accessAtlanta

'Little Miss Sunshine' is smart, goofy, tender... and funny
by Eleanor Ringel Gillespie

"Little Miss Sunshine" is one of those out-of-the-blue gems you don't see coming and couldn't have made up. The setup is familiar: on the road with a dysfunctional family. But directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (a husband-wife team famous for music videos) aren't thinking "RV" or Chevy Chase. They're aiming more for the complex humor and bittersweet tone of the Thanksgiving-themed "Pieces of April." Their film isn't quite as good — a miscalculation at the very end knocks it down a notch — but it offers a similarly rich ensemble cast and character-driven comedy. Read the full review

TO SUM UP
The Hoover family treks from Albuquerque to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in California to fulfill the deepest wish of 7-year-old Olive, an ordinary little girl with big dreams. Along the way they must deal with heartbreaks, crushed dreams and a broken-down VW bus — and learn to trust and support each other, no matter what the challenge.

FILM FACTS ...

Fox Searchlight Pictures

'Little Miss Sunshine'

Directors: Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton
Cast: Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin
Run time: 99 minutes
Release date: July 26, 2006
Rating: R for language, some sex and drug content.
See showtimes

Meet the directors
This low-budget indie was a movie directing debut for the husband-and-wife team.

On the web
Official movie site
View the trailer
Trailers require Quicktime