Little Miss Sunshine Reviews

• The ambivalent ties that bind

  
  By A1G0EBQYLN6STU on 2006-08-07
  If you have ever attended a family reunion or sat down at an extended family holiday dinner and thought to yourself "Who are these people? How could I possibly be related to them?" -- then you will probably appreciate the hilarious and poignant indie film "Little Miss Sunshine."
  
  Richard (Greg Kinnear) is the head of a mostly dysfunctional family and the author of a multi-step/self-help program that he espouses with the passion of a zealot. Sheryl (Toni Collette) is Richard's wife and arguably the most normal and high-functioning member of the family. Their son, Dwayne (Paul Dano), is a nihilistic and remote 15-year-old, who has either stopped speaking to his family because he can't stand them or taken a vow of silence to achieve a personal goal - depending on who is explaining his behavior. Olive (Abigail Breslin) is the family's bright and effervescent 7-year-old, who is already starting to pick up some of the family's more unhealthy tics of criticism and self-doubt. Grandpa (Alan Arkin) is Richard's acerbic and outspoken father who was booted out of his retirement home for snorting heroin. Add to this murky Freudian soup Sheryl's brother, Frank (a wonderfully restrained Steve Carell), who is newly released from the hospital after a failed suicide attempt.
  
  When a message is left on the family's phone machine notifying them of Olive's acceptance into the semi-finals of the Little Miss Sunshine talent competition in California, they decide to (mostly) put aside their personal agendas and take Olive to the pageant. The combustible road trip is fueled by the radically different personalities bumping up against each other within the close confines of a VW bus and exacerbated by a variety of obstacles thrown at them in what seems to be a cosmic conspiracy designed to prevent the family from reaching the competition.
  
  When the family finally does arrive at the pageant, the weirdness well and truly begins. Now I am someone who really loves a good horror story, but the 6 and 7 year old contestants were far scarier than anything you might see in a George Romero movie. I will take flesh melting zombies over little girls in full theatrical makeup and provocative costumes (that just screamed "JonBenet Ramsey") any day. The whole pageant atmosphere was Fellini-esque and completely cringe-inducing. When Olive is finally called upon to do her performance piece for the audience (a real show stopper which I won't spoil by detailing), she is actually the most wholesome and entertaining part of the whole pageant.
  
  Although this family bickers with one another almost constantly, they manage to close ranks and support each other when it truly counts. Part of the pleasure of watching this film was the talented cast, who looked like they were really enjoying themselves. A wonderful way to spend 90 minutes -- and you will probably come away with a deeper appreciation of your own family.
  
  

• Dysfuction at it's finest

  
  By A3MQ672FYFNM7B on 2006-09-25
  "Little Miss Sunshine" is the story of the Hoover Family. Olive (played by the adorable and very funny Abigail Breslin) has just been accepted into the "Little Miss Sunshine" beauty pageant (because of a cancellation) and her family decides to drive through three states so she can make the competition on time. Richard Hoover (played by former Talk Soup host, Greg Kinnear) is Oliver's dad who believes that winning is number one. When Richard tells poor Olive that she shouldn't eat ice-cream (because there aren't any fat Miss America contestants) I thought it was both extremely funny and also equally sad.
  
  Paul Dano played Olive's (very comical) morbidly hate-filled brother, Dwayne. Alan Arkin played the coke-snorting, sex-crazy grandfather. Toni Collette was the kids' mom Sheryl; it was obvious that Sheryl was wrapped way too tight but she really did love her family. And rounding out this ensemble cast is Uncle Frank (played by "Forty Year Old Virgin" star Steve Carell.) Frank came to stay with Sheryl and her family after he recently tried to commit suicide after his homosexual love of interest rejected him.
  
  So the family embarks on a car trip across NV, AZ, and CA in a broken down, old 70's bus (they have to push it to get it started!)
  
  There are so many funny moments in this picture. It was also touching to see Olive put her head on her brother's shoulder to try to cheer him up, and I did suspect at that moment that Dwayne actually didn't hate everyone because he seemed so sensitive.
  
  Anyone that watches this picture will certainly agree that Olive's dance routine was the hit of the entire movie. Olive dances to the tune of the Rick James hit "Super Freak" while prudish Pageant Official Jenkins (played perfectly by one-time "Malcolm In The Middle" star Beth Grant) goes absolutely BERSERK! I don't want to give anything away, but the entire family was involved, a huge scene resulted, and the police were even called!
  
  After watching the first thirty minutes of this movie I thought to myself, "why are these people all together..." ...But I suppose family is whatever you make of it and the Hoover family must have really loved each other to go through all they did and still stay together. Maybe they don't make the same decisions as the "traditional American family" but that's ok because they still find their own happiness.
  
  I reluctantly went to go see this movie after a friend told me how good it was. I protested because it looked totally ridiculous but my friend had already seen it and he insisted that it was a superior picture. And I am so glad that I went because this was one of the best movies I have seen in months. It is dysfunction at it's funniest!
  
  
  

• 'Being a Winner is only a state of mind'

  
  By A328S9RN3U5M68 on 2006-12-22
  and being a winner of a film based on so many potentially disastrous bits of black comedy works exceedingly well! As opposed to some of the movies of the recent past (Borat, American Pie, Waiting, the National Lampoon endless series, etc) LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE starts with a smart script by Michael Arndt that addresses many of the highly dysfunctional family elements present in today's society and allows us to hold a few mirrors up to our own vaguely warped view of good and bad, right and wrong, ambition and self destructive delusion and makes us laugh - at times embarrassed, at times just having fun!
  
  Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris direct this odd little story of a family in Albuquerque, NM, a family comprised of a grandfather (Alan Arkin) whose 'elderly status' allows him to speak inappropriately grossly and frankly to his grandchildren while snorting coke in the bathroom; a father (Greg Kinnear, who just gets better and better) with a motivational program scheme that is melting toward failure; a mother (the extraordinary Toni Collette) who attempts to cope with her role as the matriarch of this weird group; the mother's brother (Steve Carell), a gay Proustian scholar who has just lost his job over an affair with a grad student and has survived an unsuccessful suicide attempt; a space-cadet teenage son (Paul Dano) who is in a vow of silence as he pursues Nietzsche and extracting promises for his future from his intimidated parents; and last, but most important, a chubby little sister Olive (Abigail Breslin) who dotes on Miss America pageant reruns on TV and longs to tryout for the Little Miss Sunshine beauty/talent show for little girls in Southern California.
  
  The bulk of the film is a road trip which confines this very strange family in an RUV headed for the only bit of positive hope for change in Olive's ploy to become Little Miss Sunshine. Along the trip we get to know these oddballs personally and in the end the results of the family effort competition seem almost secondary to the fun of getting there. Each of the performers is at peak form in acting and the direction and pacing would be difficult to improve. The film accomplishes what comedy sets as a goal: it entertains us while allowing us to take a second look at our own foibles, and that makes for a fun and healthy outing. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, December 06
  
  
  
  
  

• MAGNIFICENT MOVIE!

  
  By AOV9AIX4UE5BB on 2007-02-05
  This movie is the best movie I've seen in years. At the end I was laughing through my tears. There's only one other movie that did that to me and it was "Steel Magnolias". Each character was frighteningly real. When I showed my husband the movie, he said, "Oh, brother---this looks like a real dud." (He says that about most movies I choose---and he's always wrong!) But at the end, he said, "Marion, you did it again because this one is a real keeper!"
  
  My husband and I owned that van (in another form) in the 1970's and we really did have to park it on a hill to push-start it due to a bad transmission and no $$$ to fix it. In fact, I was in labor with my first child and I had still not learned the art of "popping" the clutch to start the van. So I had to push the van while in labor so my husband could start it. We still laugh about that. And what was even funnier was when my husband went to take my mother home from the hospital (she doesn't drive) he had to get HER to push it. LOL! Perhaps that helped make the movie more poignant & hilarious for me. (And the yellow VW van was literally a character in the film!) STILL, it was awesome.
  
  It was SO amazing I bought the freaking movie and the last time I bought a movie was "Kill Bill 1 & 2" (the ultimate chick flicks of all time, bar none!) I also bought the soundtrack to "Little Miss Sunshine" which is fabulous.
  
  So if you want to see a movie that will make you laugh, think, and yes, cry, then get this movie. It's a classic, for sure!!
  
  

• The Quirk Works--Don't Buy The "Sunshine" Hype, Discover It For Yourself

  
  By A27H9DOUGY9FOS on 2006-11-13
  "Little Miss Sunshine" is yet another quirky indie comedy, this time about a dysfunctional family roadtrip. Every character has the requisite wacky personality and/or oddball mannerisms (as is the case in every film of this type). The plot is minimal and contrived, existing for the sole purpose of forcing this unlikely family together. Handled incorrectly, I would usually loathe this type of film. So I'm pleased to report that "Little Miss Sunshine" is far more successful than it has any right to be. While I still feel as if this "little" picture was slightly overpraised upon it's release, it provides many laughs and works as screwball comedy.
  
  One thing that sets "Sunshine" apart from similar indies is a stellar cast. Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette do fine work as the embattled parents. Abigail Breslin brings a refreshing blend of hope and delusion to the title character. Alan Arkin chews the scenery as the foul mouthed addict father--it's nice to see him again, especially in such a showy in-your-face performance. Steve Carell is surprisingly sympathetic as the depressive gay brother. And Paul Dano delivers the movie's best performance as the disconnected son who has taken a vow of silence. So even though this colorful, supremely eccentric bunch are character "types" as opposed to real people, the actors make it work. The moments of drama that appear succeed only because the actors make you care.
  
  But, first and foremost, this is a comedy. And I forgave the calculated eccentricities because the film is simply funny. Outrageous and slapstick, yet smartly observant, this film earns your respect and laughs. It's a fun ride with many identifiable situations.
  
  Beloved by audiences and most critics upon it's release, I would hesitate to overhype this film for the DVD market. A viewer who discovers this picture is likely to appreciate it's charms more than someone who goes into it having heard it's the best film of the year. "Little Miss Sunshine" is not particularly original (it shares many plot elements from "Vacation," in fact)--but it is extremely well done. KGHarris, 11/06.
  
  
• The Warm World of Loveable Losers
  By A139ZF7CJVVTJU on 2007-01-02
  Little Miss Sunshine is a dysfunctional family drama that follows the trials and tribulations of six family members as they trek cross-country in their crumbling VW bus in an attempt to get the youngest, Olive, to a Little Miss Sunshine pageant in California.
  
  Perhaps the most endearing thing about Little Miss Sunshine isn't it's intimate look inside the slightly twisted hearts of its six main characters. It isn't the off-kilter comedy of its road-trip plot. It isn't even the almost flawless acting of young Abigail Breslin as Olive, the precocious young girl with dreams of being a beauty pageant winner.
  
