Little Miss Sunshine
 | Directed by Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris Starring: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano 20th Century Fox, 2006, DVD Customer Rating: 540 reviews Recommend |
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Take a hilarious ride with the Hoovers, one of the most endearingly fractured families in comedy history.
Father Richard (Greg Kinnear) is desperately trying to sell his motivational success program...with no success. Meanwhile, "pro-honesty" mom Sheryl (Toni Collette) lends support to her eccentric family, including her depressed brother (Steve Carell), fresh out of the hospital after being jilted by his lover. Then there are the younger Hoovers?the seven-year-old, would-be beauty queen Olive (Abigail Breslin) and Dwayne (Paul Dano), a Nietzsche-reading teen who has taken a vow of silence. Topping off the family is the foul-mouthed grandfather (Alan Arkin), whose outrageous behavior recently got him evicted from his retirement home. When Olive is invited to compete in the "Little Miss Sunshine" pageant in far-off California, the family piles into their rusted-out VW bus to rally behind her?with riotously funny results.
Pile together a blue-ribbon cast, a screenplay high in quirkiness, and the Sundance stamp of approval, and you've got yourself a crossover indie hit. That formula worked for Little Miss Sunshine, a frequently hilarious study of family dysfunction. Meet the Hoovers, an Albuquerque clan riddled with depression, hostility, and the tattered remnants of the American Dream; despite their flakiness, they manage to pile into a VW van for a weekend trek to L.A. in order to get moppet daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin) into the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Much of the pleasure of this journey comes from watching some skillful comic actors doing their thing: Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette as the parents (he's hoping to become a self-help authority), Alan Arkin as a grandfather all too willing to give uproariously inappropriate advice to a sullen teenage grandson (Paul Dano), and a subdued Steve Carell as a jilted gay professor on the verge of suicide. The film is a crowd-pleaser, and if anything is a little too eager to bend itself in the direction of quirk-loving Sundance audiences; it can feel forced. But the breezy momentum and the ingenious actors help push the material over any bumps in the road. — Robert Horton
Beyond Little Miss Sunshine
 More Dysfunctional Family Comedies |  More films from the stars of Little Miss Sunshine |  More Independent Films Turned Sleeper Hits |
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Title: Little Miss Sunshine
Sales Rank: 2926 in DVD
Actor: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano
Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Studio: 20th Century Fox, 2006-12-19, Theatrical Release: 2006-08-18
Format: Subtitled, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Widescreen, NTSC, Acpect Ratio 2.35:1
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed), English (Published)
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Region Code: 1
Running Time: 101 minutes
Item Dimensions: 0.25 pounds
Package Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches, 0.15 pounds
- Satisfaction Guaranteed
- Despite the late timing of my order, the item arrived in time for the holiday and in good condition. I couldn't be more pleased. Service was expedient and I received courteous communications.… More reviews
- Often Overlooked
- This movie is hilarious! You may glance over it the first or second time you see it in the dvd section of Best Buy, but you should definitely take a second look. Made by an independent filmmaker, Little Miss Sunshine brings out the best of the indie genre and, in my book, is an instant classic.… More reviews
- Interesting
- I kind of came into this movie in the middle but all I can say from what I saw is when the little girl did her talent performance. Let's just say I cannot view Rick James' "Superfreak" the same again. For one thing, this family is dysfunctional from the word go. Big time back seat drivers, but in spite… More reviews
- WAY WAY OVER RATED!!!!!
- I always keep my reviews short, I hate to bore people as much as the movie.
I guess because of the cast the movie was pumped up so much.
I wouldn't buy this movie but rent it first then you can decide. More reviews
- What's to Like?
- I guess I just don't understand why people seem to so enjoy portrayals of hideous dysfunction in families. I found this movie to be so awful that I couldn't even make it through the dinner scene to finish the rest of what I think was probably more of the same: scenes of a family that is ridiculously screwed up. Why do people like this kind of cr*p? Isn't there enough garbage… More reviews
