Jonathon Dayton and Valerie Faris’s ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ is one of the great feel good movies, and its fitting to include in this write-up for the last edition of Stage Whispers for the issue.

‘Little Miss Sunshine’ focuses on the small town American family, the Hoover family. The Hoovers certainly are a motley and loveable group of characters. There’s father Richard (Greg Kinnear) who is a flop as a motivational speaker and is not doing too good in the relationship stakes with his chain-smoking, unfulfilled wife. Sheryl (Toni Collette). There’s Uncle Frank (Steve Carrell), a Proustian scholar, who has tried to commit suicide following a failed romance with a male graduate student. Grandpa Edwin (Alan Arkin) is a raunchy, outrageous man, a never do well who is also a drug addict. Son Dwayne (Paul Dano) is a freaky teenager and mad Nietzsche follower who has taken out a vow of silence within the family until he hears that he has made it into the Air Force. And then there’s seven year old, bright and, cute as a button daughter, Olive (Abigail Breslin).

The Hoover family are the kind of family who find it difficult to get motivated. All this changes when young Olive learns that she has won a place in the finals of the Little Miss Sunshine Contest in far off California. Richard decides it is good an opportunity to pass up, and, much to Olive’s excitement, the whole Hoover family pack up and head off cross country in a clapped out old VW van to California for the weekend.

The film just simply has a wonderful rich recipe. My favourite ingredients …the positive, all in it together attitude of the Hooker family as they come up against all range of obstacles with some very creative, and often quite hilarious solutions….who will ever forget the images of the clapped out van that the family manages to use to get them to their destination.

There are some awesome performances. Alan Arkin is just tremendous as the feisty Grandfather who trains Olive for the competition. Paul Dano is great as freaked out Dan, Steve Carrell is wonderful as the deadpan academic Frank. And of-course the star of the show is Abigail Breslin as vivacious Olive.

Any good film worth its salt has a strong end. ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ is a case in point. The film motors along well to an ending which brings ‘the house down’ with laughter.

One last favourite ingredient, the snappy dialogue…There are some fabulous exchanges. My favourite exchange happened near the end, between Olive and the Pageant Master of Ceremonies- Olive-‘I’d lke to dedicate my performance to my grandpa, who showed me these moves. MC- Aw, that’s so sweet. Is he here? Where’s your grandpa right now? Olive- In the trunk of my car!’.