigail Breslin, who plays the young girl, is terrific. She gives an amazingly cute performance without it being too forced or her character becoming to precocious. Having her go through a mock striptease act during the contest's talent segment is absolutely hilarious and the high point of the whole film. For a change Kinnear plays a character that is actually somewhat interesting and not completely benign as usual. You almost wished that the film had fleshed him out even more and continued on with it. Colette is solid as usual and the desert scenery that is captured during their trip is gorgeous.
THE LOWDOWN: The film still delivers on the laughs and amusement despite borrowing too heavily from an overused formula. It will also make one feel much better about dealing with their own flaws and dysfunctional families after seeing this one.
THE RATING: 6 out of 10.