Little Miss Sunshine

A quirky, dysfunctional family piles into their VW bus and road trips to California so little sis, Olive (Breslin), can compete (as an alternate from the Albuquerque region) in the titular pre-teen pageant, her young life's ambition. Along for the ride are her hugely unsuccessful motivational speaker dad (Kinnear), ready-to-snap mom (Collette), crass drug-snorting grandpa (Arkin), mute-by-choice Nietzschean brother (Dano), and suicidal despondent uncle (Carrell). Smart script in the hands of top-notch cast results in memorable, off-beat characters and an original, enjoyable movie.