Little Miss Sunshine

Movie / Show Details

Amazon.com

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 Stills from Little Miss Sunshine

Product Description

The story begins when young Olive is given a shot the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant, and manages to coerce her family into driving west in their worn-down VW van. Olive’s father Richard heads up the trip, while mother Sheryl, brother Dwayne, uncle Frank and grandfather come along for the ride. Director Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris Star Toni Collette, Steven Carell, Greg Kinnear Special Features: Dual Side, Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Music Videos 101 Minutes.