2. Little Miss Sunshine
''I'd like to dedicate this to my grandpa, who showed me these moves.'' So far, so sweet as seven-year-old Olive Hoover (Abigail Breslin) takes to the stage at California's Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Her family, who had travelled all the way from New Mexico - except Grandpa Edwin (Alan Arkin) who had died of a heroin overdose around halfway there - had frantically rushed her into the show only to arrive four minutes late. There, they realise to their horror that every other contestant is a spray-tanned, sexualised stripper- in- waiting and that Olive, with her gawky glasses and pale complexion, will surely be the laughing stock. At first they consider withdrawing Olive from the contest. But then they argue that she hasn't travelled all this way only to be disappointed. And so, with the above introduction, the plucky underdog gives it her all. Her outfit: a jacket, tie, top hat and trousers. Her backing track: 'Superfreak' by Rick James. Her act: an unbelievably inappropriate burlesque dance that leaves her family, the audience and us utterly speechless. She tears off her trousers, throws her top hat at the announcer and looks to be having the time of her life. In some ways, the dance serves as a punchline to what is essentially a ninety-minute-long joke, as Olive and Edwin have been heard discussing the routine dozens of times but, of course, not a step is revealed until the big finale. And what a finale it is.