Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.

Directors:

Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris

Writer:

Michael Arndt

Stars:

Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette

Won 2 Oscars. Another 53 wins & 55 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Abigail Breslin	...	Olive Hoover
Greg Kinnear	...	Richard Hoover
Paul Dano	...	Dwayne
Alan Arkin	...	Grandpa Edwin Hoover
Toni Collette	...	Sheryl Hoover
Steve Carell	...	Frank Ginsberg
Marc Turtletaub	...	Doctor #1
Jill Talley	...	Cindy
Brenda Canela	...	Diner Waitress
Julio Oscar Mechoso	...	Mechanic
Chuck Loring	...	Convenience Store Proprietor
Justin Shilton	...	Josh
Gordon Thomson	...	Larry Sugarman
Steven Christopher Parker	...	Teen Boy #1
Bryan Cranston	...	Stan Grossman

Storyline

In Albuquerque, Sheryl Hoover brings her suicidal brother Frank to the breast of her dysfunctional and bankrupted family. Frank is homosexual and expert in Proust, and tried to commit suicide when he was rejected by his boyfriend and his great competitor became renowned and recognized as number one in the field of Proust. Sheryl's husband Richard is unsuccessfully trying to sell his self-help and self-improvement technique using nine steps to reach success, but he is actually a complete loser. Her son Dwayne has taken a vow of silence as a follower of Nietzsche and aims to be a jet pilot. Dwayne's grandfather Edwin was sent away from the institution for elders Sunset Manor and is addicted in heroin. When her seven years old daughter Olive has a chance to dispute the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, California, the whole family travels together in their old Volkswagen Type 2 (Kombi), in a funny journey of hope of winning the talent contest and make a dream come true.

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Plot Keywords:

pageant | loser | beauty pageant | graduate student | vow of silence | 

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Taglines:

A family on the verge of a breakdown

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some sex and drug content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 August 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pequeña Miss Sunshine

Filming Locations:

Acton, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$8,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$665,165 (Australia) (13 October 2006)

Gross:

$59,889,948 (USA) (23 March 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Searchlight Pictures, Big Beach Films, Bona Fide Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dwayne's full name is never mentioned in the movie.

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Goofs

There is a shot of the van driving and a green interstate sign that says I-40 to Los Angeles and then to the right of it 89A South and 89A North Exit Only. It also shows I-17 south to Phoenix. This sign is in Flagstaff Arizona, yet a previous shot showed the van next to an I-10 sign. If you get off on 89A you go towards Glen Canyon Dam. The trees on both sides of the road are ponderosa pines which do not grow anywhere along I-10 in Arizona or California.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Richard: There are two kinds of people in this world, winners and losers.

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Connections

Referenced in ER: Age of Innocence (2008)

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Soundtracks

"Enemy Guns"
Written by DeVotchKa
Performed by DeVotchKa
Courtesy of Cicero Recordings, LTD.

User Reviews

Hilarious! I loved this fun, but slightly dark comedy

We were happy to have had the chance to see this at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. I loved the cast: Greg Kinear, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano and Steve Carrell were ALL marvelous as the dysfunctional family. Little Miss Sunshine refers to a pageant to be held in California (the movie never states where the family lives, but most of the road scenes were definitely in the Phoenix, Arizona area. (added 8/2/06: I know now that the movie is set in New Mexico, for those of you who are interested in that sort of thing!)

The story follows little Olive, a normal child, who by a fluke wins her way into the finals of the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. The family decides they must accompany her in their old VW bus, so a road trip ensues.

The final third of the movie, which deals with the actual pageant, is by far the funniest part of the film. It illustrates, with great hilarity, the frightening people who are involved in child pageants. You can't help rooting for Olive, who is refreshingly normal amongst the frighteningly plastic other contestants.

(After discovering that I was in the (opposite of loved it) category on IMDb, I changed my subject line, because this was one of the best movies I've seen all year!! I LOVED IT)

This is NOT a movie for children. After reading through some other user comments, I have to say I'm dismayed by the amount of people complaining about the F word. This movie is rated R, mostly because of its frequent use of the F word, along with some drug use. If you do 5 minutes of research before you go to a movie, you should educate yourself as to WHY a movie is rated the way it is. If you are offended by swearing, then, if you go to a movie that is rated R because of language, be prepared to be offended! Okay, I'm off the soapbox. This is NOT a movie for children.