The Hoover family treks from Albuquerque to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, California, to fulfill the deepest wish of 7-year-old Olive, an ordinary little girl with big dreams. Along the way the family must deal with crushed dreams, heartbreaks, and a broken-down VW bus, leading up to the surreal Little Miss Sunshine competition itself. On their travels through this bizarre landscape, the Hoovers learn to trust and support each other along the path of life, no matter what the challenge.

Some movies just come at the right time, after a summer of action, explosions and special effects the movie lover in all of us is glad for a more simple and loveable movie. Something that is quirky, that is zany and is more of story and character driven movie with little or no special effects. Enter Little Miss Sunshine stage right, the film is all of these things and it is the break in the stream of summer blockbusters we all need. I love the action packed thrill rides as much as the next guy but I also love movies that are just as interested in telling a story and fleshing out their characters to the point where you almost feel like you know them.

I am sure everyone has that one dysfunctional family member that can make family events so much more lively, well Little Miss Sunshine has an entire family of them. It has a family so dysfunctional that their dysfunction and their love of sweet little Olive is the only thing holding them together. And when your family is this out of whack it is bound to lead to some hilarity and the movie certainly delivers in the humor category. Oh, sure there are some very poignant moments that show us that family is family and that we should stick together but for the most part the movie is one hilarious moment after another as the dysfunction of the family keeps them from living normal lives. It is hard not to smile, hard not to be entertained, hard not to laugh throughout most of the movie.

The movie does seem to have an agenda at times though, as they ruthlessly pick apart the joke that is kid beauty pageants in the very funny finale to the movie. With recent new of Jon Bonet’s killer capture we once again are forced to watch the sick renditions that her family put her through in the name of beauty. That is why Olive is such a great character she is not your typical beauty pageant looking child but she has an inner glow in her that makes you realize that not all beauty is on the outside. I for one would like to see these beauty pageants for children outlawed and the sad thing which the movie makes a point of is that most of the parents and children take them very seriously which makes me think some parents should have to pass a common sense test before being allowed to procreate.

Abigail Breslin steals the screen and possibly your heart as the precocious and very cute Olive. The movie wouldn’t have worked without her as she is the glue that not only holds the family together but also holds the movie together. Her cuteness and gap toothed smile makes the film warm and loving rather than mean and spiteful. Since the film was produced Steve Carell has catapulted to stardom with the 40 Year Old Virgin but his performance is far greater in Little Miss Sunshine. Over the top humor will certainty get you far in Hollywood just look at fellow SNL alumni Will Ferrell but it’s these deeper and subtler roles that show what it means to be a real comedian. Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette round out one of the better casting jobs in the last few years. Each has their own part to add but Little Miss Sunshine is about Abigail Breslin and the humor ensues once she arrives on screen.

Grade: B+