  No, what makes this movie truly unique is how it takes what could be a rote plot contrivance (Will she win the pageant?) and turns it on its head (SHOULD she win the pageant?). By the time the family reaches the end of their difficult journey (having endured mechanical failures, an uncomfortably close experience with death, and even the saving grace of pornographic magazines) they are moving on auto-pilot, doggedly moving ahead simply because that has been their purpose. When they reach the pageant, though, instead of a moving moment of self-redemption, it serves as a grotesque reminder that sometimes dreams are less important than the reasons those dreams exist in the first place.
  
  This movie is, after all, about people who have failed. Greg Kinnear plays with exquisite desperation the patriarch, Richard, a failed motivational speaker (and, no, the irony isn't lost on him). Dwayne is a typically-rebellious young teen who follows the teachings of Nietzsche and has sworn to a vow of silence until he achieves his goal of becoming an Air Force fighter pilot. Alan Arkin is the foul-mouthed, drug-addicted grandfather, searching for his own version of contentment in his life's twilight years. Toni Collette is absolutely perfect as the mother, Sheryl, who has made this frazzled family the locus of her own frazzled life. And Steve Carell shines, cast against type as the once-eminent Proust scholar, Frank, who is attempting to recover after losing his lover, his job, and his will to keep on living.
  
  Given such a cast of characters, it would be easy to see it devolving (even with the talent at hand) into something melodramatic and cheesy, but this movie operates with a light touch. Never does the film indulge in the kind of shameless self-congratulatory lesson-learning that dysfunctional family comedies are so rife with these days. We are treated, instead, to a tender and yet unflinching look at these people and how they struggle. This is, quite obviously, a family of losers (in whatever way you want to define that word), but -- as we are shown in the final scenes -- in a world that is sickeningly obsessed with winning, being a loser is nothing to be ashamed of.
  
  
• Very Over Rated
  By A3LMLEEUSYG1PS on 2007-02-11
  This story has been told many times and in many forms. This time it's form uses a little girl, a dysfunctional family and a beauty pageant. There are the typical family losers... the motivational speaker father who is a failure at motivating anybody, the plain jane little girl who dreams of winning the "Little Miss Sunshine" Beauty pageant, the mom who has no control over anything or anybody, the brother who hates his family so much that he has stopped speaking to anybody, the uncle who has recently tried commtting suicide, and the dirty old grandfather.. Cliche to say the least. The old VW bus they go cross country in has no gears so they have to push it to start it running (you get the idea).. On the way the grandpa dies so they put him in the back of the old bus and take him along (shades of National Lampoon's Vacation)..
  
  Don't waste your money.. There is nothing cute or special about this movie.. I wish I didn't waste my money or my time.
  
  
• the brainwashing influence of an "indie" film
  By A38EF1GOP8A5FO on 2006-09-02
  Don't believe the hype, and don't believe all of these schmaltzy reviews. Little Miss Sunshine, which has been bolstered recently by ridiculous praise, is nothing more than a vacuous exercise in creating quirky characters. It is an ultimately meaningless film that relies heavily on "humanistic" humor that seems more reflective of films for teenage audiences. Toni Collette looks like she didn't sleep for a week. (Will she ever again generate the kind of performance she had in Muriel's Wedding?) Alan Arkin, as the coke-snorting grandfather who has been kicked out of a nursing home, is the only glimmer of light in this mess of murkiness. But, of course, his character dies mid-way through the film in order to go for the dead-body jokes. Juvenile humor--yea! Good grief! Oh, and the end is just awful. Let's throw in Rick James's "Super Freak" to have our Little Miss Sunshine dance to in the talent portion of the beauty pageant competition. It's not the acting that kills this film; it's the script: unoriginal, recycled, and puerile. You've been warned.
  
  
• This movie pretends very very hard to be "realistic"
  By A1XESQ7C7NNZX4 on 2007-01-24
  Here's the main rub against reality; unless you are a completely inept parent or hell-bent on political correctness, you don't let a porn-obsessed and cocaine-addicted "grandpa" whose every other word is f*** to take care and sleep alone in the same room with your 7-year old daughter. And you wouldn't let a suicidal gay "uncle" sleep in the same bedroom with a 15-year old emotionally unstable boy. The stories told on Oprah and Jerry Springer, or even news reports about JonBenet Ramsey or Michael Jackson could hint you that such parental negligence practiced in real life might turn perilous.
  
  As the tale unfolds, it appears to be not parental carelessness but 100% pure political correctness version 2006/2007 at its finest. So I'm not surprised about the nominations for rewards the movie got. However, I'm still surprised that this was categorized as comedy. There is a broken erratically honking horn in the movie, probably meant to be hilarious, but I kept thinking, wouldn't it occur to the travelers just yank a wire from it at the first stop? And I answered my own question: well, yes but the movie wouldn't be a comedy anymore.
  
  "Comedies" with excessive foul language aren't amusing. The potty-mouth language used throughout the movie isn't doing it any good. It's probably a desperate attempt at "reality." But in reality very few families use this kind of language on daily basis and still fewer use it in presence of 7-year old kids. "Little Miss Sunshine" is R-rated - meaning, not for kids, but the R-rated language in the movie is used right in front of a 7-year old kid. So what's the exact message behind it?
  
  
• Shines Brighter Than I Ever Expected
  By A2ATWKOFJXRRR1 on 2006-08-16
  The Screen Actors Guild have an "Outstanding Performance by a Cast" award they give out annually, and this year LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE must be among the nominees (if not the recipient).
  
  Never before has a story been so well told and equally acted. Moving the audience to tears one moment and making us burst with laughter the next, this script was absolutely brilliant.
  
