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Little Miss Sunshine
Fox Searchlight Pictures


7.4

based on 36 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 345 votes
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MPAA RATING: R for language, some sex and drug content

Starring Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Marc Turtletaub, and Jill Talley

Little Miss Sunshine is an American family road comedy that shatters the mold. Brazenly satirical and yet deeply human, the film introduces audiences to one of the most endearingly fractured families in recent cinema history: the Hoovers, whose trip to a pre-pubescent beauty pageant results not only in comic mayhem but in death, transformation and a moving look at the surprising rewards of being losers in a winning-crazed culture. (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Michael Arndt
DIRECTED BY:	Jonathan Dayton Valerie Faris
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 19, 2006 Theatrical: July 26, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	101 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Received 4 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

TV Guide Ken Fox

What makes husband-and-wife directing team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' hilarious debut such a great family film isn't that it's suitable for the whole family (it's not), but that it speaks a simple truth about what it means to be part of one.

100

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

As ambitious, honest and subversive as any American movie since "Election."

100

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Sly, near-perfect comedy.

100

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

You won't see a brighter, truer affirmation of the All-American messed-up improvisational family than Little Miss Sunshine.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

While the film itself isn't perfect, who cares about perfection in the face of abundant life, authentic screwiness and lovely surprises by the busload?

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

A raucously entertaining slice of slapstick dressed up as domestic satire.

Newsweek David Ansen

This indie, a sweet, tart and smart satire about a family of losers in a world obsessed with winning, is an authentic crowd pleaser. There's been no more satisfying American comedy this year.

USA Today Claudia Puig

It has been a while since we've seen such a consistently funny and entertaining road movie.

Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves

Funny, and thoughtful, and deeply, viscerally satisfying.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

It looks at the all-American obsession with winning and chortles darkly. You still come out of the movie wanting to give your family a hug.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The irony is, this family isn't mismatched: All six bickering characters are connected by empathy as well as blood, and we wait for them to figure that out.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

A painful, funny and fresh comedy.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

A prime example of a dysfunctional-family comedy that also doubles as a road movie. Even the vehicle of transport is dysfunctional.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

In remarkably compact and quietly concise vignettes, we're introduced to each member, and immediately understand what they're all about.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

The film accomplishes a remarkable feat of creative alchemy by breathing life and depth into characters that, in lesser hands, could easily have come across as grating caricatures.

The Hollywood Reporter Duane Byrge

A brainy blend of farce and heart, this is one of those movies that veteran moviegoers complain they don't make anymore.

Variety David Rooney

Pic's distinguished by a flawless cast, a gentle spirit of rebellion and a smart script by first-time screenwriter Michael Arndt that knows never to push its character quirks too hard.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Little Miss Sunshine is an enchanting anthem to loserdom -- a dark comedy that piles on setback after setback and yet never loses its helium.

Slate Dana Stevens

The recent film it most recalls is "You Can Count on Me" (2000), another small treasure about a fractured family that managed to be moving without troweling on the sap.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Carell's physical comedy is close to genius.

Time Richard Schickel

That metaphor is pitch-perfect, but the film works a little too hard at proving the vileness of beauty pageants.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Tucked in between all the hurt and the jokes, the character development and the across-the-board terrific performances is a surprisingly sharp look at contemporary America.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

As scripted by Michael Arndt, this isn't much more than a glorified sitcom, but it deftly dramatizes our conflicting desires for individuality and an audience to applaud it.

Washington Post Jennifer Frey

Mostly it's just funny. Really, really funny.

Empire Angie Errigo

Sharp, very funny, surprisingly moving and rejoicing in great work from the entire cast, this sparkling little gem takes the family road movie to unhoped-for heights of hilarity and humanity.

Austin Chronicle Toddy Burton

The result is a climactic scene that is pretty near perfect: both laugh-out-loud surprising and endearingly inevitable.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It's "National Lampoon's Family Vacation" with soul.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Ultimately, despite flirting with some darker subjects, Little Miss Sunshine lives up to its name.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

A charmer, a comedy with drama -- or vice versa.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A smart, dark road comedy.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

It's the journey that offers the most enjoyment. Well, that and the beauty pageant climax, which I won't spoil here, but is one of the funniest scenes from film in recent memory.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Diverting and often funny enough, largely thanks (as is not unusual in cases like this) to its cast.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Family. Can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em. Little Miss Sunshine, a stormy quasi-comedy destined to polarize audiences, is a perfect specimen of this unsentimental attitude.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Though Little Miss Sunshine is consistently contrived in its characters' too-cute misery, the conclusion, which is genuinely outrageous and uplifting, is almost worth the hype.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

If you're going to get on the wavelength of Little Miss Sunshine, you've got to be able to enjoy a comedy in which the characters fit into hermetically cute, predetermined sitcom slots.

Village Voice Jim Ridley

Like the shambling VW van its hapless characters steer from Albuquerque to Redondo Beach, Little Miss Sunshine is a rickety vehicle that travels mostly downhill.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 345 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Troels J. gave it a9:
I mainly love this movie because of the ending. Besides the characters (and the kind of chilled, anticute atmosphere) it's actually pretty much like any other comedy/drama all the way through the movie. But in the end, it just changes - and instead of just being a fairly entertaining movie, it ends up having a great message. Greater than most messages in movies nowadays.

Lisa From Australia gave it a10:
I loved this movie. A simple message effectively delivered. If you like REAL families then you'll love these people.

Michael M. gave it a9:
Some people think they are good critics like Tania and especially Jasper below because they vomit their extended vocabulary on to the computer screen, but they're not. Simply because it is easy to determine a character's personality or psychological state does not mean they are one dimensional or cliched. Acting, cinematography, music, direction in general is all great. Most normal people like this film.

Josh P. gave it a10:
This film captures everything a family's about. Dysfunctional and sometimes very strange but always honest. I feel sorry for you if you can't enjoy this film, it's the best light hearted comedy I've seen in years. Especially since it came out of America.

Alfy T. gave it a10:
Wonderful film and good film. I have not seen film like this. I liked Olive very much.

Opal J. gave it a10:
This is my all-time favorite movie. The acting is great, the storyline is touching and hilarious, and the characters are hilarious though realistic. Yes, you might not find a family like this in the real world, but it's a MOVIE. And a great one at that.

Tania gave it a3:
Mystifyingly bad. Oh, how I wanted to like it. Cliched characters assembled on a screenwriters factory line, with nary a breath of life in them (save Breslin, lovable without ever being cloying), a plot creakingly contrived from start to finish. Not one moment of this film rang true (ok, one - the sweet scene where Alan Arkin's 'foulmouthed grandpa' - i imagine this is what he was dubbed in the screenplay - assures Breslin's wannabe beauty queen that she is beautiful. Really - and this is the film at its most touching.), nevermind tickled the funny bone. Replete with gaping holes in character motivation/ development you could drive a truck through (the son wants to be a fighter pilot, so he took a vow of silence. This leads us conveniently to 'funny,' furious scribbling in a notepad, ' i hate everyone'. Teenage angst has never been so subtle!). Even the supposedly laugh-out loud finale felt heavy-handed and like a desperate, mean, and inexplicable ploy for laughs. Finally, it just felt so slight - at film's end, a great big shrug is all I could muster.

Little Miss Sunshine Fox Searchlight Pictures

Little Miss Sunshine
Fox Searchlight Pictures