This excellent film reflects on the ironies and quirks of the American middle class experience as it follows a family on their roadtrip to a California beauty pageant for little girls. Alan Arkin is the explosive grandpa, Greg Kinnear his son the wannabe motivational speaker, Toni Collette the strugging wife with a teen who refuses to speak and a bright and enthusiastic daughter. The cast is simply superb both individually and together. Little Miss Sunshine succeeds where hollywood typically fails miserably by bringing complex, funny, and tragic characters together and making us care about them all.