  And the story goes...
  
  Young Abigail Breslin (SIGNS, 2002) plays Olive, a six-year-old whom the entire cast orbits around. The first place contestant in a local New Mexico beauty pageant got eliminated and Olive, who'd came in second, is the default winner. She's going to California for the Little Miss Sunshine finals. But due to financial limitations, the family can't fly her, so all of them pack into a VW bus and head west. With Abigail comes her barely functioning dysfunctional family. Her father is played by the estimable Greg Kinnear (THE MATADOR, 2005). Richard (Kinnear) is the only one who can drive a stick, so he has to go. But with him comes his "are you a winner or loser" motivational comments that irk everyone around him. Also with them comes Olive's older brother Dwayne (Paul Dano, THE KING). The 15-year-old has taken a vow of silence until he's passed a test that allows him to fly jets for the Air Force; he writes his caustic comments on paper for all to read. Then we have Frank (Steve Carrell, THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN) who was recently released from the hospital after slitting his wrists and is on suicide watch by the family. A renowned Proust scholar, Frank found himself fired from his teaching job after falling in love with a student; one of his male students. Next we have Olive's grandfather played pitch perfect by Alan Arkin (THIRTEEN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING, 2001). He's a smack-sniffing, perverted old man with a misplaced heart of gold. He's also Abigail's instructor for her dance sequence in the upcoming competition. And finally there's Sheryl (Toni Collette, IN HER SHOES), Olive's mother who is the glue that holds the family together.
  
  Road trip movies are practically a dime a dozen, but many miss the mark or become ludicrous. LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE has no such problems. Bouncing off -- or sometimes smashing against -- each family members' personality, Olive (Breslin) is the unifying good-natured persona that makes this entire flick so very watchable. Olive is a bit overweight, wears thick eye-glasses, and has little talent. But her family loves her without restraint and when they stuff themselves into the dilapidated VW, it is her unflagging perkiness and smiling that drives them onward toward California, even when confronting a failed father, a difficult brother, a faulty clutch, or death.
  
  The dance sequence at the end of the film is something of movie legend. If you think about who Olive's grandfather was, the dance she chose to do was outstandingly accurate (what other kind of dance could a drug-addled, porn-watching old man teach?) Needless to say I cringed and laughed at the choreographer's choice. It also made me ask "if" I should be laughing at this, as it was completely deranged and inappropriate!
  
  I'm going to risk a lot here and say that I haven't seen a film this enjoyable in about two years. And the audience that watched it with me seemed to agree; they all stood and applauded when the credits started rolling. That says a lot, I think.
  
  
• One of the Worst Movies I've Seen - Ever!
  By A2KI1SGCZT2OEI on 2006-12-06
  I had high hopes with this cast, but this picture was absolutely insufferable. Claustrophobic in feeling and relentless in its attempts to be quirky, the picture lacks any spontenaiety and devolves into a series of easily anticipated movie "situations." The only mystery is in what order the situations will happen.
  
  Of course, maybe this is what the movie is all about. Maybe the movie succeeds brilliantly in this way. That's fine if your idea of a good time is being locked in a bathroom for a week discussing morals with George W or Bill Bennett. No thanks.
  
  Was this supposed to be a comedy? Is it a comedy if not a single laugh, giggle or mild smirk was evoked during its run? I'd say that the answer is a resounding "NO!"
  
  At least the bathroom situation I've mentioned above doesn't come with a half hour's-worth of stuck VW van horn as does the last part of this stinker. OK. We get the point! It's annoying! Why not go the whole nine yards and give the little girl a blackboard on which to scrap her nails? Oh, I forgot: we did get to hear her equally annoying screaming earlier in the movie. Nice bookends, that: a kid screaming and a stuck car horn. Need I say more?
  
  Really, really awful.
  
  
• Barely tolerable to grumpy old me -- but Alan Artkin's performance shines
  By A17FLA8HQOFVIG on 2007-02-11
  .I should really stay away from these "feel good" comedies. But I must admit I laughed out loud a little bit. It was worth watching just to see the performance of Alan Arkin.
  
  The story follows a family driving from Arizona to California so that their little daughter can compete in the "Little Miss Sunshine" contest. The film pokes fun at everything, including the human potential movement, the concept of a dysfunctional family, beauty pageants in general, and homophobia. It all seemed so stupid that I felt like turning it off at once. But then Alan Arkin came on the scene, cast brilliantly in the role of the "dirty old grandpa" and he absolutely stole the show.
  
  But one performance does not make a film I like. And this firm doesn't even get on the playing field in that category. I just wish I had the power to cut and paste the sections with Alan Arkin and just watch those parts. He was really that good.
  
  Comedy lovers who want to come out of the theater with a warm and fuzzy feeling might like this film. But to grumpy old me, with the exception noted above, it was barely tolerable.
  
  
• This was supposed to be funny?
  By ALB983UCU67G2 on 2007-02-12
  Okay, lessee here... we have a suicidal uncle, a junky grandfather with a nasty mouth, a teenage brother who hates everybody so much that he hasn't uttered a word in 9 months, and a father whose dreams keep going up in smoke. Oh yeah, that's a real hoot. NOT! I found the first 95 minutes or so of this movie depressing, not funny. Not even mildly amusing. The dance scene near the end was kind of funny, and it was nice that some of the family found some common bond and became a little less dysfunctional at the end. But it wasn't worth sitting through the first hour and a half to get there. I've never rated a movie worse than "okay" before, but this was possibly the worst I've ever seen. On the plus side, Abigail Breslin is very talented. She was wasted in this bomb.
  
