little miss sunshine

The movie Little Miss Sunshine captivates and amuses its audience with a story of a dysfunctional and completely neurotic family trying to help their younger daughter pursue her dream to be in a beauty pageant. With a father who unsuccessfully strives to be a life coach, a homosexual uncle who attempts suicide when his boyfriend leaves him, a heroin-addicted grandfather, a brother who takes a vow of silence until he becomes a jet pilot, and a mother who struggles to keep them all together while dealing with bankruptcy, little Olive Hoover gives them hope and a chance for a change when she convinces the family to come with her on a road trip to become the next Little Miss Sunshine. This movie delivers a dark, yet comical look into the adventures that this family encounters on their way to the pageant. They attract many setbacks and a lot of bad luck along the way, but this family learns that leaning on each other is the only way that any of them can pull themselves out of the depressive state that they had fallen into. Instead of a cookie-cutter story line and happy ending, this film produces a different and very real look into the lives of a random New Mexico family looking for something worth living for.