Little Miss Sunshine (R, 2006)

common sense media says

Ride along to dysfunction in quirky indie comedy.


parents & educators say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this family road trip movie includes sexual slang and references to drugs, mostly by the grandfather. Pornographic magazines (only the covers are shown) and a comedic striptease figure into the plot. Characters discuss depression and suicide (Uncle Frank has cut his wrists before the movie starts; his bandages are visible). There are conversations about "winning" and "losing," as measured by financial success. A character dies about halfway through the film; the family wraps up his body and carries it in their van to their destination. Characters curse (several "f--k"s), and the mother smokes a couple of cigarettes.

Positive messages: Family members argue, lie to each other, discuss suicide, sex, and death. But they also comfort each other and support each other when it really counts.
Violence: References to suicide (Frank's cut wrists/bandages are visible, and Dwayne threatens to kill himself); some slapsticky antics; a character dies in his sleep, and the body plays a role in the rest of the movie.
Sex: Grandfather alludes to sexual desire and acts; Frank purchases porn magazines (gay and straight); Olive's suggestive performance at the pageant (taught to her by her grandfather) upsets the pagent officials. A character is gay.
Language: Around 10 "f--k"s, as well as other mild profanity.
Consumerism: Mostly references to or brief shots of food products (fried chicken, Sprite, McDonald's, Burger King, Coca-Cola), plus Miata, Volkswagen.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking: Sheryl smokes cigarettes; Grandpa refers to cocaine and heroin use and is shown snorting drugs once.

More on Little Miss Sunshine

What to talk about

Talk to your kids
Families can talk about the way the Hoovers come to respect one another's differences. How does young Olive remind the adults of their lack of faith, innocence, and commitment? How does the beauty pageant serve as a metaphor for other competitions in the film -- say, between family members? How might Richard be more open to his family's needs, rather than trying to make them conform to his? Why do you think this movie -- a little indie discovered at the Sundance Film Festival -- did so well with audiences? What's it's appeal?

What's the story?

What's the story?
The Hoover family decides to make the trip from Albuquerque to Southern California after starry-eyed daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin) unexpectedly scores a spot in the regional Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. The whole clan -- sunny Olive; anxious mom Sheryl (Toni Collette); aspiring motivational speaker dad Richard (Greg Kinnear); feisty, drug-using Grandpa (Alan Arkin); cynical teen Dwyane (Paul Dano); and gay, suicidal Proust scholar Uncle Frank (Steve Carell) -- piles into their old yellow Volkswagen bus (which has become the movie's signature image) and hits the road. Naturally, that road is full of all kinds of obstacles -- including car trouble, lots of bickering, and even an unexpected death. But in the process of working together to help Olive make it to the pageant, the Hoovers come to understand each other anew ... or at least appreciate the fact that no one else could possibly understand them except each other.

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 
It's true that the family road trip comedy isn't exactly a new genre; nor are quirky indie movies about dysfunctional families all that hard to come by. But somehow LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE manages to combine the two into something fresh, engaging, and often hysterically funny -- with a dash of "aw shucks" poignancy to boot. There's nothing radically new in terms of storytelling or character development, but the film nonetheless succeeds thanks to its excellent cast (husband-and-wife directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris lucked out, casting Carell just before he hit it really big with The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and funny, tight script. There aren't any wasted moments in this movie; even the smallest action -- Frank buying the dirty magazines, for example -- turns out to matter down the line.

And then there's the finale. Ever since Little Miss Sunshine premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival (and was purchased for a record $10.5 million), the big beauty pageant finish has been making audiences laugh until they cry -- which is pretty much how the Hoovers seem to approach life in general, so it all works out in the end.

