The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen podcast – Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine

Podcast: The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen
Date: 16 October 2026
Hosts: Stephen Fenech & Trevor Long

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[00:01:43] Stephen Fenech: Hello and welcome to The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen. My name is Stephen Fenech, and this is a podcast where I, I’m the movie expert, and I bring and show movies to my co-host Trevor Long, who watches them for the first time. Hence the name of the movie— the podcast, The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen.

[00:02:01] Trevor Long: I’ve seen 257 movies thanks to you.

[00:02:04] Stephen Fenech: You are building up your library, believe that. What I love about it is that a lot of our listeners, they may have not seen these movies either.

[00:02:10] Trevor Long: I think that’s so true.

[00:02:12] Stephen Fenech: So we’re giving them inspiration.

[00:02:12] Trevor Long: Well, and you and I were talking offline about some analysis I’d done of the movie show. And I think if you look at the years that we’ve covered and the number of movies we’ve covered from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, and when you think about we’re in 2026 here, there’s 26-year-old people who don’t know about the ’90s. And, and you know, when you’re, when you’re 13 years old, you might start looking at older movies, and that puts you in the— you could be born in the ’90s and still not be looking at ’90s movies. So there’s a solid catalog of movies that you brought to me. Yeah, that I think a lot of people should now try and embrace as well.

[00:02:45] Stephen Fenech: Well, this is another great addition, uh, Little Miss Sunshine. Now, just a warning, there will be some explicit language in the audio. Not by us, by, by the—

[00:02:53] Trevor Long: I might drop something now too.

[00:02:55] Stephen Fenech: It was released in 2006, which makes it the 20th anniversary. All right, Little Miss Sunshine.

[00:03:01] Stephen Fenech: It stars Greg Kinnear, Aussie Tony Collette, yeah, uh, Steve Carell, Alan Arkin, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin. So solid, nice, uh, lineup of actors there, right? Good, nice ensemble.

[00:03:18] Trevor Long: I was going to say, it’s a, it’s a genuine ensemble because they pretty much spend the entire movie together. There’s very few scenes absolutely on your own or in duos.

[00:03:25] Stephen Fenech: Now the movie was written by Michael Arndt. Now he won the Oscar for the best original screenplay for Little Miss Sunshine. And he was a former script reader. So he’d be at a studio and just read scripts. And I heard an interview with him in research for this show. And he said that’s how he learned how to write a good script by reading other scripts.

[00:03:50] Trevor Long: And if you read enough scripts, you know what makes a good script. That’s right.

[00:03:52] Stephen Fenech: And what works. And he used to—

[00:03:53] Trevor Long: But it’s still a very subjective job.

[00:03:55] Stephen Fenech: It is. But I think if it ticks the boxes in terms of, you know, the structure act structure and the, you know, what’s at stake and all these things, uh, then he— so you kind of know the ingredients.

[00:04:08] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:04:08] Stephen Fenech: Now he was also a personal assistant to Matthew Broderick.

[00:04:14] Stephen Fenech: And he actually found the screenplay for Election, which is a movie that Matthew Broderick made with Reese Witherspoon. Great movie. We’re going to do it on the show, uh, but he brought that to his attention. He goes, I think this is a good script for you. And he said, oh, I agree. And he ended up making the movie.

[00:04:32] Stephen Fenech: So he, he’s He’s got an eye for a story, got an eye for a script. The movie story, I understand Michael Arndt got the idea or the setting for the movie, which was from his childhood where his family drove 600 miles in a VW bus with a broken clutch.

[00:04:51] Stephen Fenech: So that’s where he got that idea from.

[00:04:53] Trevor Long: Excellent.

[00:04:53] Stephen Fenech: And then threw all those characters together and boom, Oscar-winning script.

[00:04:58] Trevor Long: Right.

[00:04:58] Stephen Fenech: Had you any impressions of this? Heard about it? Known about it?

[00:05:02] Trevor Long: I’ve never heard of this before. You said the words to me last week.

[00:05:07] Stephen Fenech: Well, it was nominated for 5 Oscars.

[00:05:11] Trevor Long: Okay, so it won 4 Oscars and won 2.

[00:05:14] Stephen Fenech: So nominated for Best Picture, lost to The Departed.

[00:05:19] Stephen Fenech: Nominated for Best Original Screenplay, won. Michael Arndt. Nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Alan Arkin.

[00:05:26] Trevor Long: Which one’s he?

[00:05:27] Stephen Fenech: Won the Grandpa.

[00:05:28] Trevor Long: Oh, the Grandpa won.

[00:05:29] Stephen Fenech: He won, won the Oscar.

[00:05:31] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:05:32] Stephen Fenech: He passed away in 2023, by the way, aged 89. Right, uh, yeah. The other nominee for Best Supporting Actress, Abigail Breslin. Olive was, uh, she did good, nominated.

[00:05:48] Trevor Long: Like, she would— how old to be in this movie?

[00:05:50] Stephen Fenech: I think she was about 10 years. Yeah, she lost to Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls.

[00:05:54] Trevor Long: She did great.

[00:05:55] Stephen Fenech: Around— Alan Arkin’s Best Supporting Actor Oscar win, his other— one of his other nominees was Mark Wahlberg, right? Now what happened that year, The Departed swept everything— Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director. And I think he was the only one in the— Mark Wahlberg, because Alan Arkin won Best Supporting Actor, which prevented Mark Wahlberg from winning, that sort of prevented the sweep. Ah, The Departed sweep.

[00:06:27] Stephen Fenech: Was the only one of 5 categories the Best Picture winner Departed lost at the Academy Awards.

[00:06:33] Trevor Long: The truth.

[00:06:34] Stephen Fenech: Uh, it’s also the only Best Picture nominee that year that was not nominated for Best Director.

[00:06:41] Trevor Long: All right, well, yeah, it didn’t strike me as a directorial movie.

[00:06:45] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, I thought it was pretty smartly done.

[00:06:46] Trevor Long: It was well done.

[00:06:47] Stephen Fenech: But I’d say there’s someone else who loved it— Roger Ebert.

[00:06:51] Trevor Long: Well, he’s got to recover from last week because his review of Gladiator has shook me.

[00:06:55] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, that offended you. Yeah, and me. Uh, this was this week though, 3.5 out of 4 stars. All right, uh, here’s what he said. After our initial introductions, Little Miss Sunshine does something quite extraordinary. It gives us a single nearly 20-minute scene built around a family dinner of takeout fried chicken in which we learn everything about Hoover family dynamics.

