Think your family is dysfunctional? Take a road trip in a beat-up yellow VW bus with the Hoover family on their way to the Little Miss Sunshine Pagent. Along for the ride is Richard (Kinnear), a motivational speaker who believes he is on the verge of a book deal; his cantankerous father (Arkin), who was kicked out of his retirement community for snorting heroin; Dwayne (Paul Dano), a Nietzsche-reading teenager who hates everyone and has taken a vow of silence; Olive (Abigail Breslin), a plain-looking, chubby 7-year old who dreams of being a beauty queen; Sheryl (Collette), the harried mother who is deperate to keep everything together; and Frank (Carell), Sheryl's suicidal brother who regards himself as "the country's most highly regarded Proust scholar." "This indie, a sweet, tart and smart satire about a family of losers in a world obsessed with winning, is an authentic crowd pleaser. There's been no more satisfying American comedy this year." (Newsweek) More at www2.foxsearchlight.com/littlemisssunshine
2006, color, 1 hour 41 minutes, USA