Movie themes & details

Movie Details
Studio: Fox Searchlight
Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Cast: Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 101 minutes
Theatrical release: July 26, 2006
DVD release: December 19, 2006
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA explanation: for language, some sex and drug content
Watch our review

This review was written by Betsy Bozdech
 
 

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What parents & educators say

12

Most useful reviews by all members

JasonSheerinFitz
teen, 16 years old
 
SEXY but sometimes a bad influence
i dont really watch this movie much but i suppose it the best acclaimed film in history. however the grandfather is just a negative cacussion stereotype, frank is a spoilt arabic like person who threatens to kill himself and pleasure himself to graphic sex. the little girl is a sex god. the teenage guy with black hair is a jerk and the father is a person who cares only about getting to the pajent and winning. but overall this movie counts better then that okay movie based on beavis and butthead. the environment however is hot and reminds me of the weather outside my house sometimes. my final opinion is that this movie is the best in the world and they should make a sequel. even though it may not be appropriate for young kids

laurel1234
teen, 17 years old
 
great movie!
i loved this! i cant belive the age thing though. i first saw this when i was 11, and i thught it was totally appropite. whoever revied this ovsliy has never been to a middle school

MRW2
kid, 8 years old
 
Perfect for kids 3+
AWESOME!

 
Dark comedy domination
This movie was very good! I watched with my older kids and we all loved it! While the morals arn't good from any character-including Olive,mainly by naivety- the family all throughly loves each other(despite an earlier line"I hate EVERYONE"). Nothing my kids don't allready know about.

uhya
teen, 13 years old
 
amazing. SUPER FREAK
excellent movie. but it has drug use, porn magazines and around 20 f--ks. one character failed in suicide. great movie though.

Jill Murphy
parent of 2 year old
 
Loved it!
I don't think teens under 14-15 would even enjoy this flick, so not much to worry about there. I LOVED this movie and while the social behavior (stealing a body, suicide attempt) is zany or serious, the message and family dynamic is a great lesson for all families. I loved it! It's a great story of family support, being yourself, and accepting who you are.

BestMovieEver
teen, 15 years old
 
:)
Nothing's A PROBLEM....maybe the sex discussion is a little crude but they'll find it out sometime! GREAT MOVIE! BEST INDIE MOVIE OF ALL TIME TIED WITH JUNO...HAHA

TacoBall
teen, 16 years old
 
Amazing movie, but inappropriate for young tweens and teens.
This isn't "just another family road trip comedy", as I thought it would be--this was DARK, QUIRKY COMEDY at its best. The acting was brilliant, the characters were unusual and the ending was touching and unpredictable (it made me cry). The grandpa said a lot of things (f-words, etc) that were probably inappropriate for younger watchers, and he used drugs, but they ended up killing him, which is a positive anti-drug message. Overall a beautiful movie, but be careful about showing even the edited-for-TV version to kids.

Dohayecarumbadoh
kid, 13 years old
 
Off 9- Iffy 10-12 On 13+
Liked it, but more in need of a PG-13 rating instead of an R one. This & Austin Powers should switch ratings. BTW, just saw it & it didn't kill me(look @ my age).

meaghanisme
kid, 11 years old
 
Fine for 10+
See, it's a great movie funny. But a 9 year old shouldnt learn how 2 do drugs and slit wrists and even know that its ok to buy porn a 9 year old shouldn't see a 10 year old dancing like shes a hooker on stage in front of people. im 10 i thought it was inappropriate but i already knew about that stuff so i was not the slightest affected. Perfect to show kids whats bad and give them a life lesson (if you do drugs you die or get hurt,plus its illegal)