[00:07:17] Stephen Fenech: It’s a daring movie that establishes the movie’s character and comedic tone, and then road trip You just won’t see a better acted and better cast movie than Little Miss Sunshine. These actors and their directors, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris— there were two directors— grasp how unspoken reactions can be funnier than dialogue or punchlines, and how pain can be the source of the most satisfying comedy. All the actors play the emotion straight and true. Dano, his dead black eyes obscured by thick bangs set into a pale face that seemed to be imploding with teen alienation and disgust, just has to tilts his head almost imperceptibly to bring down the house. Kinnear, a fine comic actor, gets the opportunity to let whole scenes play out wordlessly across his face, having conversations in his head while driving or trying to figure out an appropriate response to the talent portion of the Little Miss Sunshine contest. Carell is a miracle in pink and blue striped socks. He creates a character whose pain surrounds him like a hard plastic bubble, and the less he seems to do, the funnier he gets. He makes the name Nietzsche, which he pronounces crisply as Nietzsche. Inexplicably hilarious. And how to describe the way Uncle Frank runs? It’s an intellectual run performed as if the act of running had been studied, broken down and into its component parts, and they’re reassembled. All analysis, no grace.

[00:08:41] Trevor Long: Yeah, you have to see that bit.

[00:08:42] Stephen Fenech: It’s almost inhumanly human and preciously funny, but it’s not just a sped-up silly walk, it’s an authentic expression of character. That’s, that’s a good glowing review, right? Yeah. This is your last exit before the freeway, uh, and we’re going to a long drive along that freeway, uh, whereas we unpack Little Miss Sunshine. If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it through Fetch because Fetch has movies covered, the latest releases, loads of your favorites in the Fetch movie store.

[00:09:10] Trevor Long: You can add MovieBox to enjoy 50 on-demand pre-selected movies every month. Then there’s loads of movies available on Netflix, Prime Video, and you’ll find Little Miss Sunshine also on Disney Plus. So it’s a great example of also Fetch looking after you. If a movie is available to buy or rent in the movie store, but you already subscribe to a streaming service where it is available to watch, Fetch will prioritize that free option for you because you’ve already paid for the movie part of your subscription. It’s a great way to ensure that you get the best value from your service. You can get Fetch through Optus, Telstra, The Good Guys, Kogan, Joyce Main, Harvey Norman, uh, Domain, JB Hi-Fi, and of course at Fetch. And you can find out more at fetchtv.com.au.

[00:09:51] Stephen Fenech: All right, you have now seen Little Miss Sunshine finally. After 20 years. So what are your impressions after your first watch? Top line impression.

[00:10:01] Trevor Long: I’m a big Steve Carell fan from the US version of The Office, which we’ll always disagree was the best Office. And you know what, I think Roger nailed it there. He doesn’t need to do much to do a lot, and I think that really, really helps.

[00:10:14] Stephen Fenech: I think, you know, according to that review, and I agree, less is more. Yes, they don’t go over the top.

[00:10:21] Trevor Long: Like, exactly. You like Steve Carell just in the, like, a deadpan delivery of a line can express so much. That run was just comedic, flamboyant, comedic but serious. When he’s running alongside them, but his arms were straight. And, you know, when he’s running down the corridor from, you know, trying to get— when he’s trying to get to the little sunshine.

[00:10:41] Stephen Fenech: But also there’s a run when he’s trying to get into the van. That’s also quite funny as well.

[00:10:46] Trevor Long: So yeah, I think Steve Carell does it for me. But the little girl, my God, she was super impressive.

[00:10:51] Stephen Fenech: Abigail Breslin.

[00:10:51] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. What a legend.

[00:10:51] Trevor Long: And my favorite My favorite thing about the screenplay is the way there’s so much that you assume but have to imagine that can surprise you.

[00:11:03] Stephen Fenech: Yeah.

[00:11:03] Trevor Long: So all the rehearsals, we never see one, but she talks about all the time. She’s rehearsing all the time, but we never see it.

[00:11:08] Stephen Fenech: Never see it.

[00:11:09] Trevor Long: So I think that is so well done.

[00:11:11] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, you’re right. And what’s your social media post here?

[00:11:15] Trevor Long: I don’t know if Stephen Fenech calls this a hidden gem or if I’m just too far out of the loop and it’s laughable, but I’ve never heard of Little Miss Sunshine. But what a fun story. Silly and a bit too unbelievable in part, but overall a good fun watch.

[00:11:28] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, I wouldn’t call it a hidden gem. It won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

[00:11:32] Trevor Long: I’ve never heard of it.

[00:11:33] Stephen Fenech: It’s all I’m saying, semi-hidden gem, I’d say.

[00:11:35] Trevor Long: Yeah, let’s, let’s go with the 20-year-olds. They’re struggling. They didn’t know about this.

[00:11:38] Stephen Fenech: Little Miss Sunshine was released in Australia on October 12th, 2006.

[00:11:43] Trevor Long: Right.

[00:11:43] Stephen Fenech: I watched this at a 20th Century Fox screening.

[00:11:47] Trevor Long: We are legit 20 years on from this, like on the week.

[00:11:50] Stephen Fenech: The 20th Century Fox invited me to a screening of it and I went along because Fox Searchlight Pictures—

[00:11:54] Trevor Long: you will see free ticket in.

[00:11:58] Stephen Fenech: Absolutely, yeah. And I’ll read, mate, it’s one of those movies that you, you catch it on TV or on Fox or somewhere and you think, I’m gonna watch the rest of this. Yeah, it’s pretty good. Casting call, uh, Greg Kinnear plays Richard Hoover. Do you remember him in As Good As It Gets? Yeah, Jack Nicholson. Yeah, he was also in You’ve Got Mail. Oh yeah, have you seen that show on Apple TV, Margo’s Got Money Troubles?

[00:12:21] Trevor Long: No.

[00:12:21] Stephen Fenech: He’s in that too. Really? Plays similar character in that that he does here.

[00:12:25] Trevor Long: Really?

[00:12:25] Stephen Fenech: Like a very religious and sort of straight-laced guy.

