The Hoover family are your typical suburban American demographic; dad's a failed inspirational speaker, grandpa's a coke snorting lay-about, the teenage son has embraced Nietzsche and abstains from the spoken word, the brother-in-law has just missed out on a successful suicide and the mum….well bless her, she really does try. The young daughter, however, is an upbeat bundle of positive energy and when the chance comes to enter the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant the whole family embark on a long, tenuous and, ultimately, revelatory road trip to make sure that her dream is at least in with a shout. Little Miss Sunshine is a beautifully observed and wry celebration of life, love and family, a touching often hilarious gob in the eye to obsession with success.