Little Miss Sunshine

Plot synopsis:
During a strained and awkward family dinner, it is revealed that Frank, a homosexual professor and renowned scholar of Marcel Proust, tried to kill himself after a love interest left him for an academic rival. Cued by her father to change the subject, Olive tells the family about the beauty pageant routine she is working on with the help of her grandfather. Though Olive is not of the typical pageant ilk (an average-looking, bespectacled seven-year-old), she adores pageant work and had won second place in a regional contest. During dinner, the family hears a phone message from Olive's aunt, informing that them that the winner of Olive's recent pageant had to forfeit, and that Olive now has a place in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in California. Olive is overjoyed, and after some arguing about transportation (and a pressuring pep-talk from her self-help guru father, Richard), the entire family agrees to travel to Redondo Beach in their Volkswagen microbus.Conversation in the bus reveals that Grandpa Edwin (Adam S. Gottbetter) was kicked out of his retirement home for selling and using heroin (which he still enjoys). Dwayne, Olive's brother, has been taking a vow of silence for nine months straight, and plans to keep it up until he gets into the Air Force. He spends his time reading the works of Friedrich Neitzche and ignoring his squabbling parents and Grandpa's brazen sex advice. At a rest stop, the clutch on the microbus breaks, forcing the family to push-start the bus whenever it is not parked on an incline. At a gas station, Richard receives news that his book deal has fallen through. Frank is humiliated after running into his ex-lover in a convenience store. The family returns to the road, all in bad tempers, but realize (after Dwayne notices) that they have to return to the gas station for Olive, who they'd forgotten in their bad moods.They check into a motel for the night, Richard and Sheryl sharing a room, Frank and Dwayne in another, and Grandpa and Olive in a third. Olive confesses to Grandpa that she is scared about the pageant the following day, but is reassured by the doting Edwin that she is a beautiful person and will 'blow 'em outta the water." Sheryl and Richard have an explosive argument about the failed book deal, and Richard drives to Scottsdale in the middle of the night to confront Stan Grossman, his partner in the deal. Richard's ideas are rejected again, and he returns to the motel.Olive wakes her parents in the morning because "Grandpa won't wake up." Edwin is rushed to the hospital where he is pronounced dead of an apparent heroin overdose. The family grieves, but the paperwork they are instructed to carry out will ruin their chances to get to Olive's pageant on time. Determined to honor his father's memory, Richard has the family smuggle the body into their van. Soon, however, their horn breaks and will not stop honking. They are pulled over by a state trooper who nearly uncovers Edwin's body in the trunk, but is sidetracked by Grandpa's porn collection that falls out. He lets the family go in exchange for the porn mags, and the road trip continues.The Hoovers are almost at the pageant site and are making good time. Olive is giving Dwayne an eye test that she got from the hospital, and Frank realizes that Dwayne is colorblind. Realizing that this wrecks his dream of becoming a test pilot (and negates his nine months of total silence), Dwayne loses it. Richard stops the bus, and Dwayne runs into a culvert in a rage insulting his family. Refusing to continue the trip and failing to be comforted by Sheryl, Olive manages to win him back on board with a silent hug.They arrive at the Redondo Suites hotel with much confusion about parking, and make it to the sign-up table four minutes late. Though a snippy pageant official initially refuses her entry, a kindly employee adds Olive to the lineup. Richard finds an undertaking service to remove Edwin's body, and sadly bids farewell to his father. Dwayne and Frank, repulsed by the freakish child pageant atmosphere, walk out to a pier. Dwayne (now vocal again) expresses his frustration with being a teenager and life in general. Frank offers his nephew a piece of Proust philosophy: that it is your suffering, not your happiness, that defines you as a person.The pageant begins, and the prepubescent contestants, slathered disturbingly with makeup and fake tan, take the stage. Richard becomes nervous for Olive as he watches from the audience, knowing that she will not fit in. He and Dwayne, sharing the same concern, go backstage to convince Sheryl to call it off. Sheryl stands her ground, saying that they have to "let Olive be Olive." The family watches nervously as Olive is led to the stage to perform.Dressed in a suit and top hat, Olive dedicates her dance performance to Grandpa, who had choreographed it. The rest of the family have not seen it yet. Olive's dance turns out to be a strip-burlesque routine to Rick James's "Superfreak," which Olive performs with gusto, as she is innocent of its raunchy overtones. The audience is appalled and even begins to catcall, but the Hoovers stand up and cheer her on. The snippy pageant official orders the emcee to remove Olive from the stage, but Richard butts in and begins dancing next to his daughter to support her. One by one, Olive's family takes the stage and joyfully finishes the number with her. After a brief visit to the police precinct, the Hoovers are permitted to leave as long as Olive is never entered in another California beauty pageant.Having become closer and more confident during the trip, the Hoovers push-start the microbus once again and pile in. They drive into the sunset, back to Albuquerque.

