Chasing the American dream in a van with a bad clutch

Rating: 10/10 (13 December 2009)

Abigail Breslin hopes to be "Little Miss Sunshine" in this 2006 film also starring Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, and Paul Dano, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.
The story concerns the efforts of the Hoover family to get the younger child, Olive (Breslin) to Redondo Beach to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. They can't afford to fly, nor can they leave Uncle Frank (Carell), the gay, suicidal brother of Sheryl Hoover (Collette) alone; they certainly can't leave him with Dwayne, Olive's brother, who hasn't talked in 9 months; Sheryl can't drive a stick shift; profane, porn-loving, heroin-snorting Grandpa (Arkin) has to go because he's coached Olive in her routine. So the whole family piles into the van to drive the 700 miles with dad (Kinnear), who pushes and preaches a program called 9 Steps to Winning, at the wheel.
With an absolutely absurd, hilarious, and wonderful original script by Michael Arndt, this small film (costing $8 million) proved to be a mega-hit, and deservedly so, as the Hoovers realize that through all the dysfunction and disappointment, there's love, loyalty, and a sense of togetherness. The performances are fantastic. Toni Collette, as the mother who tries to keep it all together, again proves she should be up there with Meryl Streep. Greg Kinnear, as a frustrated, broke loser trying to sell his 9 steps to a publisher, gives a poignant performance, conveying the impression of being down - but never defeated. Arkin is hilarious. As the two odd men out, Paul Dano and Steve Carell are great, both realizing that despite abject misery and heartbreak, they're not as alone as they thought.
As Olive, a normal-looking little girl with a paunchy stomach who wants to be a beauty queen amidst a sea of what looks like miniature hookers, Abigail Breslin gives an honest, sweet, and natural performance. Grandpa told her she's beautiful, and she is.
A don't miss film that proves that sometimes, even without the material trappings of success, you have lots more than you think.