Ray of Light

One of last year’s quirkiest hits, Little Miss Sunshine is an enormously enjoyable if slightly derivative indie movie on the subject of dysfunction.

The family at the centre of the story, the Hoovers, are barely clinging on to life, reality and each other. Father Richard (Greg Kinnear) is a motivational speaker unable to motivate. Mother Sheryl (Toni Colette) is a chain smoker, frustrated with her husband, their money problems but now mostly concerned about her brother Frank (Steve Carell). Frank is one of the world’s leading Proust scholars but recent failures means he’s just attempted suicide. Grandpa (Alan Arkin) is a cantankerous old druggie who tells it like it is, while brother Dwayne (Paul Dano) has taken a vow of silence to escape the family.

Then there’s Olive (Abigail Breslin), the youngest of the family, with a dream of winning the Little Miss Sunshine contest. Coached by, er, grandpa.

With a shot at the finals, the only thing that remains is to get Olive – and the rest of the family – to California in their on-its-last-legs VW camper.

Inevitably, the road movie section of the film is about bonding, family issues, friction, fallings out, etc., but its done with such good grace, originality and wit that even these hoary old subjects seem fresh. A film of considerable charm.

DVD extras: commentary by directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and writer Michael Arndt ; four alternate endings with optional directors’ commentary.