Genre: Adventure / Comedy / Drama Director(s): Jonathan Dayton Release Date: 01 January 2006 Movie rating: 7.8

An offbeat independent comedy drama road trip movie that won over audiences and critics alike, “Little Miss Sunshine” went on to become a hit at the box offices and won numerous awards and accolades. Directed by the husband and wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, it features an ensemble cast including well known actors such as Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin and Greg Kinnear. It focuses on the Hoovers, a New Mexico family loaded with kooky characters. Sheryl Hoover (Collette) is an overworked mother of two – Dwayne (Paul Dano), her teenage son from her first marriage who refuses to say a single word until he manages to get into the US Air Force Academy, and her seven year old daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin). Her husband Richard (Kinnear) is a self obsessed aspiring motivational speaker. Also staying with them are Sheryl’s gay brother Frank, a scholar studying French literature who has moved in after a botched suicide attempt, and Richard’s obnoxious, foul mouthed father Edwin (Arkin), a WWII veteran kicked out of a retirement home for using heroin. When Olive qualifies for the “Little Miss Sunshine” beauty contest held in California, the entire family packs up into a van and begins the 800 miles long journey.

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