Little Miss Sunshine
When a pudgy, bespectacled seven-year-old, Olive (Abigail Breslin), voices her desire to take home the coveted Little Miss Sunshine crown at an upcoming beauty pageant, her wildly dysfunctional family sets out on an interstate road trip to ensure her a clear shot at realizing her dreams in former music video directorial team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' quirky feature debut, starring Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, and Toni Collette. Despite early career success as an outspoken motivational speaker, family patriarch Richard (Kinnear) continues to cling to his "Refuse to Lose" philosophy, much to the chagrin of his increasingly annoyed spouse, Sheryl (Collette). Add into the mix a Nietzsche-reading teenage son (Paul Dano) who has taken a vow of silence until he finds his fate as a fighter pilot; a horny, heroin-happy grandfather (Alan Arkin) with a penchant for creative profanity; and a suicidal genius (Carell) and Proust scholar still reeling about losing both his male lover and his MacArthur Foundation genius grant -- and the stage is set for a road trip in which sanity is sure to take the back seat. more..
Director: Jonathan Dayton
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin
Sly, near-perfect comedy.
What makes husband-and-wife directing team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' hilarious debut such a great family film isn't that it's suitable for the whole family (it's not), but that it speaks a simple truth about what it means to be part of one.
While the film itself isn't perfect, who cares about perfection in the face of abundant life, authentic screwiness and lovely surprises by the busload?
It has been a while since we've seen such a consistently funny and entertaining road movie.
It looks at the all-American obsession with winning and chortles darkly. You still come out of the movie wanting to give your family a hug.
Movie of the Year
AFI Awards (2007)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Academy Awards (2007)
Best Foreign Film
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Argentina (2007)
Best Edited Feature Film - Comedy or Musical
American Cinema Editors (2007)
Best Foreign Film, Not in the Spanish Language (Mejor Película Extranjera)
Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards (2007)
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