Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris · 2006 · road

The 2006 indie comedy-drama of a family coming apart and together on the road. The Hoovers drive their broken-down VW bus from Albuquerque to a children's beauty pageant on the California coast, a journey of breakdowns, grief, and absurdity that becomes a small act of defiance against everything telling them to give up.

1. 1
   Albuquerque

   The dysfunctional Hoover family piles into a failing yellow VW bus in Albuquerque to get little Olive to a beauty pageant.

2. 2
   Arizona

   Across the desert the bus breaks down, a grandfather dies, and the family pushes on, literally bump-starting their way west.

3. 3
   Redondo Beach

   They reach the Little Miss Sunshine pageant near the California coast, where defeat turns into a joyous act of family solidarity.