Did I mention that I was the preeminent Proust scholar in the U.S.?

Of all the dysfunctional-family-goes-on-a-road-trip movies I’ve ever seen, “Little Miss Sunshine” is among the best. Actually, this little movie reaches further than its modest ambitions, and will certainly win the hearts of many who see it.

Although I was almost annoyed at the way my fellow theatre-goers were ready to love this movie before it even started,--laughing almost at the onset of the credits as though there had been a warm-up comic--if you’re anything like me, you’ll give in and laugh out loud. The story is too sad not to.

“Sunshine” is painted with the subtle, but artful, brush of directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. Although this is an ensemble cast, the nucleus of the Hoover family is little Olive, played by Abigail Breslin (of “Signs” fame). Olive is perhaps the most normal of this pasted-together family, but she is not without her quirks and her charm. Often, the Hoover family rallies around Olive, usually to protect her from the Tony Robbins-esque polemics of her father. She is the Blind Melon “Bee Girl” reinterpreted, and so much cuter.

Offsetting this cuteness is the sweet-but-grumpy codger of a grandfather/junkie; the Nietzsche-loving mute brother Dwayne; the motivational-wannabe Dad; and the gay, suicidal, Proust-scholar, Uncle Frank, played with remarkable magnetism (for a suicidal man) by the always-remarkable Steve Carell. The family Hoover is guarded by sheepdog mom, Sheryl (also wonderfully performed by a restrained Toni Collette).

To describe the idiosyncrasies of the Hoovers is to betray the magic of the movie. Suffice it to say, each character is played to perfection by a superbly-cast movie. Herein lies the heart and soul of the story. The film has a point to make, and it does so without insisting. The thrust of the movie is woven delicately into the fabric of the film, through the hilarious story of the Hoovers.

Although the screenplay by Michael Arndt borrows a chapter or two from National Lampoon’s Family Vacation, it does so while injecting fresh humour and heartbreak, and scrubbing away nearly all trace of cliché. I loved this movie.


And for Larry, I thought I would point out: the music in this film was written by Mychael Danna. good choyce for a name, Mychael.