Little Miss Sunshine

This movie has been one of my favorites since i was a young teen. Funny as could be and has a good story to tell.

It's a great movie and well worth it

very nice

At the beginning of "Little Miss Sunshine", everyone seems to be floating in a kind of Proustian soup--a fact marked by the screenwriters when they make one of the ensemble cast, Frank,who has just lost his lover and attempted suicide "the world's #1 Proust scholar". The three adult male members--Frank, the uncle (Steve Carell), father Richard (Greg Kinnear), and Richard's father (Alan Arkin, "Grandpa"), come at us with eyes full of a sense of a life somehow gone off the track, much as little Olive, the title character, bounces cheerily in with eyes full of hope and dreams. Paul Dano, as teenage Dwayne, in a vow of silence that allows his character to play the tortured adolescent brilliantly by showing no affect whatsoever and through scribbled notes like "Welcome to Hell" and "Please don't kill yourself tonight", still hangs on to two dreams--getting away from his family, and being a test pilot for the Air Force. Mom Sheryl (Toni Colette), quirky in her own way, ("Olive, you can be fat or thin, whichever you want,") is the glue that seems to hold this bunch together.When Olive gets a chance to participate in the finals of a beauty contest in another state, the family pack up in the yellow VW van. On the way, dad keeps in touch with the guru who's supposed to get his first book off the ground, of which he told mom "This is it," an apparent promise to get his office out of her kitchen. He excitedly shares his "9 Step" self help program to everyone. Grandpa, who has been helping Olive with the "talent" part of her performance, sneaks into the bathroom to snort some of the cocaine that got him kicked out of the retirement home and into the Hoovers' household. Frank seems to be growing comfortable with this quirky family of his sister's, particularly Dwayne.But before they reach the Redondo Beach hotel where the pageant takes place, losses or the poignant memories knock the wind out of each of the yellow, sunshiny bus's passengers. Painful (and expensive) as these problems threaten to be, no one suggests turning back.Once in Redondo Beach, afraid the pageant is not for Olive, they are tempted to "protect" her from her own dream. After all, they've all just been a little bruised, they don't want her to feel such pain. But instead, they find a way to temper the consequences of living those dreams out, a little. In doing so, they craft a last scene full of all the comedic command of Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, an up and coming little Abigail Breslin, other members of this stupendous cast, and a certain funky number by the late Rick James.*********DVD EXTRASThis DVD is worthwhile in that the directors' and writers' comments are helpful in understanding the film. I'm surprised to hear, for example, that the directors thought the scene with Frank (Steve Carell) in the convenience store (no spoilers, sorry) would be funny. It will break your heart--as will the one scene where Dwayne does become emotional. The camera technique used by having a camera in the back and front of the bus (and several different busses) gave more of a sense of what the crew and cast were going through on this low-budget film: clearly a labor of love.Don't get too excited over the 4 alternate endings. 1 of them is Abigail Breslin's (Olive) ending, "with Abigail Breslin directing" and you can pretty much guess the 2 minute ending she would have liked. It's funny, but it was never seriously considered.

