Winners Don't Give Up

Rating: 8/10 (25 October 2007)

In Albuquerque, the housewife Sheryl Hoover (Toni Collette) brings her suicidal brother Frank (Steve Carell) 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 (Greg Kinnear) 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 (Paul Dano) has taken a vow of silence as a follower of Nietzsche and aims to be a jet pilot. Dwayne's grandfather Edwin (Alan Arkin) was sent away from the institution for elders Sunset Manor and is addicted in heroin. When her seven years old daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin) 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.
"Little Miss Sunshine" is a delightful comedy, supported by an original story about losers in the essence of the word, and alternating hilarious and dramatic situations. Greg Kinnear is amazing in the role of a man that does not walk the way he talks and ironically tries to sell a procedure to become what he is not able to reach: successful. His lines are simply excellent (I loved "- Sarcasm is the refugee of the losers, trying to put the winners down."). There are great scenes provoked by the situation of their van with a broken clutch in this entertaining film. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Pequena Miss Sunshine" ("Little Miss Sunshine")