Little Miss Sunshine

Play trailer

2:26

Little Miss Sunshine

R

2006

1h 42m

Comedy

Drama

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

91%

Tomatometer

216 Reviews

91%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

The Hoover family -- a man (Greg Kinnear), his wife (Toni Collette), an uncle (Steve Carell), a brother (Paul Dano) and a grandfather (Alan Arkin) -- puts the fun back in dysfunctional by piling into a VW bus and heading to California to support a daughter (Abigail Breslin) in her bid to win the Little Miss Sunshine Contest. The sanity of everyone involved is stretched to the limit as the group's quirks cause epic problems as they travel along their interstate route.

Watch on Fandango

Stream Now

Critics Consensus

Little Miss Sunshine succeeds thanks to a strong ensemble cast that includes Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, and Abigail Breslin, as well as a delightfully funny script.

Read Critics Reviews

Namrata Joshi

Outlook

01/24/2019

3/4

The best thing about American cinema is that besides the studio-assembled big ticket movies, there's also the flourishing indie film movement which keeps throwing up some delightfully refreshing movies.

Go to Full Review

Brian Tallerico

UGO

03/24/2007

It doesn't exploit its characters for comedy or life lessons; it simply embraces the family members and lets them be themselves.

Go to Full Review

Melissa Anderson

Time Out

02/03/2007

2/6

All indie-movie families may start out unhappy in their own way, but by the time the final credits roll, everyone remains complacent, confident of their brood's superiority.

Go to Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

07/03/2023

4/4

...a continuously engrossing endeavor that gets off to a memorable (and instantly-captivating) start...

Go to Full Review

Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

09/14/2020

3.5/4.0

The best film of 2006.

Go to Full Review

Leigh Paatsch

Herald Sun (Australia)

08/11/2020

4/5

The most unlikely (and effective) feelgood movie you might ever see.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Steve O

@olshewsky 3d

Excellent acting & clever character development - heartwarming plot with enough mischief to keep it interesting.

See more

Daniel H

@haggbard Jul 29

One of my all time favorites. It's filled with love, great acting and a feel good story with some unexpected twists.

See more

Hope P

@hopepink Jul 29

So good. The performances and characters are phenomenal.

See more

K G

@KatyG-S Jul 28

The movie about a family of feelings. The movie was never always what I could expect to be about. Family members with their own issues & their 1 girl, Olive, wanting to be a pageant queen, the Little Miss Sunshine. I just really enjoyed the dynamics of everybody - Frank was injured by his lover, no wonder his sister, Sheryl, must look after him alongside her own family. It seems everybody is sympathetic. Dwayne could be a favourite to many, especially that he could not speak up; you could even relate to him when he went out, wailing, which was because he was colourblind, meaning he could not land his dream job, a pilot. We also have this trope, when things do not go how you always wanted yet it is OK, Olive did her performance, which she learnt from her grandfather (who put his corpse into the trunk (well hilarious)), her family knew to join in & care when it got panned. Now, she was banned from entering in California. We love movies with drama which yet can be well entertaining.

See more

Anabel C

@RT66117608 Jul 26

Saying this movie was spectacular in every way is an understatement. I went through the 5 stages of grief while laughing along the way. I didn’t just watch this movie I experienced it. All I can say is WATCH THIS MOVIE!

See more

Scraping G

@ScrapingGunk Jul 25

i love this movie, ive watched it over 60 times, ive lost track. everytime i watch this movie it makes me so happy. also every actor in this movie perfectly fits their character!! 10/10

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

POST RATING

Jonathan Dayton

Director

Valerie Faris

Director

Greg Kinnear

Richard

Steve Carell

Frank

Toni Collette

Sheryl

Alan Arkin

Grandpa

Sunshine Cleaning

74%

63%

Sunshine Cleaning

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Sunshine Cleaning

The Ice Harvest

47%

43%

The Ice Harvest

Watchlist

Away We Go

67%

74%

Away We Go

Watchlist

Our Idiot Brother

70%

51%

Our Idiot Brother

Watchlist

Duane Hopwood

55%

59%

Duane Hopwood

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

10 Stars Who Will Own the Summer 2018 Movie Season

15 Certified Fresh Road Trip Movies

Five Favorite Films with Daniel Radcliffe

Little Miss Sunshine: Trailer 1

2:26

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

The Hoover family -- a man (Greg Kinnear), his wife (Toni Collette), an uncle (Steve Carell), a brother (Paul Dano) and a grandfather (Alan Arkin) -- puts the fun back in dysfunctional by piling into a VW bus and heading to California to support a daughter (Abigail Breslin) in her bid to win the Little Miss Sunshine Contest. The sanity of everyone involved is stretched to the limit as the group's quirks cause epic problems as they travel along their interstate route.

Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Producer: Marc Turtletaub, David T. Friendly, Peter Saraf, Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa
Screenwriter: Michael Arndt
Distributor: Fox
Production Co: Big Beach, Bona Fide Productions
Rating: R (Language|Drug Content|Some Sex)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 20, 2006, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Jul 26, 2006
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 2, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $59.9M
Runtime: 1h 42m
Sound Mix: Dolby

Join The Newsletter

Join The Newsletter

Cookie Settings