The timing of the film's theatrical release with the latest bombshell about the JonBenet case is practically uncanny. However, as a viewing of the DVD will plainly show, the satiric critique of the Little Miss Living Doll beauty pageants is relatively contained, occupying the last 20 minutes, though the point is unmistakable. The ultra polished, talented contestants against whom the film's slightly pudgy and awkward hero, Olive, competes aren't so much little girls as miniature Las Vegas show queens, coached in seductive eye use and sexy posturing. How ironic that the manager of the beauty contest is scandalized by Olive, whose "improper" strip tease, taught to her by her grandfather, doesn't contain a hint of seduction or sexuality.Olive's quest to be a beauty queen appears to align her with other members of her family. Her obtuse, self-programmed father, who preaches #1 or none, wants to be a published authority on positive thinking and winning. Her suicidal, sensitive, gay uncle wants to be recognized as the world's #1 Proust scholar. Her introverted, tormented and driven brother wants to be a jet pilot in his own private Nietzschean world. Toni Collette as the mom, on the other hand, is the model of tolerance and forebearance, a supportive "gamer" whose ability to eat ice cream without guilt fortunately has a more profound effect on her daughter than the father's insistence on winning at any cost.By the end of the film, our family of losers ultimately emerge as true winners. Alan Arkin, as the profane patriarchal grandfather, provides the film's enduring wisdom, counseling both his son and granddaughter (Abigail Breslin deserves a supporting actress award for this scene alone) before his death about the importance of simply living life to the fullest. A real winner, he tells the family, is someone "who's not so afraid of losing he's afraid to try." It's not the destination that matters; it's the trip. And the film literally offers one hell of a ride. Apart from some raw language, this is a family film recommended for all dysfunctional families who enjoy crying as much as laughing together.At the same time, thanks to inventive scripting and directing, this little gem transcends the "family film" genre, providing moments of subtlety, nuance, and genuine "life." The very different, often ambivalent, responses of various members of the pageant to Olive's performance suggest that not everyone buys into the Little Miss America mentality. And again the mom is the one member of the family who has sufficient confidence in her daughter to sense that the men's concern about Olive's being "laughed at" speaks less about Olive than their own childish fears and self-consciousness.Finally, by making Grandpa the unlikely voice of wisdom, the film takes on universal, life-affirming resonance. "Little Miss Sunshine" counters our tendency to see living merely as a "means" to some distant end or goal. Often the means needs no justification: being fully alive in the here and now can be the biggest prize of all.Count this one is an all-around winner--an entertaining, formulaic movie with enough twists, vitality, heart, and thought to almost atone for all of those long, dull "Talledega Nights" which moviegoers increasingly have to endure as part of their desensitizing training.

A mio parere una delle commedie italiane più belle. Ironico e drammatico. Una lezione sulla diversità da far vedere a tutti gli adolescenti. Una famiglia allargata perfetta.

This is one of the best comedy-dramas I have seen in my life. A perfect cast and a great road trip..This movie will put a wide smile to your face.. Don't miss.5 Stars

Little Miss Sunshine is an appropriate title for a film which burst onto the independent cinema screens like a surprising, welcome and thoroughly enjoyable slice of art-house comedy. This is a tightly written, well scripted, excellently acted and hilarious film, at turns darkly and self-assuredly black and then riotously slapstick and self deprecating.The storyline centres around the trans-American adventures of a less than ordinary American family. With Transamerica, the unconventional road trip is obviously the comedy medium of choice in the independent cinema world. The film's very own Little Miss Sunshine is the gloriously unglamorous, vivacious and joyous Olive (Abigail Breslin), the youngest of the family. She wins the opportunity to attend the final of the Little Miss Sunshine pageant after the state winner is disqualified for diet pill abuse.This should send warning bells for the type of contest she is entering. This is the very dark, very disturbing world of American beauty contest. Eventually the truth is revealed, but first the family have to get there. This involves the suffering rock-like figure of the mom Sheyl (Toni Collette) and the can-do go getting, but ultimately failing author of a self-help book and seminar, the nine steps, dad Richard (Greg Kinnear) eschewing air travel for cost reasons, and loading the family in to a VW camper van.Along for the ride, and in perfect comedy unison, is the drug snorting, care-home evicted grandfather (whose eventual death provides the central slapstick, and whose last gift is a dance routine for the talent segment of the show that has to be seen to be believed), the mute, difficult teenage brother, who hates the world, his family and loves Nietzsche, and just wants to escape to flying school. Sheryl's brother is also brought, mostly because after a failed suicide attempt he can not be left alone. He provides much of the dry, darker humour that is very reminiscent of the best of the Royal Tennenbaums. He is a homosexual expert on Proust, who grates against the dad but eventually seems to come back around to enjoying life on the trip.The film is at once a wonderfully life-affirming slice of an atypical American family, and a refreshing change from the dysfunctional middle-class families that have obsessed Hollywood for the past decade. It is also a masterpiece of characterisation and casting. The characters are honed to comic perfection, and the casting of each actor and actress is a masterpiece for the roles. Of especial note and perfection is Breslin as Olive. To find a child actor so able to play this role without self consciousness or precocity makes her extremely endearing and an easy character to root for in the bizarre world of child beauty pageants. But each of the other main characters is also extremely well executed.The darkest elements of the film come in the portrayal of the pageants. They seem to suggest a sickness at the heart of middle America, where these children, none older than eight, are sprayed, preened, brushed and made up to be like miniature dolls. They wear their sickly smiles, their horribly suggestive outfits and are paraded in a pageant that features the oddly paedophilic compare and the horrendously competitive mothers.In short this is an extremely enjoyably film, and it would do it a massive disservice to simply label it as `feel good', but it does have this effect. Together with a brilliantly talented cast and a tight, wonderfully executed script this makes the surprise comedy hit of the year.

