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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 bus to rally behind her - with riotously funny results. (20th Century Fox UK)

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Reviews (9)

D.Moore 

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English A hilariously bitter film with lots of funny moments and neatly intertwined fates of all kinds. Perhaps only the color blindness seemed to me too grafted on and as if unnaturally sticking out of the otherwise beautifully flowing story of one "normally strange" family. Of the cast, I want to praise the amazing Steve Carell and the diminutive Abigail Breslin the most, but the truth is that none of them were bad. ()

Kaka 

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English A similar "sensation" as, for example, Sideways. Meaning a slightly bitter in places, but mostly reliable comedy, where either love adventures or family troubles are dealt with. The filmmakers cannot be denied a flair for situational humour and solid dialogue, as well as well-drawn characters, mostly well acted. It’s nothing groundbreaking or revolutionary for the genre, but it delivers solid entertainment with one American redneck family. ()

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kaylin 

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English This is the kind of classic inconspicuous film where interesting actors come together to play even more fascinating roles. Especially Steve Carell fascinates me in similar roles. It's entertaining, it's playful, at times it's crazy, sometimes hard to believe, but together it forms a great whole. And yet, it's actually "just" a road movie. A beautiful example of how something beautiful can have a very diverse form. ()

Pethushka 

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English Definitely one of the most successful road movies of all time. There are few movie scenes that I can't and won't stop laughing at. One of them is the "stage one" from Little Miss Sunshine. Abigail Breslin is incredible! But other than that scene, there are unfortunately too many dry spots for the movie to make 100%. ()

Necrotongue 

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English A great mixture of comedy and drama about a very quirky family. The dad comes across as a real jerk, Peggy Bundy is an excellent cook compared to the mom, the grandpa is a heroin addict, the uncle a suicidal homosexual, and the kids follow their peculiar dreams. Against all odds, this near-dysfunctional family is brought together as they take chubby little Olive to a beauty pageant. I enjoyed the trip to California, Grandpa's awesome one-liners were the highlight of the car conversations, and even "mute" Dwayne was great. It was just becoming increasingly obvious what Olive's talent performance would be like. I found the beauty pageant itself a little baffling, suddenly there were all these little Terminators everywhere and I was surprised to find Olivia's performance the least creepy. Steve Carell played probably the most serious character in this film, and dmittedly, he was very good. I had a great time watching the film. ()

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