tutu
adult
 
A for acting; F for values; C+ for entertainment
the tide of superficiality, coarseness and lack of conscience is pretty scary in our american culture...it continues to grow. That movie represents how far we have sunk into the coarseness and acceptance of crudity and crassness, and then some critics have the audacity to present it as comedy. Why are our young folks lacking values and direction???....well guess what, perhaps it is because we condone messages like that and don't have the courage to speak up and question others' values. It also tells us how hungry americans are for some fun and laughter ...and therefore will laugh at almost anything without thinking who it is hurting. It is NOT okay or funny when a perverted, drug addict grandfather tells his 15 year old grandson to f**k as many women as he can and when he influences his little grand daughter (who by the way, parents allowed to sleep in his room with him and did not even ask about what is he teaching her, yuck!!)...a perverted old coot who influences her by teaching her to dance in an almost lewd way so that he can thumb his nose at society...and then the family gets up on the stage and dances like she does to "save her"...guess who won? Yes, the dead Grandfather left his skewed values for us to find cute and funny. I'm sorry....that is not funny and when I have said to people "think about it" this little light of awakening seems to turn on. That family should have led her off the stage and comforted her and taken her to a dancing and acting school . I really am for happy endings and solutions. So that film leaves us with a sense of "Wow , that was funny!!" and then....wait a minute, it WAS a pretty serious subject and pretty dark. The funny part was the car and pushing it...and then that got old. When I have talked to about 7 people lately about that film , I say, tell me what was funny? And they begin to wake up and see that they are being brainwashed into condoning this. No wonder folks in other countries think we have lost it. Good theater has always been a forum for looking at good and evil and all that is in between and having good dialog...taking it to a deeper level to get past the superficial. If we Americans go down the tubes (and maybe we already have) it will be due to that lack of depth and meaning ...maybe we are trying to find it I am not afraid to try to wake up some of the younger ones before I die....and don't you be afraid either. We still have a lot of juice and people do listen.

 
Didn't like this one...
I watched this movie with an open mind, but really didn't enjoy it at all. I realize that not all movies have to have a message, but this movie wasn't funny either. A dysfunctional family (to say the least) travels across the country to have their daughter participate in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. The family was very concerned to get their daughter to the pageant on time, but only the drug addicted grandfather took the time to prepare her -- of course, a recipe for disaster. The daughter was embarassed at the end, which was "solved" in the movie by the family making complete idiots of themselves. I found no value in the movie at all -- not entertaining and a total waste of time.

MaryMay
parent of 6 and 11 year old
 

imw1984
parent of 3 year old
 
Amusing, but parental guidance needed for younger kids
IFFY 0+, ON 11+ or so. My son has seen it a few times, and didn't seem to mind it at all. That said, I wouldn't let kids watch it alone until they're 11yo or so. Several things might bring up questions that would be good to discuss. Teens however have probably already been exposed to all the things parents might object to in this movie, and would probably find this movie rather tame.

 

 
I dont get it
I really cant understand how this movie got such good reviews, I hated it from beginning to end. The only good spot in the movie was when the grandfather died, I was thinking if this could only happen to the rest of the family it would at least have a happy ending for me. One of the worst movies I have ever suffered through.

HenryRedJeanz
teen, 14 years old
 
PERFECT comedy, very quirky indie film, some iffy content
This is a great movie, with a very good cast and a FANTASTIC plot. It follows a dysfunctional family, The Hoovers, as they travel across America to get their 9 year old daughter Olive to the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant where she is due to perform. Hilarity ensues. I know lots of people who thought this was a hokey American road trip/dysfunctional family film and didn't like it, but the hilarious, quirky humour and the great acting makes it stand out from the others as a proud and quirky independent film that should be recognized! Yes, there is some non graphic discussion of sex, a character is gay, and characters buy porn magazines (one of which is for gay men.)The language is salty, there are quite a few f*cks and other less offensive language (sh*t, ass, etc), a character tries to commit suicide, a character is depressed, a character takes drugs and (SPOILERS) dies as a result of it, and a young girl performs a sexual dance at a beauty contest. Although the characters are quirky, dysfunctional and troubled, the family overccomes their problems and in the end they realize that they can work together and have fun. It's a feel good film essentially, and the acting is great too! 5 stars and on for 12+

zarasayshi
teen, 18 years old
 
loveeeddd it sosossoo muchhhh i dont think its innapprotaie for under 15s . i saw it when in was 12 hirliousssssss

force23
adult
 
If you can get by the language, you'll love it.
Despite what some have written about this movie, I loved it, and so has everyone I've talked to. The boy (Dwanye) and girl (Olive) steal the movie from some very competant actors. You really care for these people throughout the film. Grampa (Alan Arkin) is a heroin addicted, sex crazed, nut, but his love for Olive and the others comes forth by the end of the film. The father battles his own failings all the while preaching his positive thinking program. The ending is a bit on the far fetched side, especially the "talent" competition at the "Little Miss Sunshine" pagent, but thankfully it's over fairly quick. This is a can't miss movie.

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