Tags: comedy, depressing, cult, suicidal, cute, clever, feel-good, psychedelic, humor, satire, philosophical, inspiring, entertaining

Review:
And although getting there is only half the fun and family drama, you have got to see what happens to believe it when they finally arrive and Olive gets to "do her thing." The strong cast sounds not a single false note, and when the more touching moments arrive, they don't seem forced the way they would in most other big-budget behemoths, because these moments are truly earned.
Greg Kinnear is letter-perfect as Olive's judgmental, failed motivational-speaker father; Steve Carell finds new shades of darkest despair and human comedy as her suicidal gay uncle, a leading Proust scholar; Paul Dano does amazing things with little more than facial expressions as Olive's older brother who's deep into Nietzche and a vow of absolute silence, and Alan Arkin, though he has played this kind of role with both hands tied behind his back and his eyes closed, still shines like a crazy diamond as her cantankerous and hedonistic grandfather.And barely holding this motley crew together is Toni Collette, who amazes by playing a mother again and yet manages not to portray the role exactly the same way, (you might recall her Oscar-nominated turn as Haley Joel Osment's put-upon mom in THE SIXTH SENSE.) I'm not at all familiar with the work of the two directors, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, or the writer, Michael Arndt, but they have definitely raised the indie film bar with this effort.
The premise itself can lead to years of therapy for a family that should get a group rate in psychiatric care.Expert editing and superb comedic performances from all the principals involved will have many overlook the fact that the plot line is a little too contrived at times.
The scene at the gas station contains moments of deep sadness and offbeat humor, something that Carrell pulls off wonderfully, and none will be able to look at the trunk of a car, some dubious literary material, and highway patrol the same way after seeing the infamous scene in the film.The best is of course, saved for last, and by this time we are waiting for something outrageous which "Little Miss Sunshine" delivers unapologetically.
A classic track will probably be recharged for a new generation, as the bonds of family precariously balance a moment that could be as tacky as they come."Sunshine" is one of the best things to come out of American cinema this year, an original film that relies on a script that understands the differences between generations in the same family.
They remind me of The Squid and the Whale  another recent movie that comes to mind when I think of this type of character development  these are just normal, regular people, and the filmmakers developed them as such in the most in-depth, well thought-out and just ingenious way possible.That brings me to the second adjective: Realism.
When Little Miss Sunshine gets funny, it's hilarious  we're talking pitch-black dark and very quirky comedy, but it works admirably, reaching sort of a peak in the infamous, hilarious and totally wacky traffic cop scene.The acting is.
Basically, the film's message can be summed up in one brilliant line delivered by Arkin's character, Grandpa Edwin: "A real loser is someone who's so afraid of not winning he doesn't even try." This is a family who see tragedy after failure after disappointment, and it's just so, so sad to see them so down, because we love them all and we know that they don't deserve it, despite all their flaws.
I went to a screening of this film at Sundance earlier this year, and this is what I wrote about it immediately following:This was a little less indie, cast-wise, but was jarringly real in a way that Hollywood rarely fosters.
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.
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!!
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.
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.
Keeping up with the recent buzz-worthy films coming out of Sundance the past couple years, Little Miss Sunshine is a gem of a movie.
There is so much a viewer can relate to in each member, allowing for a certain amount of compassion for the views of all involved and seeing that each really does want the best for one another, even if they have a messed up way of showing it.Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette are wonderful as the patriarchs, proving as always that they are probably two of the most under-appreciated actors working today.
At first it seemed like the movie wasn't going to be funny at all...I mean can a mute and a suicidal man make a comedy?
I laughed so much I got tears in my eyes during the last dance scene.The whole cast was great, Paul Dano, Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell playing really serious at first...when I went into the movie, I thought it was a drama at first...Steve Carell was what brought me to the film in the first place...and Alan Arkin is funny in anything he does...I don't want to say much about this film...I want people to go to it and be surprised....
