Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Starring: Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear, and Paul Dano
Directed by: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
SC=7 V=5 C=9
Grade: A++

This movie has some very foul language, but it is absolutely adorable. Olive (Breslin) is a chubby little girl who was entered into a beauty pageant by her aunt. All she wants to do is be Miss America. So, when the winner of the pageant has to pull out and Olive qualifies for the Little Miss Sunshine pageant, her dysfunctional family decides to go. Richard (Kinnear) and Sheryl (Toni Collette), Olive's parents, decide they have to drive her all the way to California, because they can't afford a plane ticket on Sheryl's salary, because Richard is trying to sell a self-help technique. Olive's grandpa, Edwin (Alan Arkin), decides that she can't go without him (as he is her coach), which means they must bring Frank (Steve Carell), Olive's suicidal uncle, and Dwayne (Dano), Olive's brother who has been silent for a year. As the family sets off for California, they meet many, many obstacles, including the bus not starting unless they push it, Richard's rejection by the executive that promised to sell his plan, and the death of a family member. But everything will be worth it when they get there. Or will it?