I feel that I have to cheat a couple of other movies somewhat so as to fulfil my life long goal of having a Greg Kinnear movie be my favourite of the year. I can now scratch that off my list along with a spawn of the Wayans clan (The Last Boyscout was tops for 1991). There is however the downfall of having to celebrate a movie that stars perennially overhyped and unfunny Steve Carrell and perennially ugly Toni Collette at top spot but hey, for the greater good I suppose.

I can only believe that it is testament to the awesomeness that this movie is that I watched this movie on New Years Eve while in my girlfriend’s extended family’s home with a bunch of people I had just three hours earlier had the privilege of meeting, trying to hear the movie over everyone talking and trying to see the movie through a bright red balloon that this family’s eight year old kept bouncing in front of my face.

Anyway…

**Before starting, I’d just like to pay tribute to those who ran it close: ‘The Fountain’ - I didn’t get the chance to see it so for all I knew it shits all over this. I doubt it though, it stars Hugh Jackman for fucks sake. ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ - Guillermo Del Toro is one of the best directors in the world right now, he’s right up in my top three list with Fincher and Chan Wood Park. ‘The Departed’ - No movie where Jack Nicholson straps on a dildo can manage to not make top five of the year**

“Olive is a little girl with a dream: winning the Little Miss Sunshine contest. Her family wants her dream to come true, but they are so burdened with their own quirks, neuroses, and problems that they can barely make it through a day without some disaster befalling them. Olive’s father Richard is a flop as a motivational speaker, and is barely on speaking terms with her mother. Her uncle Frank, a renowned Proust scholar, has attempted suicide following an unsuccessful romance with a male graduate student. Her brother Dwayne, a fanatical follower of Nietzsche, has taken a vow of silence, which allows him to escape somewhat from the family whose very presence torments him. And Olive’s grandfather is a ne’er-do-well with a drug habit, but at least he enthusiastically coaches Olive in her contest talent routine. Circumstances conspire to put the entire family on the road together with the goal of getting Olive to the Little Miss Sunshine contest in far off California.” - IMDB.COM

This film features perhaps one of the most disturbing final scenes of all time. Nah I’m joking it’s amazing and disturbing and somehow funny all rolled into one. That’s a stupid place to start writing never mind forget I said that.

Who the fuck would have thought that Greg Kinnear would ever be in anything worth your time. ‘Matador’ was the most overrated piece of shit I have ever seen and it took three efforts to watch the whole thing through and only served to confirm my suspiscion that milking as many James Bond movies as he possible could - including the one where a full Michael Jackson body operation can make an Asian look like Toby Stephens - was the greatest move Pierce Brosnan could ever make. Greg Kinnear is so good that he can make Friends suck. Think about the worst Friends episode you ever saw. Granted, your mind automatically goes for any of the ones where Pheobe sings, but if you can look past that I’m sure its the one with Greg Kinnear.

Thankfully, Kinnear’s character in this is supposed to be a raging hard on so you can deal with it.

While it is unfair, it’s fairly obvious why Toni Collette doesn’t get the roles her talent deserves: she’s just not the most attractive person on the block. On any block. She’s okay in this though because she shouts at Greg Kinnear a lot.

I love how in that IMDB description of the plot they call Grandpa a ‘ne’er do well’…. Here is a quote from him: “Are you kidding me? It was a fucking paradise. They got pool… They got golf… Now I’m stuck with Mr. Happy here, sleeping on a fucking sofa. Look, I know you are a homo and all, but maybe you can appreciate this. You go to one of those places, there’s four women for every guy. Can you imagine what that’s like? I had second degree burns on my Johnson I kid you not.”

Steve Carrell continues his amazing streak of unrivalled unfunny which is sure to catapult Evan Almighty into the bin of inevitible suck later this year, but even that’s not enought to fuck with this steam train.

I realise that I haven’t said an awful lot of good stuff about this movie but here it is: it’s good. Check it out.