I heard about this movie years ago and upon viewing a preview of this film, made it's purchase.An outstanding cast in an unusual mix of family problems and seemingly unrealistic goals in their daily circumstances.Many laughs along the way are an extra reward for your taking the time to view it! Excellent.

PROLOG: es gibt sie, die Filme, die einfach gemacht werden müssen. Die uns eine Welt, eine Familie, verschiedene Menschen, die zusammenleben, so oder so... mit einige Katastrophen und viel Herz zeigen. Und mit denen wir uns trotz der etwas ge­wöh­nungs­be­dürf­tiger Art sogar identifizieren können. Meistens jedenfalls.Wir alle, naja, fast alle kennen eine Familie Hoover, sind ihr zum Teil etwas ähnlich. Das Leben könnte so schön vorprogrammiert sein, aber? Wer hat unser Programm geklaut? Auch der neue Computer wird uns keine Lösung bringen - wir sind nur Menschen. Und die im Film eben auch!ZU DEM INHALT: Richard Hoover (Greg Kinnear) ist ein Motivations - Coach, der eine, so glaubt er, perfekte Methode für die Gewinner entwickelt hat (kein Mensch will ein Verlierer sein!). In NEUN Schritten kann man schnell vom Loser zu einem Erfolgsmann/frau werden. Er glaubt fest daran, dass sein Buch ein Erfolg wird und ruft mehrmals am Tag seinen Verleger an.Seine Frau, Sheryl (Toni Collette) ist vor allem eine müde und fast ausgelaugte Hausfrau, Mutter, Schwester und Schwiegertochter. Mit zwei Kindern, dem Sohn (aus der früheren Beziehung), Dwayne (Paul Dano) und der Tochter Olive (Abigail Breslin,) hat sie genug Arbeit. Seit einiger Zeit lebt im Hause Hoover noch ihr Schwiegervater Edwin (Alan Arkin), der aus dem Altesheim rausgeflogen ist - er hat einfach zu viele Drogen genommen (und mit dem S*** hatte er auch noch zu tun gehabt, hm).Und als dann noch ihr Bruder, Frank Ginsburg (Steve Carell) einen Selbstmordversuch verübt, ist sie nur noch fertig. Sie muß ihn aus dem Krankenhaus holen und aufpassen, dass er am Leben bleibt.Zuhause bei den Hoover's kann, ganz normal nach alldem trotzdem eine besondere Stimmung, ein ungewöhnliches Bild beobachten. Dwayne spricht seit NEUN Monate kein Wort. Er ist um 15-16 Jahre jung, liebt Nietzsche (ob er ihn versteht, bleibt offen - vielleicht hat er einige Passagen von dem Philosophen zu ernst genommen); und möchte erst dann wieder sprechen, wenn man ihm erlaubt, dass er Pilot wird. Man wundert sich, wie leicht er mit einem Stift und Notizblock kommuniziert. Übung, eben. Und jetzt muß er mit seinem Onkel Frank aushalten - im selben Zimmer, weil seine Mutter Angst hat, Frank würde wieder was anstellen. Er hat zwar überlebt, aber seinen Job an der Universität hat er verloren. Und seine Sympathie, einen Studenten auch.Am Abend ist die Familie versammelt, die Mutter kann noch etwas Salat machen, sonst essen sie aus einem "Eimer" (anders