  
• Awful
  By A2YNYGO660LOTR on 2006-12-29
  This movie is absolutely terrible:
  
  The grandfather curses all of the time and looks at porn and teaches his grandaughter who is like 6 or 7 how to strip, oh and he also snorts heroin. Yeah, this is a great movie . . .
  
  This is definitely on my list of worst movies ever.
  
  
• Stronger family values than you might expect in a strangely delightful film
  By AUHG8KSHI529U on 2007-01-21
  I really don't want to talk about the plot of this movie, because it isn't all that complicated and watching it unfold is part of the movie's charm. And, even more, I don't want to talk about the characters in this movie in much detail, although I am sure many others have. I don't want to discuss the characters in detail because getting to know them individually and as one motley family is really the point of the whole exercise.
  
  The film has a terrific cast and each plays his or her role superbly. Each makes a terrific contribution to the film, and given the special aspects of some of the characters, that is more of an achievement than you might at first expect.
  
  But how can I review this movie? I think I describe what I took away from it (although you might take away very different things) and maybe offer you some suggestions of what to watch for as the story unfolds as you view the movie. While the story is simple, it is exceedingly strange. It might even disturb some to the point of turning it off. Things are said that more crude than I remember ever being said in my family. However, there are cruel things that are said in deep hurt that do ring true in their depth of pain if not in their specifics.
  
  What finally came from my exasperation with these characters is that they don't realize how much their own focus on what they need from outside of themselves to be happy is keeping them unhappy and keeps tripping them up. Notice the difference in their individual happiness and joy as an extended family as they set aside these conditions and accept life for what it is offering at that moment. One of them knows that all the way through the movie. Notice her role in saving them even when they think it is the other way around.
  
  For those of you who avoid "R" rated movies, this has that rating because one member of the family stupidly uses drugs, there are some F-bombs and other profanities (but it doesn't swim in them), and there is a side issue with some porn magazines. No, this isn't a movie to watch with young kids. However, it ends up with some fairly strong values even in some very strange contexts. It is also a group of characters and a van you will never ever forget.
  
  
• A great way to spend an afternoon
  By A2HR0DJG4WMR8R on 2006-09-06
  This was a great way to bring a little sunshine to the last day of my vacation in the San Francisco Bay Area. The day that I, and one of my best friends, saw this film started like most of the other days of my visit to the Bay Area - foggy, hazy and a bit of a chill in the air. Further clouding the day's potential was a long and emotionally draining conversation with my friend about the breakup of an unrequited love affair and the suicide of her favorite uncle due to heartbreak from a lost romance. Needless to say, as we watched the first fifteen minutes of "Little Miss Sunshine" I felt our ability to sit through the entire film getting more tenuous by the second. Neither of us "read up" on the film but selected it based on the suggestion of friends to "go see it; it's really good and funny". I felt for sure that my friend would bolt from the theatre in tears given the uncanny clash of life and art that befell her as "Little Miss Sunshine" played out on the giant screen before us. But then we meet Olive, exceptionally portrayed by Abigail Breslin, and get a peep at the sunshine and joy that the character embodies.
  
  The center of this fully dysfunctional family of parents, older brother, uncle and grandpa, Olive wins entry (by default) into a regional kiddy beauty pageant which sets the stage for a family road trip that shows just what this family is made of and how much of it is needed to keep them together. This film is as emotionally accessible as it is humorous and edifying. By the end of the film we'd both cried when a particularly relevant scene elicited tears of recognition and we'd laughed riotously when a scene helped us remember that even in the midst of life's chaos, there are always rays of pure joy and outright fun. This was a great way to lighten up the afternoon and our spirits. Highly Recommended.
  
  
  
• Absurd collection of scenes that does nothing.
  By A2GWMPAA4VX6R9 on 2006-12-26
  Going against the littany of psuedo intellectuals who think everything that comes out of Sundance is some artistic statement I'll have to state the obvious that this film went NOWHERE. I get movies, I'm often accused of trying to be deep when I say I understand a film that most don't. Lost in Translation had a point, had great characters without some obvious story other than time spent between strangers who became friends while swimming in a culture very different from what they are accustomed to.
  
  This movie never developed on any of the interesting characters at all. If anything remotely humurous was introduced it was forgotten as soon as it appeared. I honestly felt robbed of 103 minutes even though I paid nothing to see this. I really wanted to like this movie. I like Greg Kinnear, Steve Carrell and Toni Collette. I thought the little girl was very cute and genuine but I'm sorry to say this movie had no point and ended with me wondering what the hell the creators of this film thought they were acheiving.
  
  
• You may suffer from post-viewing downward rating syndrome
  By A37NODCIL8PP75 on 2007-02-08
  If you could find a metaphor for my emotional response to "Little Miss Sunshine," it would be that of a strong wave building in height, crashing on the beach, and then receding far down the sand. In other words, the film is enjoyable to watch, until the ending, and becomes less and less enjoyable the more you think about it after it ends.
  
  This film started strong with the funny family and the touching bond between Olive and her brother Dwayne. All was fine on their road trip to the "Little Miss Sunshine" pageant in California until ** SPOILER ALERT ** the final dance number by Olive, which was a straight ripoff of Napolean Dynamite -- social loser beset by family problems redeemed by confident funky dancing.
  