[00:12:26] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, it’s pretty Steve Carell plays Frank, and we know him from 40-Year-Old Virgin, The Office, yes, uh, The Morning Show, yes, uh, and he was in another movie, uh, that we’ll get to on the show, uh, opposite, um, uh, it’s called Crazy Stupid Love, and Ryan Gosling was the other opposite him there too. Uh, Toni Collette plays Cheryl, uh, Australia’s Toni Collette. She was in Muriel’s Wedding. What other movie was she in? Big movie. No, no, was she in that? She was in, uh, Bruce Willis is in it, twist at the end. The Sixth Sense.

[00:13:04] Trevor Long: She was the mum in that too.

[00:13:06] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, Oscar nominated too for that role.

[00:13:07] Trevor Long: Yeah, right.

[00:13:08] Stephen Fenech: She was also in one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen called Hereditary.

[00:13:12] Trevor Long: Yeah, I don’t want to watch it.

[00:13:12] Stephen Fenech: Watch that one, it’ll scare the bejesus out of you.

[00:13:14] Trevor Long: I don’t need to get out of here.

[00:13:16] Stephen Fenech: Alan Arkin plays Grandpa Edwin.

[00:13:19] Trevor Long: So where do we know him from?

[00:13:20] Stephen Fenech: Argo. Remember Ben Affleck? Ah, go you know what yourself.

[00:13:25] Trevor Long: That was the—

[00:13:26] Stephen Fenech: where they’re faking the movie to get the hostages out.

[00:13:29] Stephen Fenech: He was also in one of my favorites and one of your least favorites, Glengarry Glen Ross.

[00:13:34] Trevor Long: Oh, okay. That’s why I don’t remember.

[00:13:35] Stephen Fenech: He was one of the— he was one of the, the, the sales staff, the real estate guys trying to sell the leads.

[00:13:41] Trevor Long: One day I’ll watch it again.

[00:13:42] Stephen Fenech: Oh mate, that is— I cannot believe— check your pulse, mate. I cannot believe you didn’t like that. Edward Scissorhands as well he was in. And as I mentioned, he died in 2023 aged 89.

[00:13:52] Trevor Long: 9 innings.

[00:13:53] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, solid, solid. Before we get to the top scenes, let’s have a chat about Hisense. Now Hisense has brand new RGB Mini LED technology, and the entry level for that new technology is the UR8SC, the series. They’re available in 55-inch all the way up to 100-inch. So if you want to enjoy big screen and the latest technology, that’s the TV to look for. Now the RGB Mini LED, that is what the new technology that allows the backlight to produce the color as well. So you’re getting much more accurate color, a lot more, uh, more accuracy, and just makes for an overall better experience. It’s got the HiView AI engine that controls all those RGB cells to produce a stunning picture. It also has, if you’re a gamer, 180Hz game mode, so you can really enjoy the latest games as they’re meant to be enjoyed. And if you’re a sports fan as well, that big screen also makes a great place to watch your sports like you’re there. It also has anti-reflection and glare-free coating, which is important in Australian households. We tend to watch our, our TVs in open, bright areas, so having that is a must. And on the audio side, 2.1.2 multi-channel surround sound out of the box, and one of the only TVs with the IMAX Enhanced stamp as well. So any movies that were shown in the enhanced format, you can absolutely enjoy it on your Hisense TV. And as I said, size sizes from 55-inch all the way up to 100-inch, and it does include that brand new RGB Mini LED technology.

[00:15:34] Trevor Long: Go big!

[00:15:35] Stephen Fenech: Check it out for yourself at hisense.com.au. You know what I love about this movie is that it establishes who each of the characters are so well. So straight up, the first thing we see is Olive. She’s a 7-year-old girl watching a videotape clip of Miss America, Miss America pageant.

[00:15:57] Trevor Long: Yep.

[00:15:57] Stephen Fenech: She sees the winner crowned and she mimics their smile and yeah, to the reaction, the finger point, point. Like she’s fantasizing about her being in that role and that position where she can celebrate in the same way. And you know, she’s wearing glasses and so she’s, uh, she’s unique character right from the start.

[00:16:16] Trevor Long: We can see right there.

[00:16:18] Stephen Fenech: The next thing we see, a person is Richard Hoover, that’s Olive’s and he’s in the middle of his presentation, his 9-step Refuse to Lose motivational program.

[00:16:27] Trevor Long: This is where the cinematography plays. Yeah, well done. He’s got a big projector out, and there’s— after he does his presentation, he turns and cuts to the audience, and you realize there’s— it’s not an arena, it’s a small, small group of people.

[00:16:40] Movie Audio: [Richard wraps up his 9-step “Refuse to Lose” presentation, telling the audience there’s a winner inside each of them and urging them to go out into the world and be winners.]

[00:17:26] Stephen Fenech: And you love how the camera sort of does a reverse shot and there’s like 6 people.

[00:17:31] Trevor Long: Yeah, because it comes across as being like a TED Talk or a big inspirational arena, as I said. But yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s not even a full half, it’s not even a full room and it’s a small room.

[00:17:41] Stephen Fenech: Small room and there’s another 5 people in here. Next thing we see is Grandpa Edward and he’s snorting heroin off a table. Yeah, yeah, that was— that we would learn at that point. You think, well, he’s snorting something, but we learn later that it’s heroin.

[00:17:54] Trevor Long: It’s pretty obvious.

[00:17:55] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, so yeah, uh, Dwayne, uh, that’s Olive’s teenage brother who’s working out in the bedroom maintaining a strict vow of silence.

[00:18:04] Trevor Long: We don’t know that yet, but we learned that around the dinner table.

[00:18:07] Stephen Fenech: He doesn’t talk. He’s inspired. He’s reading Friedrich Nietzsche novel, I think, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Truck, famous novel of his.

[00:18:14] Trevor Long: Sure.

[00:18:15] Stephen Fenech: Until, uh, he’s— we learn later his vow of silence, uh, is until he gets into the Air Force Academy.

[00:18:22] Trevor Long: He just wants to be an Air Force pilot.

[00:18:23] Stephen Fenech: That’s cool.

[00:18:24] Trevor Long: Stop.

[00:18:25] Stephen Fenech: Now we meet Frank as well. This is Olive’s uncle, uh, a scholar of Marcel Proust. And we first see him sitting in a hospital room in a wheelchair, bandaged wrists. Uh, his sister Cheryl comes to pick up, and I think the doctor says, keep him away from sharp objects.

