Little Miss Sunshine was written in 2006 won 2 Oscars and another 40 wins & 43 nominations and not surprisingly why. It took 5 years to bring "Little Miss Sunshine" Indie comedy to the screen. The film was directed by the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The film was produced by Big Beach Films on a budget of US$8 million. The film starred Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin, Toni Collette, and Steve Carell.This was a fantastic film that my husband and I really enjoyed. We found Little Miss Sunshine original, different, fun and unique.

Description of Film
In Albuquerque the housewife brings her suicidal brother home to meet the dysfunctional family. Frank is homosexual and loves looking at porn magazines. The little girl wins a place in a beauty pageant and the family embark in an interesting family trip in an attempt to get the little girl to the pageant on time.

The film makes you laugh out loud my husband and I had a great laugh at some of the families antics even if some of them were cringe worthy. Such as stealing the Grandfather's dead body from the hospital so the little girl could get to the pageant on time. Fox Searchlight bid ten million for distribution rights and it is no surprise why. This film is one of those that will live in your memory. Even if the funny moments are a little over the top the acting is great and very believable. What makes this film so great is that even though the characters are over the top they are still real personalities that we can relate with. They have their little habits, foibles and quirks that make them just like one of us. This really is where the humor lies in the fact that despite everything going wrong for these people you can relate to them.

When you watch this film you realize the work that has gone into building the characters that form the Hoover family. Each person in this family has a history and a story of how they got there. Even though it is just a 3 day road trip their lives extend past this 3 days and it is obvious that each one has a story to tell. The actors work well together and there feels an almost instant bond between them. The acting ability of each character comes across in the film. The characters are funny, but yet you also feel sorry for them.

Abigail Breslin, Olive is the 9 year old little girl who is the star of the beauty pageant. Paul Dano plays Dwayne a surly teenage nephew who is currently obsessed with the writing of German philosopher Frederich Nietzsche he writes everything down on a note pad until one day on the road trip he eventually bursts and everything about how he is feeling comes out. This is brought on by Frank who tells Dwayne that he is colour blind and will never be able to fly an aeroplane like he wants to. This is an extremely poignant moment, but also highly amusing as he slag's the family off for being losers. The bumpy ride in the back of a broken down VW bus brings the family close together despite their fall outs.

There are moments throughout this film where you will be in hysterics, but you also suddenly switch to moments that are very sad and emotional. Sheryl Hoover is the mother and Richard Hoover is her husband. The humour borders on sarcasm at times and certainly brightens the film up. All the way through the film the family have little looks at each other or little moves that make it all the more real. They really work well together and sometimes I wonder whether it is because of the director team being husband and wife. They bring a lot of realism to the film.

I found one funny moment when the horn was stuck and it kept sounding so the police followed them. At this stage they had stolen the Grandfather's dead body from the hospital in an attempt to get Olive to the beauty pageant on time. The family thought the police would find the dead body and stop them going to the beauty pageant they had traveled so far to attend. The father turns round to everyone and tells them to be normal. This made me laugh because the family is anything but, normal. So the father pulls over and the police man questions him. The father keeps looking at the boot of the car which gives the police man reason to look in the boot. The father opens the boot at which stage some porn magazines fall out of Franks pocket and the police man finds them. The police man looks through them admiring the pictures and tells the father his secret is safe with him at which stage the police man lets him off and tells him to get on his way. Fortunately for the family the police man is so pleased with the porn magazines he doesn't see the dead body. It is humor like this that makes the film alive.

Another funny moment is when they get to the hotel crash landing into the car park and the door of the battered bus they have been traveling in falls off. As they reach the lady who is booking people in they are told they are late because they didn't get there before 3 0 clock. They are only 4 minutes late. Fortunately after the father getting down on his knees a gentleman named Mr. Kirby decides to put them in the system. They reach the dressing rooms as they are doing the final touch ups.

I felt really nervous when Olive went on the stage because I didn't want the other girls to laugh at her. I thought it was a little strange when she stripped off, but she had clothes underneath. When the rest of the family went on the stage with her it was really funny and an amazing moment in the film.

In conclusion I thought this was a heart warming tale of a family who each had their own problems, but through it all they stayed close together. It reminds us that even if we are different or have problems we can still get by in this world no matter what.

20th Century Fox present Little Miss Sunshine. Written by Michael Arndt. Running Time: 101 minutes. Rated R for language, some sex and drug content. Release Date: Dec. 19, 2006

Director:

Jonathan Dayton &
Valerie Faris

Cast:

Abigail Breslin:Olive Hoover
Greg Kinnear:Richard Hoover
Paul Dano:Dwayne
Alan Arkin:Grandpa Edwin Hoover
Toni Collette:Sheryl Hoover
Steve Carell:Frank

The film is presented widescreen 2.35:1
The film is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround.
Extras:

Commentary directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris: They talk about the film in their own words. They tell you interesting facts about the film, but it isn't very entertaining.

Commentary directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and writer Michael Arndt: I didn't really see the need for two commentary's. If you like them then you might like this, but two? I don't really see the need.

4 Alternate Endings with optional commentary by directors Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris. The endings are quite interesting and creative and they show that the correct one was chosen for the film.