  Also, the more a viewer contemplates how Olive learned stripper-style dancing from her grandfather, whom she spends way too much time with on her own, the greater the *ick* quotient. ** END SPOILER ALERT **
  
  Much as Vietnam vets may suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, "Little Miss Sunshine" may create "post-viewing downward rating syndrome." A more creative and less gaggy ending might have made "Little Miss Sunshine" more of a keeper.
  
  
• What were they thinking? This film sucks!
  By A200Z61A4B264S on 2007-01-24
  Quirky? Guess that really depends on your definition. A generic plot summary of this film says that it is about a flaky family going on a road trip to win higher self-esteem for their slightly overweight youngest member. This leaves a few things out. Like, the grandfather (to whom the family has given complete access to their little daughter, including spending the night with her alone) is a porn user -- an open porn user, I mean, he reads porn in the van on the road trip,it's a whole "funny" and "quirky" scene, and in his words, it's not just any porn, it's the worst kind of porn, the not air-brushed kind, whatever that means. It was the grandfather's job to prepare Olive for the competition. Guess what her talent is? Stripping! And guess what the wonderful break through this family makes is? One by one, they proudly mount the stage, and bump and grind along with her. Man, I am so inspired!
  
  As an aside, as in the old Chevy Chase movie, the grandpa dies on the road trip -- in fact he commits suicide, another inspirational moment of the film --and we get is a series of cheerless takes on "oh, my, what shall we do with the body?" In the end, he apparently is cremated and left in the dusty California destination of their dreams, with no ceremony, no goodbye from the family, nothing.
  
  If this is our new world vision of the family of the future, of an inspirational family in any form whatsoever, God help us.
  
  
• A loser rated T for trash
  By A3UUPG7UD2G5GP on 2007-04-06
  Okay, I'm behind the times. I'ms still READING (note that word) the classics. This was the worst movie I've seen in recent time. How anyone could get an Oscar for this tripe is beyond me. No story line, not funny, vulgar beyond comprehension (when you can't write, you write vulgarity...really takes a lot of skill to do this), basically a total waste of time. Not worth spending more time talking about it.
  
  
• Longest and Most Miserable 103 Minutes In Movie History
  By AMM9CD6R306ZZ on 2007-04-09
  Once again, as with most movies, the hype for this waste of celluloid far exceeds the reality. I've slept through boring movies before but this movie isn't boring, it's simply terrible. I walked out of the theatre shaking my head. When I'd heard it had been nominated for an Oscar, I was more stunned than when Milli Vanilli (remember those lame lounge 'singers'?) when the Grammy for Best New Artist.
  
  The first - and most basic rule - for a movie to succeed is that the movie must make the viewer suspend belief in reality temporarily to buy into the premise of the film. Little Miss Depressing never makes it out of the starting gate in that aspect. Scene after scene is simply not believable. If one doesn't suspend belief in reality early in a film, each successive scene shows its limitation. Over halfway into the film, when one of the characters dies, is the biggest insult to a moviegoers intelligence. That a family would proceed to a "beauty contest" for a white trash girl who didn't even finish first in her local pageant instead of making preperations for a family member who died while traveling with them is the epitome of absurdity.
  
  If Hollywood thinks this kind of weak and limited film is what will build the next generation of moviegoers, they are sadly mistaken. On the other hand, perhaps Hollywood understands the stupidity and ignorance of the average American. For people to love Little Miss Idiocy portends a sad future for America.
  
  
• Great Example of the Academy's Ability to Brainwash the Populace At Will
  By A2FQ3K6PR86U62 on 2007-08-23
  I can't believe how people can trick themselves into thinking that watching this is an enriching and profound experience. That's what scares me the most about this film. That millions of people are going to go out and search for similar films in an attempt to recapture the "experience" that had with this one. They think this is high culture. They think this is art. They think that this was a "moving" performance by all. I can't see how this could do anything but greatly harm American society, anything but hinder attempts by folks to find genuinely meaningful films, books, art, etc. It's truly astounding they way we're just letting Hollywood dictate our lives for us.
  
  First of all, and I'd really really like to know, could this movie have possibly been anymore cliched? A roadtrip! Gosh what an original way to carry a film! That's never been done before!
  
  Those types of tired cliches abound in this film. The police officer with a vice, lucking your way out of a speeding ticket, the brother who comes to a realization shortly after his sister puts his arms around him, the potential embarassment that comes with purchasing pornographic magazines, forgetting to bring your child on the trip you're taking, oh and don't foget...they have car trouble in addition to all of this. MAN is all of this tired. These areas have all been run into the ground by television and cinema for the past thirty years.
  
  Secondly, why is it when an indie film engages in the same crass vulgarity as anything commonly found on Spike TV it get's treated as "honesty" instead of what it really is? Reading some of these reviews is absolutely nausiating. I can't even believe I'm living in this coocoo-clock. What has to happen to a person to say some of the things folks have said in these reviews? Let me get it right for all of you. Under no, and I mean NO circumstances is it EVER appropriate to make light of sexual assaults on children. That is not something you joke about. How a person could ever be so warped as to find that to be something humorous is mortifying enough in it's own right, but to insert it into a film and have millions upon millions laughing along with you is enough to send any decent human being spiraling into a state of endless despair. I really don't know how anyone could ever justify the sexualization of young actresses in a movie. It's truly something I never could have even phathomed before this film came out. I can't believe what depths folks will sink to in order to defend this garbage.
  