"Little Miss Sunshine" certainly has been luckier than most Indies in terms of budget and cast, but it still is a modest black comedy that takes advantage of its own limitations and relaying only in great acting and a lot of heart, makes more than the hundreds of comedies the big studios make in a year.The plot is the story of the Hoover family and their trip from New Mexico to California, in order to take their little daughter, Olvie (Abigail Breslin), to the finals of the Little Miss Sunshine Beauty Pageant.
The road trip will prove to be a test not only to Olive, but for the rest of the family."Little Miss Sunshine" is the very first work by writer Michael Arndt, and for the most part he makes an amazing job in setting up what's basically a character driven road movie.
Arndt's script may not be very original (and that's probably the film's biggest problem), but he uses the conventions of his genre in a very clever way, mainly by focusing on his different characters and letting them and their own personal stories to carry the main plot.
Sure, it's an overtly exaggerated portrait of that dysfunctional yet lovable family we all have, but this delicious black comedy it's done with such charm and heart that it actually works, and even makes the story feel fresh despite not having a really original plot.This movie not only marks Arndt's debut as a writer, it's also the first feature film by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, a team of music directors famed for their work with rock bands across the 90s.
The subtle approach taken by the Dayton-Faris tandem succeeds in giving life to this charming story by letting the actors to completely own their characters and be the most important part of the film."Little Miss Sunshine"'s magic would not be possible without one of the best assembled cast in years.
Comparatively, Paul Dano comes up as the weakest link, but that has more to do with the high quality of his cast-mates, as his work is still effective and worth of praise on its own.Many have criticized the way "Little Miss Sunshine" remains too close to the road movie formula and its use of overused clichés, however I find that to be unfairly harsh, as well as misdirected, as it's not really the plot what matters in the end, it's how the characters react to the situations that this trip presents them.
While probably predictable, few movies of this optimistic feel good style could carry its plot keeping the same energy from beginning to end."Little Miss Sunshine" is the little big surprise of 2006, a black comedy that attempted to do a lot with very little, and that for the most part succeeded in its attempt.
At first it looks like different movie with no impact that was fairly common in this time, it took the theme of a dysfunctional family that isn't a common theme for many reason.
To sum up little miss sunshine is by far the best movie of 2006 it was worthy of every it was nominated but sadly the academy are more commercial than true critics.
But the true story that causes an impact in our heart hearts are the ones that comes that come from the real life mix up with some clever ideas that to me is little miss sunshine is one of the best achievement in cinemas of all time.--Goyolap.
The setup is practically there; a scene so distasteful feels like it's just off-screen (or on the cutting room floor) in this wholly objectionable movie.Long after a ridiculously unbelievable "chance meeting" in a gas station, long after paper-deep villains have been thrown at the screen, long after the annoying Murphy's Law plot line is exhausted, comes the most sick, saccharine, crappy moment in all of film history which involves a family attempting to redeem their seven-year old daughters failed, inappropriate talent routine (a strip tease) by joining her on stage.
I want to spend those two hours with good people who are flawed, like those in my life I love most.That's what Little Miss Sunshine has, and much more.
Spotlight the amazing Abigail Breslin as a believable little girl trying to break into the Child Glamour Business through pageants like "Little Miss Sunshine." It was when I contrasted her less than movie-star appearance with all the adult-glam of the other lacquered and made-up girls that I realized the subliminal message here.Olive's striptease is an honest (but disturbing) expose of what these pageants really are.
If I had read a description like this, I would have written off "Little Miss Sunshine" without a second thought--it looks and sounds like a standard-issue, deliberately 'quirky' road-trip comedy where the standard-issue dysfunctional family bonds and learns an Important Lesson at the denouement.
But any way you cut it, "Little Miss Sunshine" is one of the most inspired films of the year...under a conventional-looking surface lies a tremendously moving experience..
i should know better than to trust that everyone is right.as i spent my 2 hours watching another dry, pseudo-drama with a dysfunctional quirky family i wondered; why don't i like this movie?
It is just a boring tale of a dysfunctional family that tries to take their untalented daughter who thinks she is great to a little miss sunshine contest where in actual fact she is possibly the worst candidate.The all star cast made me excited at first but the film was just generally boring with no twist and a very expected ending.
This movie is as bad as Sideways.It is not so much either of these movies but the fact that their are actually human beings at organizations like Time who actually want us to believe that the worst that life has to offer is great comedy.The lines weren't funny, Alan Arkin and his character seemed to be trying to outdo themselves, and the whole plot is nothing but a poorly contrived series of the worst things that can happen to an already pathetically disjointed group of people chasing after an even more unbelievable plot..
