Funniest Movie of the Year

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE is a laugh riot. This terrific comedy follows six members of a quirky family as they travel in a beat-up van to take the youngest one, played by darling 11-year-old Abigail Breslin, to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant in California.

The family includes a gay uncle who has just tried to commit suicide because his lover left him, a grandfather whose only interests seem to be porn magazines and helping his granddaughter with her pageant routine, a teenage brother who refuses to speak until he can fly fighter planes, a working mother too busy to be of much help to anyone, and a father trying to sell his 9-point motivational speaking program to anyone who will listen.

Although all of these people appear absorbed in their own issues, they learn to work together during their hilarious road trip. Stand-outs in the fine cast are Abigail Breslin, especially in her surprising talent number, comic Steve Carell as the uncle and Greg Kinnear, who should get an Oscar nomination for his wonderful performance here as the father.

I think LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE is the funniest movie so far this year.