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Low-budget 'Little Miss Sunshine' will make you laugh

OK, it's a road-trip comedy. Yeah, it's a family of eccentrics who are dysfunctional. And yes, along the way, they learn that winning isn't all it is cracked up to be.

But do not turn the page — and stop that wincing.

Fox Searchlight Pictures 'Little Miss Sunshine' A- The verdict: A crafty road trip comedy about a tight-knit but dysfunctional family, much funnier than it sounds. Directors: Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton Cast: Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin Run time: 99 minutes Release date: July 26, 2006 Rating: R for language, some sex and drug content. See showtimes Meet the directors This low-budget indie was a movie directing debut for the husband-and-wife team. On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime [an error occurred while processing this directive]

Little Miss Sunshine may be built of more old, spare parts than the sunshine yellow VW bus that the Hoover family will all pile into, yet it gets astonishing comic mileage.

With a script by rookie screenwriter Michael Arendt, mercurial direction by the freshman husband-and-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, and one of the best ensemble casts that not much money can buy, this is a package that aims to surprise and delight, and it succeeds on both counts.

As with all good comedies, the stakes are high, and the characters are desperate to succeed in Little Miss Sunshine. Olive (adorable, bespectacled Abigail Breslin) is only 7, but she never wanted anything more than to win the title pageant. Her father, Richard (weak-chinned Greg Kinnear), is so obsessed with winning that he has designed a nine-step program to attain it, available in bookstores everywhere if only someone would publish it.

Her older brother Dwayne (morose Paul Dano), a nihilistic Nietzsche freak, has not spoken for a year, yet he yearns to become a jet pilot. Her uncle Frank (somber Steve Carell), self-proclaimed to be the No. 1 Proust scholar in the United States, has just tried to kill himself, because his boyfriend just ran off with No. 2. All he wants is the respect he deserves and, maybe, his university job back.

Olive's grandpa (wily Alan Arkin), who has taught her a few attention-getting moves for the talent portion of the pageant, simply wants to live out his days with a steady supply of drugs and porn. And then there's poor, bedraggled Sheryl (put-upon Toni Collette), Olive's mom, who wants to keep peace in the family but is clearly on her last raw nerve with Richard and his nine-step pipe dream.

Anyway, off they go, driving from Albuquerque to California, but the bus is also dysfunctional, at least in low gear. So they all have to give it a push start, sprint alongside it and jump in, a running joke that never wears out. En route, each of their hopes gets dashed, until they arrive at the contest, populated by a bevy of JonBenet Ramseys, and they come to understand how overrated winning is.

The film is made up of small moments and exchanges, like Richard's pedantic speech to Olive about the ills of ice cream, Grandpa's affectionate pep talk to her about the importance of making an effort and Frank's talk with Dwayne about the life lessons to be gained from Proust. It all builds to the pageant, which is really the least of the movie's assets. After being set up for the outrageous talent act Grandpa taught Olive, seeing it is a letdown.

Still, chances are you will be won over long before then. Much gets lost on this road trip, but the filmmakers understand that comedy is tragedy that happens to someone else, making Little Miss Sunshine a laugh-out-loud winner.