[00:18:42] Trevor Long: And yeah, you realize, okay, yes, the wrists are— he took— he’s trying to take his own life.

[00:18:46] Stephen Fenech: She brings him home, uh, to the family, uh, and Cheryl is the mum, uh, she’s there. She picks up Frank from the hospital and takes him to their home and sort of basically he’s on suicide watch.

[00:18:57] Trevor Long: Yes, at the— because he’s got to stay— he’s got to— he’s got to be in the— in the son’s room. He’s got to live in Duane’s room, which is, you know, demoralizing for an adult in the very first place.

[00:19:06] Stephen Fenech: Duane’s writing on his had.

[00:19:08] Trevor Long: I think later on he writes, ‘Don’t kill yourself tonight.’ Yeah, and it’s lovely because if Frank turns and goes, ‘Not on your watch, mate.’ Yeah, which is an interesting line for a screenwriter to put in because it doesn’t say, ‘I wouldn’t do it again.’ Yeah, he says, ‘I wouldn’t do it to you.’ Yeah, that’s true, that’s true.

[00:19:26] Stephen Fenech: Uh, so all of that is a nice little setup for this family dinner. Yeah, and it shows a little insight into all of them.

[00:19:34] Trevor Long: But also, you know what I loved about this whole at-home scene was, do you know what, it just showed your your— I don’t want to say average American, but your, your struggling battler family. You know, she bought a box of chicken from the shops.

[00:19:48] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, bucket of chicken.

[00:19:48] Trevor Long: But she still wants them to have salad, so she whips up a quick salad. She grabs some Sprite from the fridge. And here’s— this is going to be insane what I noticed, but when she’s putting out the cups, the McDonald’s key gets—

[00:20:00] Stephen Fenech: Frank gets the McDonald’s.

[00:20:01] Trevor Long: They’re all random, all different cups. It’s not like she’s got a set of 6 cups.

[00:20:04] Stephen Fenech: That’s right.

[00:20:04] Trevor Long: Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah, there’s a big plastic one that goes to the house.

[00:20:07] Stephen Fenech: Frank makes a— Frank gets one.

[00:20:09] Stephen Fenech: And it’s got—

[00:20:09] Stephen Fenech: it’s McDonald’s, like a McDonald’s cup on it.

[00:20:13] Trevor Long: Yeah, I like that it’s set, those little touches. They’re not wealthy people. Yeah, they’re very much average.

[00:20:19] Stephen Fenech: And we come home, like, this is obviously the dad has come home, Richard has come home, and he says, oh, did Stan Grossman call?

[00:20:27] Trevor Long: He keeps talking about this call, phone call, checks the messages.

[00:20:30] Stephen Fenech: You know he’s got something on the boil.

[00:20:31] Trevor Long: He checks the messages earlier and you hear the word Little Miss Sunshine. Yes, but then it was Cheryl’s sister. It’s not until later that he says, oh, there’s a message on there.

[00:20:38] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, my gosh, we’re going to hear the message. In a moment. But the dinner’s there. Frank’s introduced to Duane. He’s just writing everything on a notepad. Olive notices the bandages on his arms.

[00:20:50] Trevor Long: And as a normal 10-year-old, just curious.

[00:20:52] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, it was quite a long explanation. I did— I didn’t cut the audio there.

[00:20:55] Trevor Long: But it’s brilliant because the mum’s like, no, no, we’re gonna— if he’s gonna be here, we’re gonna talk about this openly.

[00:21:01] Stephen Fenech: Well, she’s gonna find out anyway.

[00:21:02] Trevor Long: Dad is not happy. Yeah, exactly, because he doesn’t believe they should be talking about this. That’d be me. That’d be me. I’d be the dad.

[00:21:08] Stephen Fenech: I’m gonna ask you after the next scene at the diner, I want it— we’ll talk more about Richard after the diner scene. But here, um, Olive notices, and Frank explains to his credit. He says, yeah, I’ve— and it was, I fell in love with a man. She goes, you fell in love with a man? Yeah. So really, so innocently asking these questions.

[00:21:26] Trevor Long: Innocent exposition.

[00:21:27] Stephen Fenech: Exactly right. So he gets a chance to say it. And then, but even Richard’s quite rude, saying, you know, that, you know, that’s, that, that’s not what winners do. And he’s sort of, sort of really putting him down in front of him, which I thought was, you know, not appropriate.

[00:21:40] Trevor Long: Not at all.

[00:21:41] Stephen Fenech: Um, but then Richard mentions that Cheryl’s sister left him message, and Olive runs to the phone to play it.

[00:21:48] Movie Audio: [Richard mentions a message from Cheryl’s sister Cindy. Olive plays it and learns she’s been bumped up into the state Little Miss Sunshine contest in Redondo Beach after the regional winner forfeited her crown. Olive celebrates while Cheryl calls Cindy, and the family realises Cindy and Jeff can’t take her this Sunday because of an equestrian event.]

[00:23:09] Stephen Fenech: What about Olive? They’re taking both horses, it’s a big deal. And so here’s this—

[00:23:13] Trevor Long: starts a fight about how they’re going to get there. The mum’s like, you know what, we’ll just catch a plane.

[00:23:17] Stephen Fenech: So they’re going to get to Redondo Beach in 2 days, flying, can’t afford the flight. And they decide, you know what, they can’t all fit in the little—

[00:23:26] Trevor Long: in there because they can’t leave Frank at home. With Duane.

[00:23:29] Stephen Fenech: So they’re going to drive the family’s yellow 1971 Volkswagen T2 Microbus.

[00:23:34] Trevor Long: Nice car.

[00:23:34] Stephen Fenech: You’re aware of that model?

[00:23:35] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:23:35] Stephen Fenech: That’s their only option. And Frank, as you said, cannot be left alone. Duane refuses to stay behind. So guess what? We’re all going.

[00:23:43] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:23:43] Stephen Fenech: And they embark on the road trip. It’s an 800-mile trip, which is— how many K’s is that? It’s like 1,200, I think. Yeah, pretty much. Grandpa in the car. The first thing we hear, Grandpa offering Duane some, uh, adult advice about women and Texan urging him not to wait to live his life.

[00:24:03] Movie Audio: [In the van, Grandpa gives Dwayne some crude, explicit advice about women, ignoring Richard’s repeated attempts to shut him down and declaring he can say what he wants because he’s “still got Nazi bullets” in his head.]

