How to Watch Little Miss Sunshine
Little miss sunshine is a dark comedy with an honest message. It's a movie about imperfection, failure and family.
It's a hilarious but mature family road trip film. It includes some sexual content, drugs and swearing. It also features references to a suicide attempt.
Watching the movie
When 7-year-old Olive Hoover unexpectedly qualifies for a Little Miss Sunshine pageant, her family packs their VW bus and heads from Albuquerque to California in search of her dream come true. Their motley crew consists of mother Sheryl (Toni Collette), father Richard (Greg Kinnear), Grandpa Edwin Hoover (Alan Arkin) and cynical teenage son Dwayne (Paul Dano).
The sanity of the whole bunch is stretched to its limit as they encounter problems from traffic police to a stuck horn. The film has a slew of hilarious moments, but the overall tone is dark and quirky.
A comedy that shoots down American culture of winning and offers sweet redemption for losers, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE is a crowd-pleaser that radiates warmth across age and class lines. This brainy blend of farce and heart has a lot to say about the way that the Hoover family comes to respect each other in their unique ways.
Director Jonathan Dayton and co-screenwriter Valerie Faris have crafted a charming, warmhearted family road trip that will make you laugh until you cry. A perfect fit for a wide range of audiences, this heartwarming film is a must-see for anyone who loves dysfunctional families and road movies.
Whether you're watching with the kids or a group of friends, this film can be a great way to start a conversation about faith, innocence and commitment. It's an excellent choice for a parent-child film night, or as an addition to a home movie library.
The film's main message is that you should never give up on your dreams. The characters learn that when they try, even if it doesn't work out, they can learn from their mistakes and move forward.
As the story unfolds, we meet all sorts of characters from all different backgrounds. Olive's father is a motivational speaker who struggles to promote his book; Sheryl's husband is an unsuccessful author who wants to become a self-help guru; a cynical teen is into Nietzsche and has taken a vow of silence; Olive's grandfather is a drug user who enthusiastically coaches Olive in her Little Miss Sunshine contest talent routine.
It is also worth mentioning that one of the characters, Uncle Frank (Steve Carell), attempts suicide about halfway through the film. Although the attempt is not shown onscreen, it is referred to throughout.
The movie also contains sexual slang, references to drugs, and cursing. Characters discuss depression and suicide; an elderly man overdoses on heroin early in the film. It also includes a comedic striptease. This is a mature film with many themes and story points that craft a message about imperfection, failure and above all else, family.
Watching the trailer
Little Miss Sunshine isn't a groundbreaking film, but it is a funny, well-made, and touching movie that has become a crowd-pleaser at the Sundance Film Festival. It's a family road trip comedy, but it also has some very thoughtful points of view about imperfection and failure that help it craft a film that's all about family.
The Hoover family takes an impulsive trip from Albuquerque to California after 7-year-old Olive qualifies for the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Her reasonably sane mother Sheryl (Toni Collette), her aspiring motivational speaker father Richard (Greg Kinnear), feisty drug-using Grandpa Edwin Hoover (Alan Arkin) and cynical teen Dwayne (Paul Dano) pile into their old Volkswagen bus and head for the West Coast.
But their journey turns out to be far more complicated than they could have imagined, as Olive's snarky and overworked mom and Richard's stressed-out dad fight for control of the family's future. Olive's uncle Frank, a Proust scholar who's gay and suicidal, joins the crew too. Dwayne, the quiet Nietzschean follower who's a fanatic about his own self-help program, decides to take a vow of silence, which helps him escape some of his family's craziness.
While director Jonathan Dayton and wife Valerie Faris don't quite have a handle on the script, their cast -- especially Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette, who are perfect as the bumbling but loving parents - are great. Abigail Breslin is particularly likable as Olive, a sweet, lovable kid who's just as cute as she sounds.
Another excellent performance comes from Paul Dano, who plays the silent and angry teen Dwayne. His dialogue is simple and to the point, but his acting ability makes him believable as the kind of adolescent who can't understand why adults aren't as forgiving as they seem.
It is a film with many mature themes and story points, including some sexual content, drugs, swearing and homosexuality as well as references to a suicide attempt. There are also references to a comedic striptease and some discussions about "winning" or "losing."
Little Miss Sunshine has its share of problems, but it's a great film that's full of laughs, heartbreak, and redemption. It's a film that combines all the best qualities of the family road-trip comedy genre and quirky indie movies about dysfunctional families to create something fresh and entertaining.
