REVIEW: Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

"Supposedly a family-road trip movie. But you’d never expect what gonna happens next."

Little Miss Sunshine is an American road-trip comedy that shatters the mold. It introduces audiences to one of the most endearingly fractured families in cinema history: the Hoovers.

Richard Hoover (Greg Kinnear), the patriach of the family, is a hopelessly optimistic motivational speaker who desperately campaigns his "nine steps program for success". His wife, Sheryl (Toni Collette), is constantly harried by her family’s eccentric secrets, especially her brother, Frank (Steve Carell), a suicidal Proust scholar fresh out of the hospital after being jilted by his gay lover. Then, there are younger Hoovers with their unlikely dreams: the four eyed, seven years old Olive (Abigail Breslin) and Dwayne (Paul Dano), a Nietzsche reading teen who buries his sound to a complete silence after being rejected by the Air Force Academy. And finally, the last but not the least, the most memorable character that paves Alan Arkin's road to win an Oscars, the oldest Hoover, grandpa Edwin; a foul mouthed, pleasure seeker, and Olive's mentor who helps her to enter Little Miss Sunshine pageant with his heroin snorting habit.

Orchestrated by visionary directors: husband-wife team Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris, with a wonderful script by the great Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3); Little Miss Sunshine is a well made, well-acted movie, that are fun to watch. With a simple plot full of hilarious twist and turns, the movie really speaks out about the importance of not to become “losers” as Richard always reiterates in the movie. Every member of the Hoovers has their own dilemmas which slowly transform them into a solid human being; fragile but manage to conquer their own failures by remembering the most fundamental thing in this world: family togetherness.

Our feelings and emotions are blended by the sadness, enjoyment and chemistry of this family. The Hoovers maybe a dysfunctional family in the movie, but they inspire and show us about morality, social reality, dilemmas and a “never-give-up” spirit.

Although seemingly a family oriented-movie, Little Miss Sunshine is certainly not for children. The material in this movie is very open in displaying themes of drug use and explicit materials. But some of these are crucial for later character development which leads to a satisfying climax.

In the end, Little Miss Sunshine is a perfect heart-warming social drama built on the relatable premise of our daily life.

5 out of 5.