Little Miss Sunshine
Comedy, Drama
20th Century Fox  (2006) 103 mins R

8.1 (112,605 votes) Top 250: #220
Take a hilarious ride with the Hoovers, one of the most endearingly fractured families in comedy history.

Father Richard (Greg Kinnear) is desperately trying to sell his motivational success program...with no success. Meanwhile, "pro-honesty" mom Sheryl (Toni Collette) lends support to her eccentric family, including her depressed brother (Steve Carell), fresh out of the hospital after being jilted by his lover. Then there are the younger Hoovers - the seven-year-old, would-be beauty queen Olive (Abigail Breslin) and Dwayne (Paul Dano), a Nietzsche-reading teen who has taken a vow of silence. Topping off the family is the foul-mouthed grandfather (Alan Arkin), whose outrageous behavior recently got him evicted from his retirement home.

When Olive is invited to compete in the "Little Miss Sunshine" pageant in far-off California, the family piles into their rusted-out VW ...

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Cast and Crew
Greg Kinnear  ......  Richard Hoover
Toni Collette  ......  Sheryl Hoover
Abigail Breslin  ......  Olive Hoover
Alan Arkin  ......  Grandpa Edwin Hoover
Steve Carell  ......  Frank Ginsberg
Paul Dano  ......  Dwayne
Director  .....  Valerie Faris; Jonathan Dayton
Producer  .....  David T. Friendly; Albert Berger; Michael Beugg
Writer  .....  Michael Arndt
Notes
Goofs:
Errors in geography: In the beginning of the movie as they head out to LA, the highway marker says East I10. They should be going on West I10. (more)

Trivia:
Dwayne is actually from a previous marriage of Sheryl's. She says toward the beginning "he visited his dad in Florida", and a wedding photo is shown with him in it, but much younger. Olive however is not, because her last name is Hoover, the same as her father's. (more)

Filming Locations:
Chandler, Arizona, USA (more)

Quotes:
[first lines]
Richard: There are two kinds of people in this world, winners and losers.
(more)

Awards:
Won 2 Oscars. Another 41 wins & 46 nominations (more)