A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus. (imdb.com)

Little Miss Sunshine was one of those films that seems like a funny, cool Independent film from a distance or to the casual movie-goer, but really it’s just a makeshift Indie flick with slapstick elements, cheesy moments with the occasional surprising humorous line. Because Steve Carell is in it, it has to be funny? People tend to force themselves into laughter because laughter is expected given certain conditions. It’s like have an inner laugh track.

Anyway, didn’t much care for this film. The only moments that were interesting to prevent me from fallign asleep or leaving the theater came towards the end when the son had a crazy moment after discovering he was color blind and therefore could not be an air force pilot. And one of the very last scenes where the daughter was dancing a very risque routine at the pageant to, of all songs, Super Freak.

• Directing:  
• Acting:  
• Casting:  
• Cinematography:  
• Writing:  
• Overall: