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Arts & Entertainment>Movies
from the December 22, 2006 edition

New on DVD: Little Miss Sunshine

By Clayton Collins
Little Miss Sunshine (R)

This darkly funny and well-cast film rolls quirkily along on the mother of all dysfunctional-family road trips and shows how a little subversive behavior can be a unifying force for good. Abigail Breslin shines, indeed, as Olive Hoover, a precocious counterculture child who redefines "beauty queen"; Greg Kinnear is, well, perfect as the perfectionist dad, pushed to find his humanity from the inside of a clutchless VW bus also inhabited by his wife (the always authentic Toni Collette), and father (a fire-spitting Alan Arkin), among others. Coarse language and drug use earn the film its R rating. But neither is deployed gratuitously. Extras: commentaries, and some alternative endings that don't trump the fine one chosen. Grade: A-

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