Little Miss Sunshine is a funny and entertaining independent movie about a strange and ambitious family called the Hoovers who take a road-trip.
The 9 year old girl's family consists of her father  who is a typical American  boastful positive speaker, her mother  who sees through the crap of her husbands' hollow optimism talk, her brother  who is so fed up with the family that has taken a silence vow  until he gets admission in the air-force, her maternal uncle  who is a brilliant professor  who is also gay  and brought home after his failed attempt to commit suicide because his gay partner ditches him for his rival professor who receives the nation's best philosophy prize; and lastly the young girls paternal grandfather  who is a jolly, loud mouth, drug addict even at this old age, who believes in the joy of living life fully  and enjoying as much sex as possible.With these carefully drafted characters  instantaneously one gets drawn into the movie's flow when with hesitation  everyone of the family agrees to travel 18 hours journey in a home van - to take part in the beauty pageant  for the sake of this 9 year old lovely  fat chubby girl.This is a journey that breaks, joins, breaks and unites the family in the end.
This is reflected in a very lovely exchange between the professor and the young boy  who says that "everyone's whole life is like this silly beauty pageant".At the end of the movie it is so pitiful to see the young girls of 5-10 years being tortured to act and behave like beauty queens  and it tells the story of today's times.A very good movie!.
This compounded with the fact that the outcomes for three of the characters were so easily decipherable that I checked out half-way through the movie, makes Little Miss Sunshine only worthy of a Sunday afternoon HBO waste of time.
Following yet another road trip taken by a dysfunctional family, "Little Miss Sunshine" is at times painfully predictable and sadly unoriginal.
The acting is below the standard I would expect for any of the stars - especial Alan Arkin - who, as the only character in the movie that was remotely funny, probably could have single-handedly made this movie worth watching had he been given more screen time.If you want a cute take little girl pageants, watch Happy Texas.And there are dozens of "dysfunctional family" comedies from which to choose that are actually funny - The Royal Tenenbaums, Home For The Holidays, Pieces Of April, The Family Stone, etc...
'Little Miss Sunshine' tells a fascinating and hilarious story of a dysfunctional family that includes a cigarette-addicted mother Sheryl (Toni Collette), her suicidal brother Frank (Steve Carell), her voluntarily mute son Dwayne (Paul Dano), her obsessed-with-winning husband Richard(Greg Kinnear), his eccentric father Edwin (Alan Arkin) and her 7 year old daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin).
'Little Miss Sunshine' can also be watched as a fun road movie where we are presented with some beautiful landscapes and some of the dialogues during the characters' journey are of laugh out loud quality and yet it keeps the authenticity of the relationships and situations intact.The film consists of a delightful ensemble cast.
Also there is Richard's dad ( Alan Arkin ) who was kicked out of a retirement home for snorting heroin.When the family's at the dinner table, the news comes that Olivia is invited to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant in California- which involves a road trip across the country.However this movie really proves the saying that the journey is as important as the destination, and it is proved by a great cast.
But particular credit must go to Steve Carell as Frank and Paul Dano as Dwayne- their scenes together seem to just move so naturally.Little Miss Sunshine is a movie that will help you out of whatever doldrums your in.
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)What a wacky, funny, sweet, feel-good movie.
'Little miss Sunshine' is a classic dramatic comedy about a family struggling to get along as they should do, but despite what some people say it IS original.
Frank has just survived a suicide attempt after suffering a unrequited love affair, Dwayne is a depressed teenager only interested in achieving his dream of becoming a pilot, Olive a seven-year-old dreaming of becoming a beauty queen even though she is not one, Grandpa a heroin addict, Richard a failed business man with an obsession for winning, and Sheryl who only wants her family to be happy.
I think I liked the film because I can relate to each of the characters in their own little ways.
I have seen many movies about dysfunctional families, but rarely if ever have I seen one as good or as funny as "Little Miss Sunshine".
Little Miss sunshine is a really enjoyable Movie.
I mean, through the whole thing, you see this insanely dysfunctional, yet average, ordinary family getting into ludicrous situations and before you know it, you're saying to yourself,"Hey, that's just like my family!" No, not because of what they're doing in the film, but because of the kind of people they are overall.This movie also has, while pretty dark, lovable and "out there" humor that shows the pleasures and problems of everyday life.