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Proust and Nietzsche collide as the Hoover family travels to California so little Olive can take part in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Crossing states in a beat up yellow VW camper, all manner of shit happens and the previously disjointed family suddenly becomes close and each character realises their own self worth.

Prettily shot and filled with atypical characters, this film uses a lot of contrasts to highlight all the main points and there's a sense of attachment to the incredibly bizarre story. Most people would probably call the family dysfunctional, but you're probably going to leave thinking "What's normal then?" instead. Here normal becomes strange and absurd and you realise there is no such thing as normality, only what you accept of yourself and each other. That's why the family unit makes so much sense, because they care about you regardless of what you may or may not be.

The father Richard is a none too motivational motivational speaker played by Greg Kinnear, who manages to come across as obstinately irritating. The matriarch Sheryl is played by Toni Collette, who holds the whole family together. Alan Arkin plays the grandfather, who forms this strange guiding presence over every character and I feel epitomises the spirit of the movie. Steve Carell plays Frank, whose failed suicide starts off the show. Paul Dano is Dwayne, the indie kid with a mop for hair, nihilist tastes and a vow of silence. Abigail Breslin is Olive, the subject of the show, the person you think for and hope for and though she may not fall into the usual category of pageant girls, she attracts in another way entirely.

Great film to watch and certainly something to think over, especially in this day and age, where "talent" shows form a large part of our television diet, models strut like skeletons and Ben Affleck is an actor.