REEL CRITICS:

What made the filmmakers think people would pay for a movie revolving around a dysfunctional family? Why pay to watch someone else’s family be miserable when you’ve got your own or know someone who does?

But, since it was time for my weekly movie fix, I had to pick the one that looked the most promising. That is probably why “Little Miss Sunshine” was released in August; there is no real competition because there’s not much else to see.

Stereotyping the Hoover family as dysfunctional, though, fails to capture their full potential. But they do start from that perception. Grandpa (Alan Arkin) shoots up heroin. And when he talks, every other word starts with the letter “f.”

Richard, the dad (Greg Kinnear), is a motivational speaker incapable of motivating anyone to buy his 9-step program. His teenage son, Dwayne, has taken a vow of silence until accepted into flight school. His real reason for not speaking to anyone, however, is because he hates everyone.

His 11-year old sister, Olive, is fixated on beauty pageants. With grandpa’s help, she was runner-up in the local beauty and talent content. Her Uncle Frank (Steve Carrell) is a suicidal gay Proust scholar. The psychiatric hospital releases him on the condition he live with his relatives, the Hoovers.

And Sheryl (Toni Collette) is the wage earner. As the mother, she is also swinging at the end of her rope trying to keep the family together. Early on, it is obvious she may fail. With everyone sitting down to dinner attacking each other instead of their chicken wings, the Hoovers are close to imploding. What began as a peaceful, but strained, family meal turned into a moral scream fest about drugs, alternate lifestyles, slitting your wrists and foul language.

Olive’s last-minute chance to compete in the national Little Miss Sunshine contest stops the Hoovers from yelling in each other’s face to throwing punches, at least for a while. With the California pageant two days away, they begin arguing about who would go, whether they are flying or driving, and how they will payfor the trip.

Miraculously, the mom gets everyone to settle down and agree to go because it is Olive’s chance to live out her dream. For 48 hours, the six of them will travel from New Mexico to Santa Monica in dad’s beat up VW bus, together.

Even though it is a spur of the moment decision for them, the road trip is fraught with unforgettable life-learning experiences for everyone, audience included. Their problems start out small, like Olive’s heartache when she learns that ice cream will make you fat. That and other Hoover problems is why “Sunshine” is oddly charming. It’s full of “life’s little moments” that everyone can relate to.

For example, when Uncle Frank is feeling and looking his worst, he bumps into his ex-lover. Dwayne’s plans for flight school takes a nose dive. Dad has to decide whether he is a winner or a loser. Olive must face her biggest fear. Mom has to continue keeping the peace, regardless of how she feels. And drug-addicted grandpa does something that takes everyone by surprise.

An added charm to “Little Miss Sunshine” is the VW bus itself. The movie poster showing the Hoovers running alongside the bus is crucial to the story. It has something to do with the clutch, but is also a metaphor about never giving up and/or working together to make things happen.

The bus is also roomy. The ability to store large objects solves a major snafu for the family as they make their way west. And the scenes with the bus have the greatest laughs. Besides the scene about the need for storage, there are also scenes involving the bus and a cop, dirty magazines and a broken horn.

The movie about a dysfunctional family changes into a story about a normal family passing through goofy, crazy, funny, tragic, and sad but hopeful by the time they reach the beauty contest in the third act. It’s funny because there is a little bit of Hoover in every one of us.

“Little Miss Sunshine” is one of the better films for adults to see, and one of the only ones to see in August. Great actors, good storytelling and deep belly laughs make it worth watching now, or on DVD.