Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
The start of this movie is impressively effective. In just a few minutes we get all characters and their internal dynamics well established. We understand their motivations and where they are coming from. The road trip has the usual amount of crazy shenanigans, where I thought the grandpa stuff was maybe a tad overdone, but it ends in a spectacular embrace of just letting kids be kids with a big middle finger to showbiz and beauty contests. While it may look as a dysfunctional family, it is really a lovely portrait of a family that ultimately supports and are there for each other. Maybe not all character arcs are fully closed, as it is really Olive’s film here, but the journey is more important than the destination.
Rating: 4