Little Miss Sunshine

Rating: 10

Scale: 1-5

This movie is honestly incredible. There are no words to describe how unbelievably brilliant this movie is. However, I will find some...

Starring Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear, and many others, this film was made to perfection. To start off with te basics, the casting was done without a single mistake. It is probably one of the best casted films I have ever seen. Given that the story is about how screwed up the Hoover family is, it was perfect that none of the stars were depicted as 'glorious'. There was no Natalie Portman, or Kate Hudson. There was no Patrick Dempsey or Orlando Bloom. These were characters that looked like they could have come out of a typical abnormal family trying to make it through the day.

The story is about how messed up the Hoover family is. The plot basically is that they have to get to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest within two days so seven year old Olive (Abigail) can compete to win. The father is some psycho motivational speaker who can't get a job. The grandfather is a heroine addict. The brother took a vow of silence until he gets accepted to pilot school. The mother is a depressed chain smoker. Lastly, the uncle (Steve Carell) is a failed suicide attempt survivor. When you put all of these characters into one bus that can't start unless it is parked on a hill or you push it to shift into third gear, things are bound to go wrong.

The succession of unfortunate events worsen in this dead-pan comedy where you don't know if you should be laughing or crying. When brother Dwayne finds out he is color blind and therefore can't fly jets, I was unsure whether I should be upset that he can no longer achieve his dreams, or laugh because he acted the part superbly and it looked like his head was about to explode. When the grandfather dies, I should have been heartbroken because he was one of my favortie characters. However, the family steals him from the hospital, sneaks him out through the window, and shoves him into the back of their yellow bus trunk. How could I possibly be sad when these events were happening?

When they finally reach the beauty pageant, I, as well as the rest of the viewers sit stunned at how disgusting it was. There were young girls being spray tanned, applying make-up, doing their hair, not eating, and staring into mirrors. It was horrifying to watch these plastic children being forced to compete for a prize they probably don't even understand. I believe this was one of the morals of the story. To be yourself. Because despite how dysfunctional the Hoover family was, at the end of the film they all come to the agreement that competing in a beauty contest hinders the enjoyment of life, and only causes problems which kids should never experience. All of the issues that each family member experiences come together at the end and they connect because of it.

This movie is absolutely phenomenal. If I haven't spoiled it enough I encourage anyone who hasn't seen this movie yet to do so immediately. If you have already seen it I implore you to watch it again. Today was probably the tenth time I have viewed this film and it never gets old. Sneaking grandpa out the hospital window will forever be funny no matter how many times I watch this movie.