LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (2006)

Sundance audiences have never been stingy with their standing ovations. But Little Miss Sunshine unleashed a charm offensive so powerful, Park City cheered like Red Sox fans out of sheer gratitude for a movie that mined the dysfunctional family-road trip hybrid for all its gut-busting potential without losing its emotional core. Snatched up by distributor Fox Searchlight for $10.5 mil — the highest sum ever paid for a movie at Sundance — Sunshine plucked its cast of characters from the pantheon of indie archetypes (precocious kid, acid-tongued gay uncle, surly teenager, feisty grandpa) and became a hit family comedy for the art-house crowd. The best part: While we're bound to see more edgy domestic comedies, we're still spared the cheesy sequels — think: Little Miss Partly Cloudy — that go along with equivalent studio successes.