A Ray of Sunshine

'Little Miss Sunshine' is one of the funniest films I have seen for a long time! A family consisting of a father teaching the 9 steps to be a winner, a teenager who has taken a vow of silence until he joins the American Air Force Academy, a coke-snorting grandfather, an uncle who is America's first authority on Proust and who has just attempted suicide, a mother who holds all of them together, and a little girl who dreams of winning the next 'Little Miss Sunshine' competition, set off in a campervan from Albuquerque to Los Angeles for the final of this competition.

In the course of this trip, like every good road movie, a number of truths reveal themselves to each of the participants, and a variety of disasters occur before they finally just make it to the competition location. The scenes of the competition are priceless, with severely over-dolled-up children and then our wee heroine, wearing glasses, and being of a somewhat dumpier build. The dance routine her grandfather taught her is out of this world, as are the stunned reactions of the audience.

When the film opened with the mother of the family, Toni Collette, I thought - I have seen those teeth before! I could only think of 'Muriel's Wedding' - and right enough, this is the main actress of that film, having lost about half her weight, it seems.