Little Miss Sunshine - DVD

Sometimes the journey is the destination.

Little Miss Sunshine is an unconventional American family comedy about one of the most lovably dysfunctional families to grace the silver screen in recent years. None of the Hoover family are doing particularly well – but certainly not for lack of trying. The father, Richard (GREG KINNEAR), a relentlessly optimistic motivational speaker, is desperately trying to sell his nine-step programme for success, with little to show for it.

The family's mother and 'guardian of honesty', Sheryl (TONI COLLETTE), is constantly terrified by the eccentric secrets surrounding her loved ones – especially her brother (STEVE CARELL), a Proust scholar with suicidal tendencies who has just returned from hospital. Then there are the younger Hoovers and their not-so-realistic dreams – the bespectacled and slightly chubby seven-year-old Olive (ABIGAIL BRESLIN), who already pictures herself wearing a children's beauty queen crown, and Dwayne (PAUL DANO), a moody teenager and sworn admirer of Nietzsche who is determined not to say a single word until he is accepted into the Air Force Academy.

The cherry on top is the foul-mouthed, hedonistic grandfather (ALAN ARKIN), who has just been kicked out of his retirement home for snorting heroin. They may not be the picture of perfect mental health, but when a stroke of luck gives Olive the chance to compete in the prestigious Little Miss Sunshine pageant, the entire Hoover family pulls together to support her. They all pile into their rusty van and set off on a three-day tragicomic journey full of surprises. At the end of the road lies Olive's big debut, which will change the whole family in unexpected ways.

Bonus features:
• Alternative endings with cast commentary.
• Commentary by directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.