A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.
When 7 year-old Olive Hoover learns that she's qualified for the the little Miss Sunshine contest the entire family sets off in their VW camper van for the trip from Albuquerque to California. The family includes her reasonably sane mother Sheryl; her father Richard, a motivational speaker who is stressing over whether his book will be published; her brother Dwayne who is into Nietzsche and has taken a vow of silence and hasn't said a word in 9 months; her grandpa Edwin Hoover who likes to cuss; and her uncle Frank Ginsburg - Sheryl's brother - who recently tried to commit suicide. Along the way, the van breaks down, Richard learns his book won't be published and they forget Olive at a gas station. They face grief along the way but they get Olive to the pageant on time - even if the pageant itself doesn't quite go as planned.—garykmcd
More than anything, 7-year-old Olive Hoover wants to be a beauty queen. When she qualifies for the prestigious Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest, the entire family embarks on a long road trip from Albuquerque to California in their 1978 Volkswagen Station Wagon Type 2. However, the journey is anything but smooth. As Sheryl, Olive's overworked mother, struggles to be the voice of reason, Richard, her unsuccessful husband, tries to promote his self-help program. To further complicate matters, Dwayne, Sheryl's son from a previous marriage, has decided not to utter a word until he joins the Air Force Academy. At least, troubled Uncle Frank just tags along. And on the road to success, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. What has the future in store for Olive? Does she stand a chance of fulfilling her dream?—Nick Riganas
Olive is a little girl with a dream: winning the Little Miss Sunshine contest. Her family wants her dream to come true, but they are so burdened with their own quirks, neuroses, and problems that they can barely make it through a day without some disaster befalling them. Olive's father Richard is a flop as a motivational speaker, and is barely on speaking terms with her mother. Olive's uncle Frank, a renowned Proust scholar, has attempted suicide following an unsuccessful romance with a male graduate student. Her brother Dwayne, a fanatical follower of Nietzsche, has taken a vow of silence, which allows him to escape somewhat from the family whose very presence torments him. And Olive's grandfather is a ne'er-do-well with a drug habit, but at least he enthusiastically coaches Olive in her contest talent routine. Circumstances conspire to put the entire family on the road together with the goal of getting Olive to the Little Miss Sunshine contest in far off California.—Jim Beaver <[email protected]>
The Hoover family is the dictionary definition for the word "dysfunctional". The dad Richard is a man who gives lectures on winners and losers, the wife is Sheryl, a chain-smoking, frazzled wife and working mother whose idea of a home cooked meal frequently consists of a bucket of chicken. Her gay brother Frank recently attempted suicide. The grandpa is Edwin, a drug addict. The son is Dwayne a rebel who has vowed not to talk until he gets into the Air Force. And then there is Olive, a seven-year old girl who dreams of going to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. So what happens when they do?—neo101
During a strained and awkward family dinner, it is revealed that Frank, a homosexual professor and renowned scholar of Marcel Proust, tried to kill himself after a love interest left him for an academic rival. Cued by her father to change the subject, Olive tells the family about the beauty pageant routine she is working on with the help of her grandfather. Though Olive is not of the typical pageant ilk (an average-looking, bespectacled seven-year-old), she adores pageant work and had won second place in a regional contest. During dinner, the family hears a phone message from Olive's aunt, informing that them that the winner of Olive's recent pageant had to forfeit, and that Olive now has a place in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in California. Olive is overjoyed, and after some arguing about transportation (and a pressuring pep-talk from her self-help guru father, Richard), the entire family agrees to travel to Redondo Beach in their Volkswagen micro-bus.
Conversation in the bus reveals that Grandpa Edwin (Alan Arkin) was kicked out of his retirement home for selling and using heroin (which he still enjoys). Dwayne, Olive's brother, has been taking a vow of silence for nine months straight, and plans to keep it up until he gets into the Air Force. He spends his time reading the works of Friedrich Nietzsche and ignoring his squabbling parents and Grandpa's brazen sex advice. At a rest stop, the clutch on the micro-bus breaks, forcing the family to push-start the bus whenever it is not parked on an incline. At a gas station, Richard receives news that his book deal has fallen through. Frank is humiliated after running into his ex-lover in a convenience store. The family returns to the road, all in bad tempers, but realize (after Dwayne notices) that they have to return to the gas station for Olive, who they'd forgotten in their bad moods.
They check into a motel for the night, Richard and Sheryl sharing a room, Frank and Dwayne in another, and Grandpa and Olive in a third. Olive confesses to Grandpa that she is scared about the pageant the following day, but is reassured by the doting Edwin that she is a beautiful person and will 'blow 'em outta the water." Sheryl and Richard have an explosive argument about the failed book deal, and Richard drives to Scottsdale in the middle of the night to confront Stan Grossman, his partner in the deal. Richard's ideas are rejected again, and he returns to the motel.
Olive wakes her parents in the morning because "Grandpa won't wake up." Edwin is rushed to the hospital where he is pronounced dead of an apparent heroin overdose. The family grieves, but the paperwork they are instructed to carry out will ruin their chances to get to Olive's pageant on time. Determined to honor his father's memory, Richard has the family smuggle the body into their van. Soon, however, their horn breaks and will not stop honking. They are pulled over by a state trooper who nearly uncovers Edwin's body in the trunk, but is sidetracked by Grandpa's porn collection that falls out. He lets the family go in exchange for the porn mags, and the road trip continues.
The Hoovers are almost at the pageant site and are making good time. Olive is giving Dwayne an eye test that she got from the hospital, and Frank realizes that Dwayne is colorblind. Realizing that this wrecks his dream of becoming a test pilot (and negates his nine months of total silence), Dwayne loses it. Richard stops the bus, and Dwayne runs into a culvert in a rage insulting his family. Refusing to continue the trip and failing to be comforted by Sheryl, Olive manages to win him back on board with a silent hug.
They arrive at the Redondo Suites hotel with much confusion about parking, and make it to the sign-up table four minutes late. Though a snippy pageant official initially refuses her entry, a kindly employee adds Olive to the lineup. Richard finds an undertaking service to remove Edwin's body, and sadly bids farewell to his father. Dwayne and Frank, repulsed by the freakish child pageant atmosphere, walk out to a pier. Dwayne (now vocal again) expresses his frustration with being a teenager and life in general. Frank offers his nephew a piece of Proust philosophy: that it is your suffering, not your happiness, that defines you as a person.
The pageant begins, and the prepubescent contestants, slathered disturbingly with makeup and fake tan, take the stage. Richard becomes nervous for Olive as he watches from the audience, knowing that she will not fit in. He and Dwayne, sharing the same concern, go backstage to convince Sheryl to call it off. Sheryl stands her ground, saying that they have to "let Olive be Olive." The family watches nervously as Olive is led to the stage to perform.
Dressed in a suit and top hat, Olive dedicates her dance performance to Grandpa, who had choreographed it. The rest of the family have not seen it yet. Olive's dance turns out to be a strip-burlesque routine to Rick James's "Superfreak," which Olive performs with gusto, as she is innocent of its raunchy overtones. The audience is appalled and even begins to catcall, but the Hoovers stand up and cheer her on. The snippy pageant official orders the emcee to remove Olive from the stage, but Richard butts in and begins dancing next to his daughter to support her. One by one, Olive's family takes the stage and joyfully finishes the number with her. After a brief visit to the police precinct, the Hoovers are permitted to leave as long as Olive is never entered in another California beauty pageant.
Having become closer and more confident during the trip, the Hoovers push-start the micro-bus once again and pile in. They drive into the sunset, back to Albuquerque.
