Who says an ideal family has to be perfect?
The movie kicks off with each Hoover member going about his or her daily routine only this time Uncle Frank joins them for dinner and the whole family learns that Olive has been invited to join the Little Miss Sunshine pageant.
As Olive, in her adorable gullibility, ecstatically packs her belongings, a series of arguments ensues from dad Richard who has to attend to something more important than a beauty pageant, Grandpa who coaches the girl and wants nothing more than to see her strut her stuff, and mom Sheryl who wants everybody’s display of support and affection to their youngest member but is torn between letting the old man tag along and leaving her suicidal brother all alone.
After much deliberation, the whole family squeezes into a conked out RV and travels across the country. The 6000-mile road trip would’ve sounded like an uplifting respite from their tedious confinement had it not been for the string of awkward or unfortunate events trailing them from one rest stop to another. Surprising tragedies and realizations confront each family member, often leading to agitated rows or, in Dwayne’s case, the end of his 9-month vow of silence.
“Nobody gets left behind,” Richard says. And indeed, as gloomy as it sounds, the movie is anything but depressing. Each character has a different personality that draws out sympathy and fondness from the viewers. One cannot exist without the other because the movie wouldn’t do without Dwayne’s silent protests or Frank’s avuncular wisdom. It wouldn’t be complete sans Granpa’s penchant for heroine and porn, Richard and Sheryl’s spats, and Olive’s charming innocence. She unknowingly becomes the little ray of sunshine that prompts the whole gang to move on and finish the journey, and as she proves herself in the contest, her family’s love and support for one another also gets tested in the most hilariously poignant manner.
Imperfection meets perfection in this engaging tale of a “family on the verge of breakdown”. Relate bankruptcy, divorce, suicide, addiction, and beauty pageant to Hollywood and you get an Oscar-worthy family of losers who can definitely give winners a run for their money.
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