[00:24:58] Stephen Fenech: The Nazi bullets in his head. We learned from after that little outburst that Grandpa had been recently kicked out of his retirement home for bad behavior, which you have to assume relates to the drugs. I’d say that’d have something to do with it. Yeah. Uh, next stop is the diner. Uh, Olive orders a waffle. They said, look, don’t— you can order anything under $4, and she picks something under $4, and she picks the waffle with ice cream.

[00:25:23] Trevor Long: Cream.

[00:25:23] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. And then as we’ve learned, à la mode means, uh, it comes with ice cream. And then Richard then delivers an uncomfortable lecture about ice cream.

[00:25:33] Movie Audio: [At the diner, Richard explains to Olive that the fat in ice cream becomes fat in your body. Cheryl is furious, Grandpa calls Richard an idiot, and Richard presses Olive on whether Miss America contestants are skinny or fat.]

[00:26:49] Trevor Long: And look, there’s no beating around the bush, they’ve cast her because she’s not a skinny little girl. Yeah, she’s just— but she’s also not fat. She’s just— she’s 10, so she hasn’t grown up yet.

[00:26:59] Stephen Fenech: But I’ve got a perfect— I’ve got something to say about that later.

[00:27:02] Trevor Long: Okay.

[00:27:03] Stephen Fenech: All right, but let’s talk about Richard.

[00:27:05] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:27:06] Stephen Fenech: Now, what were you thinking at this point? I’m thinking, shut up, mate.

[00:27:09] Trevor Long: Come on, mate.

[00:27:10] Stephen Fenech: What are you doing?

[00:27:12] Trevor Long: And you can see everyone else is having 9 friggin steps as well.

[00:27:16] Stephen Fenech: And what happens right after when the ice cream hits the table? They all eat it to support her.

[00:27:22] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:27:22] Stephen Fenech: In other words, to say, up yours, Richard, we’re all going to do it, right? So Richard, I think, is, I think, trying to, you know, how he’s got his 9 steps about it. You’re either a winner or a loser. Yeah, that’s the stakes of the movie. You’ll notice that all of them have some sort of like— she’s going to Little Miss Sunshine. That’s a competition.

[00:27:43] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:27:43] Stephen Fenech: Right. There’s all some sort of competitive thing that others need to judge them. Others need to judge them to achieve what they want.

[00:27:51] Trevor Long: Frank is trying to be the number one probe scholar and not the number two. That’s right. All those sort of things.

[00:27:55] Stephen Fenech: That’s a really interesting thing to keep in the back of your mind as they go through the movie. Now, shortly after the diner, they head off on the drive and the bus’s clutch starts to fail. —gets to a point where they go to a garage. The mechanic informs them replacing the transmission, the clutch, will take days. And he said, look, I think it was, yes, it’s the weekend. I might be able to get the part by Thursday. And he says, look, here’s what you can do. You can push start the van. You can put it in neutral and start in third.

[00:28:28] Trevor Long: As long as you get to 15 to 30 Ks, it’ll just go straight into third. My plot hole here, unless you’ve got one later on this topic.

[00:28:36] Stephen Fenech: I’ve got it right here.

[00:28:37] Trevor Long: Right, it bugs. Well, let me tell you what bugs me about this Kombi Van. It’s the clutch that’s broken, not the starter. And they always get to speed and then he turns the car on. And it’s like, mate, you can turn the car on early and then push, push, push, and you’ve just got to jam it into gear. It should make a clunking sound. But what they make it sound like is when you used to push start a car because the starter motor’s broken.

[00:28:57] Stephen Fenech: Bugs me all through the movie. My interjections are going to be called called clutch play. So my clutch play here is that when it gets stuck, the mechanic explains that you don’t need the clutch to go from 3rd to 4th gear, but not in the other gear changes. That is not actually accurate. Oh yeah, there’s a full synchro mesh transmission. You can shift every gear using double clutch procedure, so you don’t need to start in 3rd gear. You can eventually— a start in 1st gear was not fast enough from the movie point point of view, right? Yeah, so a little bit of a manipulation of the facts there.

[00:29:34] Trevor Long: It’s, it’s only annoying because it’s such a big part of the movie. It happens so—

[00:29:38] Stephen Fenech: it’s not like they, you know, well, how many people mechanically mind are going to go, you shouldn’t be doing that? Everyone would think, assuming that it’s, you know, uh, I’ll go.

[00:29:46] Trevor Long: I went along for the ride.

[00:29:47] Stephen Fenech: Oh, me too. Literally went along for the ride. Yeah. Uh, now on the journey, they’re back on the road again, and we now learn Richard starts talking about his relationship with Stan Grossman.

[00:30:03] Movie Audio: [Richard explains how agent Stan Grossman is lining up a book, media tour and DVD series for his 9-step program. Frank responds with sarcasm, and Richard tells him sarcasm is the refuge of losers — step 4 in the program — before Frank sarcastically thanks him for the free wisdom.]

[00:31:20] Stephen Fenech: He started it. He started it.

[00:31:22] Trevor Long: That was for free. That’s so well done.

[00:31:25] Stephen Fenech: I liked, you could hear in the background, “Really?” He was really winding them up.

[00:31:29] Trevor Long: Because you know what? Frank knows, the whole family knows Richard’s a wanker.

[00:31:33] Trevor Long: But someone, no one’s been told in there.

[00:31:35] Stephen Fenech: He’s taken a piss for sure.

[00:31:36] Stephen Fenech: At the gas station, next stop, Richard calls Stan Grossman and the call doesn’t go the way he hopes.

[00:31:43] Trevor Long: You can tell pretty much early on here this is not going his way. He’s a little bit deflated.

[00:31:47] Stephen Fenech: Meanwhile, Frank is inside buying porn for Grandpa.

[00:31:51] Trevor Long: And then he bumps into his old crush Josh, who they have a whole conversation, then he notices the heterosexual porn on the desk and he’s thinking, what’s going on here? And he just goes outside and laughs at the number one probe scholar.

[00:32:02] Stephen Fenech: Well, the guy, yeah, the guy who that Josh guy is with, he’s the number one in his car and it’s awkward, very, to say the least.

[00:32:10] Trevor Long: Very much so.

[00:32:11] Stephen Fenech: Anyway, they hit the road and they discover they’ve left Olive behind.

