I pause for a moment for Justin's sake. This is a re-review of Little Miss Sunshine.
The film starts off with Frank who has tried to kill himself. He's sent to his sister's family. Her sister, who appears to be the most normal, mostly doesn't cook for her family (this is seen as a shorthand for people who've lost some basic family values).
The husband (Greg Kinnear) is a motivational speaker who preaches the power of positive thought, even as his career has not turned out well. They live with his father (Alan Arkin) who is a foul-mouthed, criticizes daughter and son, but at least seems to love his granddaughter (Olive) and helps train her for a beauty contest. Finally, there's the Olive's brother, Dwayne, who has kept silent for a year, basically a goth kid who wants to join the Air Force and fly planes.
At some point, the film becomes a road trip where the family wants to get Olive to a beauty contest, and while this is purportedly a comedy, it's a decidedly down comedy. At one point, they stay in a hotel, and the grandfather passes away. They take him to the hospital, and the hospital insist they take care of paperwork and thus they can't leave the body while they head to California, site of the beauty contest.
They steal the body, then their vehicle (a VW van) is falling apart (it doesn't start until they push it to start) and the horn is stuck, intermittently making a horn noise, attracting the police, who they think will find the body. But as it turns out the grandfather has porn magazines and they've placed it on top of body, and the cop, so fixated on it, doesn't miss it.
Then, as they ride some more, Olive tests her brother and they discover he's color-blind and can't be a pilot anymore. This is where he utters his first words "F***", and then curses off his entire family.
Indeed, as you describe the plot, it sounds more and more outrageous (they can't seem to get to the hotel, because the roads are funny, then when they arrive, they are told they are too late too sign up, but finally, they do sign up).
In other words, it's one disaster after another.
So why does it work? Ultimately, despite all the disasters going on, the family decides with all its dysfunctions that they support one another.
The title of the film is about a beauty contest for kids, and beauty contests generally don't fare well in films, and the film goes both way with this. On the one hand, there's disdain for the other shallow contestants. On the other hand, it is Olive's dream to perform.
Even the competition, which she has no idea about (and neither does her grandfather), where she does her rendition of "Superfreak", ought to be a point of embarassment, becomes a moment of defiance as well as family support, ultimately, the point being that they may do things weirdly, but they're still together. It's a particularly odd scene, with some families disgusted, and some finding it just as fun as everyone else.
The film finds its way with little touches from gags that continue throughout, such as the van that needs push-starting, to the horn noises that never quite work, to the basics of beauty pageants (or at least making some fun of it), to road-tripping, to hotels. And while you have no idea what will happen to this family, road-trips often work as a bonding experience, and so ultimately, if it works, it works as that.
And that's a bunch of spoilers!
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