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Little Miss Sunshine | 2006 | R | - 5.4.7
Greg Kinnear stars as a man who believes that his 9-step program can make anyone a "winner" and plans to take his young daughter to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. He's joined by several other family members, such as the girl's uncle (Steve Carell) who has just tried to commit suicide after his male lover left him for another man, and the girl's grandfather (Alan Arkin) who was kicked out of a nursing home for snorting heroin. Also with Toni Collette, Abigail Breslin, Bryan Cranston and Paul Dano. Directed by Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton. [1:41]
SEX/NUDITY 5 - We see the covers of pornographic magazines (with scantily clad women revealing cleavage, and part of their bare breasts and bare buttocks, in provocative poses); one features a bare-chested man, and one features a man standing in front of a woman who has her leg wrapped around his waist.
► A young girl dances suggestively while on stage during a beauty pageant and takes off her pants and top to reveal a smaller outfit underneath. Three men and a woman dance suggestively on a stage thrusting and wiggling their hips. Young girls are dressed up in swimsuits and wear makeup that makes them look adult, for a beauty pageant.
► A man talks about falling in love with a male student of his.
VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - A man's dead body, covered by a sheet, is passed through the window of a hospital and to two people who carry it through a parking lot and put it in the trunk of a car, where it is kept for a while.
► A young girl is left alone at a gas station when her family drives away, unaware that she is not in the car. A man driving a car is stopped by police and fears that the officer will discover a dead body in the trunk. A man attempts suicide and we see him in a hospital with bandages on his wrists.
► A young man becomes very angry and punches the inside of a car repeatedly, then gets out of the car when it stops, and yells. A man driving recklessly drives through several parking lot gates and through a chain in a parking lot.
► A man talks about having bullets in his buttocks. A young man writes a note that says, "I hate everyone." A young girl tells her parents that her grandfather won't wake up and we are told that he died.
LANGUAGE 7 - 27 F-words, 1 sexual reference, 7 scatological terms, 4 anatomical terms, 6 mild obscenities, 2 derogatory term for homosexuals, name-calling (idiot, stupid), 3 religious profanities, 11 religious exclamations.
SUBSTANCE USE - A man snorts a white powder (we find out it is heroin) in a couple of scenes. People are shown drinking alcohol in during a bar scene. A woman smokes a cigarette in a couple of scenes.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Winning, losing, beauty pageants, unrequited love, family, love, making your dreams come true, life, depression, disappointment, heaven, pornography, discipline, self-fulfillment, honesty, happiness, failure, homosexuality, heartbreak, jealousy, vows of silence.
MESSAGE - No matter how dysfunctional, a family can get through anything together.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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