[00:32:14] Trevor Long: Instantly knew that was going to happen when they sent her off to rehearse.

[00:32:17] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, she said, I’m going to go, you know, practice over here.

[00:32:20] Trevor Long: Well, they all had these dramas and get back in the car.

[00:32:22] Stephen Fenech: I’m like, you know what? None of them noticed her rehearsal. No, no one was watching her, paying any attention to her. They didn’t see anything.

[00:32:30] Trevor Long: Because Grandpa’s the only—

[00:32:31] Stephen Fenech: this is the Grandpa’s routine.

[00:32:33] Trevor Long: This is the kind of tragedy of her whole beauty pageant thing is Grandpa’s the only one that’s giving her the support she needs to be Little Miss Sunshine. Yeah.

[00:32:42] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. And no one else.

[00:32:44] Trevor Long: What we learned later on is it would have been nice for someone else to be involved.

[00:32:46] Stephen Fenech: But speaking of Grandpa, he does try to console Richard and say that he’s proud of him. He goes, at least you’re having a go. You know, like, I can’t say the same for myself. You’re trying to make something of your life.

[00:32:55] Trevor Long: He does. It’s a lovely moment. Like, it’s a genuinely—

[00:32:57] Stephen Fenech: But I don’t think Richard takes it in the right way. He goes, okay, Dad, like, as if to say, yeah, righto, mate.

[00:33:04] Trevor Long: But also he’s currently despondent and disappointed, so he’s not going to take anything well.

[00:33:07] Stephen Fenech: Of course.

[00:33:08] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:33:08] Stephen Fenech: At the motel, the family spends the night and Olive expresses fear to Grandpa that she might lose the pageant and disappoint her father.

[00:33:20] Movie Audio: [At the motel, Olive tells Grandpa she’s scared about tomorrow and asks if she’s pretty. He tells her she’s the most beautiful girl in the world, and when she says she doesn’t want to be a loser because Dad hates losers, he explains that a real loser is someone so afraid of not winning they don’t even try.]

[00:34:22] Stephen Fenech: That was nice.

[00:34:23] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:34:24] Stephen Fenech: Uh, meanwhile, Richard is in the next— I think a couple of doors down— uh, decides he’s going to take a quick detour to go meet Stan Grossman.

[00:34:33] Trevor Long: Yeah, he can’t sleep. He’s It’s not this. Yeah, he’s got to work this out.

[00:34:36] Stephen Fenech: So he’s a business agent who wants to confront him, uh, hopefully getting to invest in his 9-step program.

[00:34:43] Movie Audio: [Richard confronts Stan Grossman, who tells him it’s not the program, it’s him — nobody has heard of him, the deal is dead and it’s time to move on. Richard insists this setback is exactly what the 9 steps are about.]

[00:35:44] Trevor Long: So yeah, he’s pretty devastated even though he gets the word he needs to hear, which is there’s a problem and it’s you. And like, yeah, he’s never going to hear that properly.

[00:35:51] Stephen Fenech: But to his credit, he says, okay, this is exactly what my program is all about. He’s going to stick with it. Did you notice nice little Bryan Cranston?

[00:35:59] Trevor Long: So good.

[00:36:00] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. This is pre-Breaking Bad, I believe.

[00:36:02] Trevor Long: Is it? Yeah.

[00:36:02] Stephen Fenech: Right. Just before Breaking Bad.

[00:36:04] Trevor Long: Right.

[00:36:04] Stephen Fenech: What, when did Breaking Bad do you think?

[00:36:05] Trevor Long: I don’t know, mate.

[00:36:06] Stephen Fenech: It was around this time, 2006.

[00:36:08] Trevor Long: It must be because I watched it in 2012 and it was all like, oh, it was already done.

[00:36:13] Stephen Fenech: Okay. So it must have been around that time.

[00:36:14] Trevor Long: Would have been around then.

[00:36:15] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. So next morning the family wakes up, Olive comes into the room and says, Grandpa won’t wake up.

[00:36:22] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:36:23] Stephen Fenech: And they immediately— there’s a shot of they’re following an ambulance to Scottsdale where they’re in the waiting room and the doctor comes in and says, I’m sorry, we couldn’t save him.

[00:36:32] Trevor Long: Poor little Olive.

[00:36:33] Stephen Fenech: So they’re in there. Bereavement services inform the family that official procedures and paperwork will take days.

[00:36:45] Movie Audio: [At the hospital, Cheryl suggests they try Little Miss Sunshine next year, but Richard refuses to give up after coming 700 miles. Over Cheryl’s objections, he plans to sneak Grandpa’s body out through the window, arguing it’s what his father would have wanted and that winners don’t give up — and Cheryl agrees.]

[00:38:11] Stephen Fenech: I love how she got on board straight away. Remember, she goes, what do you mean?

[00:38:13] Trevor Long: Yeah, she goes, okay, I mean, I don’t know anyone in the world that would have, but yeah, for the script she did, she got on board.

[00:38:19] Stephen Fenech: Even Richard too, thinking, I don’t know, he redeemed himself a little bit there, thinking we’re gonna go. I guess he’d love, he’d want Olive to do this.

[00:38:27] Trevor Long: I get it.

[00:38:27] Stephen Fenech: To make it.

[00:38:28] Trevor Long: Look, the comedic part of this. Yeah, I get it. Pretty. But this part of the storyline I don’t love.

[00:38:34] Stephen Fenech: But it’s, it’s meant to add to the sort of the hilarity of the situation. I get it, but I don’t think it’s comedy when it’s supposed to be tragedy.

[00:38:40] Trevor Long: It’s, it’s only good for one line, which we’ll get to later. Yeah, I genuinely believe, yeah, this part didn’t need to happen except for the comedy of one line later on.

[00:38:51] Stephen Fenech: No, I, I disagree. I think there’s a lot of weight in this, the whole them or him deciding to take him. We’re not going I’m not going to let her miss out because of this. That’s what he would have wanted. I like that. Um, and the, this, the, the comedy, you know, they get pulled over later and all this sort of stuff. But knowing what it means to Olive, um, they decide to wrap him up, uh, in a sheet, smuggle him out the window, load him in the back of the beat-up and take off.

[00:39:15] Trevor Long: That’s it.

[00:39:16] Stephen Fenech: But while they’re speeding to make up time, uh, the horn gets stuck and draws the attention of a California State Trooper. A little trouble with the horn.

