By Jim Seymour
For Variety

WHENEVER I encounter a story that reminds me how children and grandparents often create a wondrous bond, enviable even to the parents of that child, I am reminded of my own grandfather, who lived with us until I was 14, my best friend until his death at 88. That fact forever altered my understanding of family, just as this film, Little Miss Sunshine, may help you appreciate the odd connections and mutual understandings unique to such relationships. And you might also find yourself having a very grand time.
Olive, a rather shlumpy, slightly overweight, nine-year old, determined to begin her climb to stardom by winning California’s Miss Sunshine Pageant, has little idea how traumatic a ride (yes, it’s a road movie) from New Mexico to Redondo Beach can be. She’s had to fight for the chance to go (her father, Greg Kinnear, a failing “inspirational speaker,” has to be convinced), and only then do problems really begin. Olive’s brother has stopped talking, the bad clutch on their VW van means the car has to be in constant motion, and gay Uncle Frank (Steve Carell) is recovering from a recent suicide attempt. Sounds like a comedy yet?
The beauty of this film’s concept lies in its ability to explore the meaning of “winning” from so many different angles. Each character faces — as most of us do in life — a serious self-doubt which, over the course of one zany weekend, becomes somewhat ameliorated, while concurrently reminding all that only in family, perhaps, do we encounter the true meaning of love.
Moralists, beware! This movie asks you to accept, unapologetically, homosexuality, drug use, and the appalling spectacle of a prepubescent parade of seven-year-old sirens (a la Jon Bonet) pushed nearly to perversity by their obnoxious overseers. On top of that, Grand Dad (the incomparable Alan Arkin) has taken to snorting heroin when he isn’t reading porn magazines. It’s as quirky in this world as in any recent Indie film. But, in so many wonderful ways, it’s as pure as driven snow. Our adorable heroine discovers the true meaning of family and personal success. What could be more wholesome?
Every detail — from the pageant organizer to the grief counselor — rings true, a fact that was duly recognized by the Motion Picture Academy when it won the 2006 awards for the Best Original Screenplay and Supporting Actor (Arkin). Perhaps, the greatest surprise can be found in the achingly sensitive and compelling performance by Steve Carell, known to film and television audiences for his comic turns as the 40-Year-Old Virgin and on The Office. His subtle discovery of the uncle’s will to survive in a world gone topsy turvy proves to be a revelation, the confirmation of a truly gifted actor. And if you want to see one of the longest resumes in show business, check out 10-year old Abigail Breslin’s. Talk about professionals. Her rendition of Olive’s quiet determination to be the next Underage American Idol is, alone, worth the price of the DVD rental.
The film’s crowning achievement is its natural, unconventional grace, the quality of forgiveness drawn so accurately in the portrayals of every member of the family. It possesses the uncanny ability to help us appreciate the ebb and flow of lives so much like our own: conflicted, exasperating, sometimes desperate. One walks away understanding better the ties that bind us to our families, even if that union is the result of divorce, and, perhaps, believing, just a little bit, that there is light at the end of the highway.