Little Miss Sunshine

Finally, I got a chance to see this Oscar Nominated movie. It was awesome. The cute little girl in the movie, Olive, surely wants to be the prepubescent beauty queen called Little Miss Sunshine. The movie begins with Olive practising the moves in front of the TV.

This is the Hoover family - totally dysfunctional. The dad (Kinnear) is a motivational speaker. His nine ways of doing something doesnt get him anywhere. But he still believes that he can make it big and sell books based on his theory. His daughter Olive (Abigail) is also a great pipe dreamer. She, with her not so great looks and tiny pot belly, has this great confidence of winning the crown. Brother Dwayne (Dano) is preparing to join the Air Force and is silent for most parts of the movie. Toni Collette is the mom in the movie and she is depressed with her husband. throughout the movie, she tries to keep her family together. She comes across as a supportive mother who is confident and strong.

Grandpa played by Arkin is an amazing character. He does use the F word so many times in the movie that it becomes very uncomfortable. But he makes one comment thats perhaps the best one in the whole movie - "A real loser is someone who's so afraid of not winning he doesn't even try."

Steve Carrell is the mom's brother, the uncle, who gets rejected by his gay friend, tries to commit suicide and then ends up in the house. throughout the movie, he supports the family in what they do, but still keeps his serious face. I dont even remember him smiling a bit.

The movie is all about these 5 people getting on a VW Wagon and heading to California from Albequerque, the events that happen on the way and how they pull it together. suddenly dwayne realises that he is color blind. knowing that he cannot join the force, he cries hard. grandpa takes an overdose of drugs and kicks the bucket.

but the essence of the movie is the togetherness that it creates. the ultimate feeling for everyone in the movie is Olive's participation in the contest and they would go and do anything to see her on stage.

best part - Olive goes on stage and dedicates a song to her grandpa. when quizzed about where her grandpa is, she innocently says - grandpa is in the trunk of our car.