  This is yet another movie with an all to synical approach to life. The life advice the "lovable" old gramps gives to his grandchildren: bang as many women as possible and shoot heroin when you get older. Charming. And when this grandfather dies this family that supposedly cared so much for him (and so much for each other) is grieving so deeply at this loss that they have just enough time to drop his probably still warm corpse out of a second story window, cram it into the back of their van, and still arrive at their destination on time. What a lovely image! Only when you hold true to your message that life is ultimately meaningless can death be treated in such a superficial and disgusting manner.
  
  Finally, why is it that vulgarity is confused with authenticity? Why is it that folks who like this film seem to think that foul language isn't really foul at all but rather "honesty," or "keeping it real" as it were? Why do you all seem to think that the inner-most depths of one's soul can be most profoundly expressed through swearing? That a meaningful expression of despair is to hop out of a van and scream the F-word out into the desert? Just utter superficiality throughout this film.
  
  I don't know about the rest of you but I would start cutting off contact with folks who own this film. If you walk into a house and see this on the shelf leave immediately. Run far far away from this film while you still have a chance.
  
  
• Depressing... still depressing
  By A1DH23YSPKQAJ0 on 2006-12-09
  This movie really depressed me. Even though I am sure there are families very similar to the family portrayed in Little Miss Sunshine... I honestly thought it might be more like the old Shirley Temple movies. I guess they just don't make movies like that anymore. I would much rather see Shirley Temple tap her way down the stair case with Bo Jangles... If you don't want to know the ending stop reading now... In the end, the grandfather turns out to be a dirty old man that teaches his granddaughter how to strip for her talent in the Little Miss Sunshine pagent. He dies, and they cart him around in the back of their broken down van. If you have been sexually abused or mistreated as a child, or know someone who has been, or just a concerned parent or adult, I think you will take great offense at this movie. Women and girls have been exploited enough, without it warrenting some disfunctanal approval, just because it was rated R. It only shows what a sad state this world is coming to, when this type of movie is even made and nominated... if it was meant to depress people and to prove that children aren't safe with grandpa or dirty old mean, it accomplished it. Grandpa isn't teaching your child to fish, play T Ball, tie their shoes, learn the names of the Presidents, States and Capitals, or even how to count out change, balance a check book, or to keep your elbows off the table and chew with your mouth close... he's teaching your little girl how to strip. this rates a five star ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh...
  
  
  
• this movie bites
  By A2L66BVQHZEVFF on 2006-12-20
  When are people going to get tired of indie grotesques? This is "quirky" taken to its logical conclusion -- a family of gimmicks, offered up for our derision. This is shallow, gutless filmmaking.
  
  
• A bit overrated...
  By A366KQ8EFDONP5 on 2007-01-03
  My boyfriend assured me this was going to be my new favorite movie. I knew virtually nothing else about it beforehand.
  
  By the end, I was utterly disappointed. This movie keeps slamming its audience with a stream of mishaps and disasters, many of which are unrealistic (made moreso by the fact that they all occur in a 2-day period). Of course I was expecting a very creative, uplifting and satisfying ending to redeem all of the suffering.
  
  ---Spoiler?---
  What I got was a completely proposterous, silly, outrageous event which was supposed to unite the family in the bonds of social deviance. It didn't make me laugh, it made me cringe. No little girl would be so naive as to be COMPLETELY unaware of how inappropriate her routine was. She wouldn't have continued the routine while people stared in awe, booed, shrieked, and chased her around the stage.
  
  Olive is just WAY too hollow in this movie. She is never affected by anything around her. *I* would have been at that age! The central character of a movie should be deeper than that. I would have liked to see her react to her family's trials. If the movie would have taken the dad's effect on her a bit further than a transient "Dad hates losers" and her studying her reflection once, it would have interested me much more.
  
  This movie left me feeling disappointed and empty. What was the message? "F**k beauty pageants," as Dwayne said?
  
  PLEASE stop overrating this film! It's fine, watchable, but it isn't the best movie of the year!!!
  
  
  
  
• EXCEPT FOR THE YELLOW VW BUS, NOT A LOT OF SUNSHINE IN THIS SUNDANCE WINNER
  By A1C80B497LCYKA on 2007-02-20
  First, I read the script by Michael Arndt, which I found to be intelligent and interesting; but not great and only marginally funny.
  
  Then I watched the movie by husband and wife team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. They added a lot to the script visually; but many of their decisions were based on time and budget constraints, which caused them to pare down some of the more important scenes of the film, making it less impacting. Like the beauty pageant: in the script, it was much bigger, more outlandish and more climactic. Or Frank and Dwayne's trip to the beach: the script had them taking surfboards far out from shore, causing one to wonder what they really had in mind (another suicide attempt?) and coming back wearing "Loser" T-shirts. The directors pared that down to a trip to the end of a pier. Many of the comic effects (like double-takes and revealing glances) were ignored, and many of the funnier lines were spoken so nonchalantly and sotto voce that they were virtually thrown away.
  
  The best character in the story was the yellow VW bus. After that, Abigail Breslin as Olive and Greg Kinnear as Richard were good; Toni Collette as Sheryl and Alan Arkin as Grandpa were okay; Paul Dano and Steve Carell were disappointingly miscast and could have passed as corpses through most of the film. None of these were Oscar-winning performances, nor should this have been a Best Picture nominee. The directors took this script and tried to make it a cross between the outlandishly funny, off-the-wall comedy RAISING ARIZONA, and the more serious black comedy AMERICAN BEAUTY - and it didn't work. What they ended up with was a quirky and weird little film that is fairly entertaining but not particularly funny. I think Hollywood is so enthralled with their own quirkiness and weirdness that they interpret anything quirky and weird as being funny and great entertainment. Now, I like quirky, but I draw the line at weird.
  
