The film I have decided to review is Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' 'Little Miss Sunshine' (Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2006). The film follows the road trip of a dysfunctional Arizona family on a journey to California's Little Miss Sunshine beauty pagent. Along the way, the family face a number of disasterous scenarios, including the death of their grandfather, and numerous problems with their Volkswagon V2.

The biggest name is the films casts is 'The Office' and 'Bruce/Evan Almighty' star, Steve Carell (Although this film was shot before he had gained much fame). As Frank, a discredited Proust schollar recovering from an attempted suicide, he provides our gateway into the Hoover family's lives. Toni Collete and Greg Kinnear play the roles of Sheryl and Richard Hoover, with the latter constantly testing his wife's patience with him all consuming '9 steps' motivational speaking program. Mooching along with Frank is Edwin (Alan Arkin), Richard's fowled mouthed father, engrossed in teaching aspiring beauty queen Olive (Abigail Breslin) a mysterious dane routine. Last but not least is Dwayne (Paul Dano) a Nietzsche-reading teenager who has taken a vow odf silence until he can accomplish his dreams of becoming a test pilot.

The film has a practically perfect balance of comedy and tradegy, expertly crafted into a heartwarming finale. All of the actors go through immense emotional experiences with total belivability (of particular note is Dano, in a scene when he turns from a sulking teenager to a raging child, makes one of the movies best moments). Steve Carell also does well, playing his character as quiet and deppressed, but always letting the audience feel the conflict inside him.
Cinematographically (a word I made up) though the movie dosen't do anything we haven't seen in countless big studio movies, there are some lovely shots of the Californian countryside incorparated that break up some of the more emotinally intense scenes well, allowing to the viewer to take a brief pause to enjoy the scenery.

Judging by the reseption the film had on the film studies class I watched this with, in a film studies classroom at college on DVD (hey look, three bits of criteria in one sentence!) the wonderful story mixed with its heartwarming comedy moments was a big hit (some idiot even started clapping), and reflected my own feelings on this fantastic movie.