[00:39:26] Movie Audio: [A state trooper pulls the family over about the stuck horn and asks Richard to step outside the vehicle.]

[00:39:51] Stephen Fenech: So you remember grandpa’s body’s in the back of the truck, right?

[00:39:55] Trevor Long: So you’re thinking the horn thing’s so—

[00:39:57] Movie Audio: [The trooper goes to check the back of the van while Richard nervously begs him not to open it, and is told to put his hands on the vehicle.]

[00:40:11] Trevor Long: Again, the horn’s so good.

[00:40:13] Movie Audio: [Richard keeps protesting and the trooper tells him to keep his mouth shut.]

[00:40:24] Stephen Fenech: So he opens the back and porn magazines fall out. Unillegal.

[00:40:31] Trevor Long: God damn.

[00:40:33] Stephen Fenech: And you think, what is he talking about?

[00:40:34] Movie Audio: [The trooper calls Richard back, delighted with Grandpa’s magazines, and tells him not to worry — he’s not going to bust him.]

[00:40:49] Trevor Long: So good.

[00:40:50] Stephen Fenech: I like how he goes through and goes, oh, maybe this one I don’t like. Yeah, the guy from Breaking Bad.

[00:40:56] Trevor Long: Yeah, isn’t that weird? Yeah, it’s crazy.

[00:40:59] Stephen Fenech: I know. I’m so glad you noticed that.

[00:41:01] Trevor Long: He takes the porn.

[00:41:02] Stephen Fenech: So he stumbles on Grandpa’s adult magazines, uh, and gets distracted. Let’s them off with a warning. Now, do you remember back when they were in the hospital waiting room?

[00:41:11] Trevor Long: It’s a great little moment because when they were in the waiting room, Olive’s playing with brooches and they’re like, nah, put them away, let’s just focus on, you know, Grandpa. But she kept the brooches.

[00:41:22] Stephen Fenech: She kept the brochure about an eye test to see if you’re colorblind.

[00:41:26] Trevor Long: Yeah, she’s got both of them. They do the one that, you know, how good’s your eyesight? Yeah, that’s a colorblind one. So she’s mucking around with Uncle Frank doing the test, you know, and she turns to Dwyane Wayne. Yeah, it’s like, you know, what letter do you see here?

[00:41:36] Stephen Fenech: He goes, I don’t see anything.

[00:41:37] Trevor Long: This is a joke, like, yeah, because again, he’s not speaking it.

[00:41:41] Stephen Fenech: But yeah, they realize, and Frank realizes, yeah, he can’t see the letter A, can’t distinguish. Yeah, so it’s like green and then the red A in the middle of it. He can’t see. That means he’s colorblind.

[00:41:51] Trevor Long: And Frank says to him, mate, colorblindness means you can’t become a jet pilot, which I think is true because my brother wanted to be a pilot and couldn’t be because he’s colorblind.

[00:41:58] Stephen Fenech: More on that. Okay, so devastated that his dream is destroyed, Dwayne breaks his months-long vow of silence.

[00:42:06] Trevor Long: I think it’s possibly years because when he was on that crossing off charts in his room—

[00:42:10] Stephen Fenech: it said 9 months.

[00:42:11] Trevor Long: He was crossing off like 471 or something.

[00:42:14] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, okay, because at the dinner table, remember Richard says, oh, you know what, it really shows that dedication and discipline.

[00:42:20] Trevor Long: But the numbers he crossed off, months would have already been—

[00:42:22] Stephen Fenech: but he jumps out of the car and he ain’t happy.

[00:42:27] Trevor Long: This is the first word I’d say after 9 months.

[00:42:35] Movie Audio: [Learning that Dwayne is colourblind and can’t fly, Cheryl tries to comfort him, but he refuses to get back on the bus — breaking his silence to lash out at the family, calling them losers and telling them he hates them.]

[00:43:21] Stephen Fenech: There’s that word again. There’s that word again.

[00:43:24] Stephen Fenech: See that?

[00:43:24] Stephen Fenech: The theme, the themes are coming out about, you know, loser, bankrupt, suicidal. You’re all losers. It’s winning and losing, right?

[00:43:32] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah. And I think this scene’s done so well.

[00:43:35] Stephen Fenech: Oh, it’s great.

[00:43:35] Trevor Long: Firstly, because the way he just bottles it up in the car and then gets out. And then this next moment where they don’t know what to do. They’re like, we can’t leave Leave him. him here. And so that none of them are going to talk to him, but they, they basically reluctantly send Olive, much to his father’s chagrin. And Olive doesn’t say anything. I love this moment. It’s just a single shot, they’re up the hill, and Olive just kind of puts her head on his shoulder, puts her arm around him, and her arm around him. And then maybe 3 seconds, 4 seconds, he goes, all right, let’s go. And I love that moment. That’s a beautiful sibling moment.

[00:44:08] Stephen Fenech: Do you remember in the hospital when they were away when they found out their grandpa died.

[00:44:12] Trevor Long: Yeah, he writes, go hug your mother.

[00:44:14] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, yeah. So there’s a connection there between them. Yeah, uh, so yeah, Olive has, uh, looked after in there. Clutch Plate, remember he says, you’re not my family. If you read the story is that he’s a, he’s from a previous, Cheryl’s previous marriage, right?

[00:44:31] Trevor Long: She’s divorced, that’s why he says you’re divorced.

[00:44:32] Stephen Fenech: She says, uh, toward the beginning he visited his dad in Florida remember? Yeah. And, um, there’s a, and a wedding photo shown with him in it but much younger, right? Yeah. And Olive is not, of course, because her last name’s Hoover, so she’s, um, Richard and Cheryl’s.

[00:44:48] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:44:48] Stephen Fenech: So there’s step siblings, but still, because remember he points at her and goes, divorced, you know. So righto, they’re heading to the pageant. They arrive at Redondo Beach with minutes to spare. The pageant Karen, the pageant coordinator, Karen, I love that. She, uh, refuses to accept her. Are you 3 minutes late? And a guy goes, it’s no problem, I could fire up the system.

[00:45:09] Trevor Long: And luckily he gets a pageant. Karen walks away and he goes, I’m not working here again, these people are horrible. He’s a good character. Yes, across the whole next act, he’s a great character.

[00:45:19] Stephen Fenech: But we’ve all seen those type of people at various events.

