“Little Miss Sunshine” is charming and never manipulative, its story is basically centered around a road trip, but the characters confined in the broken down bus they ride in are all pictures of failure. They all seem to be typical cliché characters, but Arndt breaks down the walls of stereotypes and really takes us by surprise by playing them as so much more.

Dwayne, played by the sublime Paul Dano, is a young man who hates his family and is taking a vow of silence until he gets into flight school, Grandpa Hoover is a foul-mouthed curmudgeon helping Olive with her dance routine; Alan Arkin gives a great performance, Greg Kinnear is a character you’ll love to hate as Richard, a failed inspirational speaker looking to invest and manipulates others into doing what he expects of them, and Steve Carrell plays Frank. Carrell is the stand out, which is surprising since I was originally skittish about one of my favorite comedic actors doing drama, but his performance is bittersweet and anchors an otherwise excellent cast. His character Frank is a sympathetic man who is cut from the same cloth as everyone else he’s shacked up with.

He’s suicidal and depressed and is basically forced to live with his in-laws, and tag along on their road trip. He never has a revelation, nor does he learn life is worth living, but he does learn that he has something to live for. What it is, we find out as the film progresses. Toni Collette pulls in her usual great performance as Sheryl, the well intentioned mom and unofficial leader of the brood who adheres to anything Olive wants. As for Abigail Breslin, she is adorable as the plain Olive who aspires to accomplish many goals in her young life, and never realizes she may not be able to fulfill them. She’s one in a group of people who could never achieve their dreams, but they’re intent on helping her follow them, regardless of what stands in their way. Arndt’s film becomes a lot more than a road trip film as it changes from a girl entering a pageant, to a family tagging along, and halfway in, transforms into something else entirely.