  What could have been a good story about false values - dividing the world between winners and losers, with child beauty pageants as the example of that idea taken to extremes - ended up getting lost in all the quirkiness and weirdness, time constraints and budget limitations. You know something is wrong when the directors don't know how to end the film. They have four different endings on the DVD, none of them what scriptwriter Michael Arndt had in mind, and none of them good. Some are downright lame. The fact that this film won at Sundance does not make it a great film. Other films have won in the past and gone on to obscurity, among them SPITFIRE GRILL, which in 1996 got tremendous praise but today very few people have even heard of.
  
  When films like this get raised to the status of Best Picture Nominee, you know the year was not a particularly good one.
  
  Waitsel Smith
  
  
• Highly contrived movie - beware the hype!
  By A1UU3S6JPOGAHI on 2007-03-02
  I realize that many people enjoyed this movie, but to me it was very lame and highly contrived. Of course, each family member had to have their own distinct level of wierdness, but are any of them actually believable? A grandpa who does heroin and swears all the time? A teenager who hates everyone and yet spends almost a year without talking in order to show discipline (was that the reason?) because he wants to join the armed services? A little girl who is reserved and full of self doubt, who then strips off her clothes and pretends to grind in front of a room full of people? (As if any of the Miss America contestants she was watching at the beginning of the film would have ever come close to behaving this way)
  
  And what about the situations? The grandpa death scene and carrying him around in the bus is directly stolen from "Vacation", while the cop's reaction to porn in the backseat (completely ignoring the lumpy dead body) is absolutely ridiculous. The problems with the VW is also too obviously thrown in to make the trip even more difficult and "hilarious". Oh, so now they have to push it and run in every time they want to drive? Oh, and now to make it even more "funny" let's make the horn on the VW continuously honk! Don't forget to repeat the joke of crashing through gates since the car cannot be stopped! So lame. Oh, and by the way, I get the message of the movie and give it one star for that, but the manipulation of characters and situations is annoying.
  
  
• Sorry everybody, but this one's a complete loser
  By A312ZUDR6X3HT0 on 2007-03-15
  A better title would have been Little Miss Useless Flogging of the Fbomb. Boring, offensive, and unoriginal. I could hardly make it all the way through. To award Alan Arkin an oscar for his performance is an insult to any moviegoer's intelligence. Although I recognized and appreciated the "type" each character was intended to portray, none were compelling enough to keep my attention. I was too embarrassed to have this DVD in my collection, so I scratched it up with a knife and chucked it in the trash.
  
  
• A Bumpy Ride for the Hoovers Makes for a Thorough Enjoyable Character-Driven Comedy
  By A13E0ARAXI6KJW on 2006-08-07
  Road movies are a particular weakness for me, and this out-of-left-field 2006 movie is no exception. It's a charmer written by first-time screenwriter Michael Arndt about a dysfunctional family that you end up liking in spite of how they often act. Co-directed by the husband and wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, this uproarious comedy obviously benefits from both perspectives in balancing the satirical elements with the subtleties of the character arcs in the Hoover family as we follow them in their dilapidated Volkswagen van.
  
  The plot revolves around seven-year old Olive, who finds out that she is a finalist in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant to be held in Redondo Beach, California in two days. Her father Richard is a motivational speaker who wants the world to think he is the next Tony Robbins. Her grandfather has been thrown out of his retirement home for shouting expletives and snorting heroin. Her brother Dwayne reads Nietzsche and has taken a vow of silence until he gets accepted for flight training into the Air Force Academy. Her Uncle Frank, a gay academic expert at Proust, has just been released from a hospital after trying to commit suicide over his lover's abandonment. Her no-nonsense mother Sheryl tries to hold the family together through sheer will but often finds herself lost under the strained circumstances.
  
  Eerie visions of JonBenet Ramsey will come back to you when you see the pageant climax itself but not before the actors inject a great deal of humanity into their performances. Reunited after playing a divorcing couple in 2001's "Dinner with Friends", Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette show their expertise in portraying a marriage in trouble. With a wariness corrupting his usual preppy veneer, Kinnear brings out the nasty edge of a resentful man unable to fulfill his ambitions. Collette continues to impress with her unique combination of sharp intelligence and visceral emotionalism. As Frank, Steve Carell shows a surprising ability for gravitas that his Frat Pack cronies have not yet exhibited. Veteran actor Alan Arkin is a welcome presence as Grandpa, and looking appropriately Goth-like, Paul Dano is hilariously dead-eyed as Dwayne.
  
  Abigail Breslin is an unaffected joy as Olive, and she makes the most of the talent competition in the film's most winning moments. There are also memorable bits from Paula Newsome as a curt grief counselor; Beth Grant as a snippy, bouffant-headed pageant official; and Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe from "24") showing her trademark perturbed look as a contest assistant. There are some contrived moments, for example, the chance encounter between Frank and his lover in the convenience store or the free-wheeling freeway exit contortions, when reality is sacrificed for dramatic effect. On the whole, however, this idiosyncratic road movie is well worth the ride share.
  
  
• The worst film of 2006
  By on 2006-11-13
  I will not be surprised if Abigail Breslin gets the Razzie this year for Worst Supporting Actress. I was very pleased to read that Alan Arkin only accepted this role because of the large amount of money they offered him. Carell talking about Proust is about as believable as Paul Dano's tearful breakdown near the end of this movie. There was nothing to like about this movie and nothing original about this movie either. If I had to pick one movie to define the Myspace generation, this would be it.
  
  

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