Even though this movie is R-rated, it helps give new meaning to family and the idea of a road trip.

So you never got around to taking that cross-country road trip this summer. Or maybe you never had time, or the nerves, to take a strip-cardio class at your local YMCA. If so, “Little Miss Sunshine” will surely fulfill your lost summer dreams.

In this hilarious take on the not-so-average American family, the Hoovers take a road trip from Albuquerque, N.M., to Redondo Beach, Calif. The trip is to fulfill the lifelong dream of 7-year-old Olive, played by the talented Abigail Breslin, to become queen in the “Little Miss Sunshine” pageant.

“Little Miss Sunshine,” which is R-rated for some sex and drug content, shows how a family that is slowly falling apart realizes they need to trust one another to be happy, even if it is through pushing a broken down VW bus for more than half of their trip.

Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette are Richard and Sheryl Hoover, a couple who are as distant as expected: Sheryl is conveniently overworked and Richard, who smiles way too much for anyone’s liking, is a nationally-known motivational speaker.

Dwayne, their teenage son, played by the raven-haired Paul Dano, has taken a vow of silence and will only communicate by writing down his thoughts on paper and is most likely the only one who understands the family’s … shall we say … shortcomings.

Alan Arkin brilliantly plays Richard’s ornery father. He’s is the brains behind little Olive’s talent of dance for the pageant. He wears a black leather fanny pack daily that keeps his supply of heroin at an easy reach and he is obscenely open about his love of adult entertainment.

Olive, the chubby bohemian-esque beauty queen wannabe, who would not be as complete (or as adorable) without her glasses, is the true talent of the film. Although she is not as “sunny” as any ordinary JonBenet, she steals the show and our hearts as the placid Olive.

As if life was not stressful enough, Sheryl has agreed to take care of her brother Frank (played by the stark Steve Carell), a gay, suicidal Proust professor. Frank is having an affair with one of his students, which leads to the only dramatic soap opera moment of the entire film.

The film had a couple moments that kept me laughing long after the punchline had ended. Most of them included Abigail Breslin the child-genius actress. If you pay the nine bucks at the Oriental on Farwell to see this movie, it is because this little girl’s performance will not disappoint.

Even though this movie is R-rated, it helps give new meaning to family and the idea of a road trip. Watching all the members of the family deal with their own personal problems as they help each other overcome obstacles along the way is what transforms this movie from comedy to drama and then back again.

After you have shed a tear or five, watching the family cheer on their little girl as she busts out her best stripper moves on stage in front of many mommies and daddies brings this movie back to “laugh so hard you cry.”

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