Genre:
Comedy Drama
Theatrical Release: 07/26/2006(USA
Release Date: 01/01/2001
Flags: Adult Situations, Adult Humor, Profanity, Sexual Situations, Drug Content
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. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide