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 | california | loser | beauty | drugs | 

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Taglines:

Welcome to Hell

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Genres:

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

Abigail Breslin wore a fat suit for the part of Olive.

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Goofs

The takeout chicken served for dinner at the house in Albuquerque is from Dinah's Fried Chicken. Dinah's only has restaurants in Southern 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

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: The Best of Music in the Movies (2010)

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Soundtracks

"La Llorona"
Traditional
Performed by DeVotchKa
Courtesy of Cicero Recordings, LTD.

User Reviews

Probably the best comedy of 2006.

Comedies about families usually come in one of two genres. Often featuring dysfunctional families (are those two words redundant?), they are either broad and goofy ("Cheaper by the Dozen") or dark and abstruse ("The Royal Tenenbaums"). Driving its Volkswagon bus down the middle of these two extremes is "Little Miss Sunshine", a comedy both inclusive and exclusive, one that some will get entirely, while others will whiff on to the same degree.

The title stems from a beauty pageant in which seven-year old Olive (Abigail Breslin of "Signs") competes. For a good portion of the film, the contest serves as a MacGuffin of sorts, putting an already odd mix of family members on the road in bizarre situations that call Vegas Vacation to mind.

But "Sunshine" is far more than the slapstick of "Vacation". It mixes humor both broad and subtle humor into a strange brew of comedy, poignancy, lessons, and life. Huge and deep issues are addressed, topics like death, dreams, and failure. Yet somehow the movie doesn't feel heavy. You'll walk out with a smile on your face because the movie sensibly touches on these issues, realizing that stuff happens and life continues, that the handling of adversity is often what defines people. And above all, there is family, which you're stuck with, for better and worse.

"Sunshine" may not grab you right away, which is part of its power. It burns slowly, introducing the family members to the viewing outsiders through observation, then putting the viewers in the bus with them as they enter a foreign world. All this is done without lapsing into melodrama and without losing steam as the movie chugs toward the climactic final scene, continuously building momentum along the way, before promptly getting out on top.

Rather crude at times, "Sunshine" is not a movie for children, nor is it for anyone who takes life or movies too seriously. But if you excel at finding the askance humor in life and film, then you will relish this offbeat look at a collection of family dynamics perhaps only slightly stranger than most, although definitely more extreme.

Bottom Line: One of the year's best, and likely its best comedy. 8 of 10.