kann man das nicht bezeichnen) Hähnchen, frittiert, nicht gerade DIE ultimative und gesundeste Kost.Olive, sieben Jahre hat einen großen Wunsch. Sie möchte noch einmal bei einem Schönheitswettbewerb dabei sein. Und gewinnen! Das Glück kommt unverhofft; als Zweite in New Mexico, darf sie nach Kalifornien, weil die Erste disqualifiziert wurde (warum auch immer).Der Weg ist nun FREI, wenn die Familie sie begleiten kann, oder wenn wenigstens eine/r mitkommt. Am besten ALLE! Die Laune ist für die Fahrt nicht so wichtig, es gibt größere Probleme.Die Familie rafft sich zusammen und es geht los. Der gelbe VW-Bus fährt und fährt. Die Fahrt ist eine harte Prüfung. Die Kupplung von dem Wagen ist - kaputt, so muß man den Wagen zuerst schieben und dann laufen, um ihn nicht zu "verpassen". Die Eltern schreien, es wird gestritten, die Schuldigen werden gesucht...Olive hört ihre Musik, Frank versucht mit Dwayne "zu sprechen", der Großvater hat sein Heroin zum Glück bei sich. Und als ihm Frank noch wunderschöne Zeitschriften kauft, die seine Augen erfreuen, ist wenigstens seine Welt in Ordnung.Doch die Familie wird noch viele Schläge ertragen müssen, bevor sie in Los Angeles ankommen. Sie werden den Großvater in einem komischen "Kleid" herumfahren. Dwayne erfährt, dass es sich nicht gelohnt hat zu schweigen - er ist farbenblind und kann sowieso nicht Pilot werden (oder?). Und Frank sieht, wie seine Liebe "seine Ideen" über Proust veröffentlich hat. Er hat ihn gleich zweimal verraten. Richard erfährt, dass sein Programm nichts besonderes ist.Alles verloren? Nein - denn Olive hat noch ihren Auftritt. Neben kleinen Prinzessinnen, die auf Lolita's machen, ist sie ein pummeligee Mädchen mit der Brille und glatten Haaren. Und nicht geschminkt - oh, schrecklich! Doch der Opa hat mit ihr geübt und was daraus geworden ist - es ist eine Wonne, das Mädchen zu sehen - und die Menschen um sie.Abigail Breslin, die Olive gespielt hat, war bei den Dreharbeiten 9 Jahre jung. Sie wurde für den Oscar nominiert (die Nebenrolle - vielleicht ist es besser, dass sie ihn nicht bekommen hat, Oscar und Kinder - keine gute Verbindung!). Sie spielt so gut, dass man nur hofft, sie würde ihr Talent behalten. Alan Arkin, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano...eigentlich spielt jeder aus der "Hoover-Familie" perfekt.Ob sie nur spielen, fragt man sich, ob sie ihre Erinnerungen hineinbringen. Warum nicht?Wie geschrieben, ist Familie Hoover wirklich chaotisch, alles geht drum und dran. Man hat aus einer großen Portion Humor, aber auch Zynismus eine Geschichte gemacht, die uns alle betrifft. Wir freuen uns, dass wir nicht alles auf einmal erleben müssen.Ein Film, den man mehr als einmal sehen kann...5 Sterne, oder etwas weniger - aber für die Selbstironie ist der letzte Stern berechtigt.