Little Miss Sunshine Delivers Laughs and a Great Message

Starring Greg Kinnear (As Good as It Gets, Matador), Steve Carell (The 40-Year-Old Virgin), and Toni Collette (In Her Shoes), Little Miss Sunshine opens on Friday, August 18 everywhere. It's an amazing family film in the respect that it looks and feels so different, and blows you away with its message.

This is the colorful and very realistic story of unusual family including a suicidal brother and uncle, Frank (Carell), a 9-step-to-success obsessed father and husband, Richard (Kinnear), a dark and angry son, Dwayne (Paul Dano; Girl Next Door), and a heroine-sniffing Grandpa (Alan Arkin; Grosse Point Blank). Among many of their failures and successes, this family decides to help get the youngest, Olive (Abigail Breslin; Signs) to California where she hopes to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant.

Along the way, the mother, Sheryl (Collette) breaks the clutch of their Volkswagon van, causing the entire family to have to push the beaten up vehicle fast enough to jump start it. Frank runs into his beloved ex-boyfriend at a gas station. It's awkward in the sense that it was their break up that caused Frank's first attempt.

Grandpa gives his son and grandchildren his last few colorful words of advice and encouragement before passing away. At this point, the rest of the family are so close to their destination they decide to take the old man's body as against regulations. It all leads up to a fun and wholesome finale that leaves you almost cheering for more.

While Little Miss Sunshine gives you the real world in the most unusual way it still carries through as this years first Oscar-worthy film. Its message about love, family and the trials and tribulations thereof is more powerful, and abundant than in any other movie that has come out this year. Everyone from little Breslin and Dano to Kinnear, and Alan do such a fine job it's hard not to predict an award nomination for at least one of these fine young and veteran actors.

The screenplay by Michael Arndt (once assistant to Mathew Broderick during the shoot of the 1997 film, Addicted to Love) is a snappy, smart, and absolutely hilarious take on life. Some of the directing style of experienced directors Jonathon Dayton and Valerie Faris can be compared to something from Wes Anderson but Little Miss Sunshine has its own magic that the Life Aquatic director could only ever hope to create. If you're looking for great fun, clever jokes, and a heartwarming story, I highly recommend you go see Little Miss Sunshine.