[00:45:24] Stephen Fenech: Anyway, she gets registered and the family though sees the massive contrast between Olive and the other contestants. They’re all— others are hot, polished.

[00:45:35] Trevor Long: What’s really interesting is it’s unspoken, right? You just see all these girls walking around with these big hair, these beautiful dresses. We don’t yet see what’s in Olive’s bag, but you know for sure she doesn’t have these princess dresses, right? And so there’s this kind of great whole moment where you realize this is a divide here they’re not ready for.

[00:45:54] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. So all the other girls are sort of wearing adult makeup, false teeth and hair and performing routines. And my cosplay here, um, All of the girls in that scene in the Little Miss Sunshine pageants were real beauty pageant attendees. So real, real, real contestants.

[00:46:14] Trevor Long: Their parents are such pageant parents. They put them in a movie about pageants.

[00:46:17] Stephen Fenech: That’s right. They wore the same costumes and had the hair and the makeup.

[00:46:20] Trevor Long: Do you reckon they made them up?

[00:46:21] Stephen Fenech: Probably not. But they had— those other girls were real pageant contestants. Love this bit where there’s like the local beauty queen scene and she goes up and she says, do you like ice cream? She goes, yeah, I love it.

[00:46:36] Trevor Long: She tells her a favorite flavor. And then Olive walks away and goes to her mum, she eats ice cream. She eats ice cream.

[00:46:40] Stephen Fenech: That’s funny.

[00:46:41] Trevor Long: Yeah, perfect.

[00:46:42] Stephen Fenech: Nice little callback to what her dad said. In the meantime, Richard has organized a local undertaker to come and grab, to collect Grandpa’s body.

[00:46:50] Trevor Long: I mean, plot point, clearly. There’s no pothole. He said you can’t just call an undertaker and say there’s a dead body in my car, would you take it away?

[00:46:56] Stephen Fenech: You didn’t hear what he said?

[00:46:57] Trevor Long: He goes, we were driving along, we thought he was asleep. So you just wrapped him up in the back of the— I think, I think there needs to be an investigation.

[00:47:03] Stephen Fenech: Okay, well, that’s— they took him away and they hit a little box. Here’s his personal effects. And that sort of shook him a bit that that’s all that’s left, sort of.

[00:47:11] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah. Which I assume just has heroin in it.

[00:47:14] Stephen Fenech: His heroin and, uh, well, his porn mags. The cop took the porn.

[00:47:17] Trevor Long: Yeah, that’s right.

[00:47:18] Stephen Fenech: Um, now realizing—

[00:47:21] Trevor Long: they realize, uh, you know, uh, Dwayne, Dwayne and Frank went out to the beach. Yeah, they went, yeah, we’ll go back and chat. So they pop into the pageant and they come quickly out going, oh my God, this is not good for her.

[00:47:34] Stephen Fenech: So they’re worried that she’s out of her element, that she might be humiliated. Richard and Duane try to convince Cheryl to pull Olive out of the competition.

[00:47:47] Movie Audio: [Backstage, Dwayne and Richard plead with Cheryl to pull Olive out so these people don’t judge and laugh at her. Cheryl insists they have to let Olive be Olive, then tells Olive it’s fine if she’d rather sit this one out and they’re proud of her anyway — but Olive goes on.]

[00:49:10] Stephen Fenech: So yeah, she decides, she puts on a little top hat and goes, I mean, I’m going.

[00:49:15] Trevor Long: And at this point you think I’m thinking, cute outfit, like, yeah, this is cool, I like it. Because there’s a moment earlier when she arrives that the guy that signed her in comes up, guys, I need your music, and she gets a CD out of a little Discman, track 12, and, and, and the guy goes, oh, who picked this for you? Cool choice. And she goes, my granddad. And she goes, track 12. And so at that point, so I’m thinking, at my point, because you’ve got to remember, this is the brilliance of this screenplay. The buildup is we know nothing about her.

[00:49:39] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, we don’t know what she’s going to do.

[00:49:40] Trevor Long: She’s watched a lot of pageants And we don’t know anything about her granddad, but I’m thinking, okay, so this is like some Tony Bennett or, you know, something classic because that’s not going to be played by a little 10-year-old girl, right? And so that’s what’s in my mind.

[00:49:52] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, well, I think that that’s a good—

[00:49:55] Trevor Long: that’s what you’re meant to do.

[00:49:56] Stephen Fenech: The surprise of that is a great build-up.

[00:49:58] Trevor Long: And I gotta tell you, you won’t remember that surprise from 20 years ago, but that’s—

[00:50:02] Stephen Fenech: I do remember that surprise.

[00:50:03] Trevor Long: It’s just such a great build-up. It’s really well done throughout the movie that, you know, she’s dedicated, she’s practiced, her grandfather is her mentor.

[00:50:11] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, and we build up to this moment and she’s called to the stage for the talent portion and she says she wants to dedicate her performance to her grandpa.

[00:50:22] Movie Audio: [Olive dedicates her performance to the grandpa who taught her the moves. When the host asks where her grandpa is right now, she answers that he’s in the trunk of their car.]

[00:50:42] Trevor Long: And I laughed out loud so hard at that moment. That was funny. That’s a great line, and she delivered it exceptionally well.

[00:50:50] Stephen Fenech: And then she launches into this incredibly raunchy performance, like a striptease routine set to Rick James’ Super Freak.

[00:51:00] Trevor Long: Super Freak.

[00:51:02] Stephen Fenech: And remember, the moves— Grandpa taught her the moves.

[00:51:05] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:51:05] Stephen Fenech: And it’s like she— he learned it from a strip club.

[00:51:08] Trevor Long: Yeah, Grandpa’s been to some strip clubs and he’s just mimicked these lines. The hands on the bum and the hips wagging and the ripping off of the clothes.

[00:51:15] Stephen Fenech: So you can just imagine how Pageant Karen reacted, right? She’s out of her mind.

[00:51:19] Trevor Long: Everyone’s shocked. Everyone in the audience— there’s mums and pageant queens leaving.

[00:51:23] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, but the head coordinator comes up to Richard and he goes, get your daughter off the stage. And Richard here has to make a decision.

[00:51:32] Trevor Long: Yeah, right.

[00:51:33] Stephen Fenech: Does he embarrass her? Take her off the stage? What does he do?

[00:51:38] Trevor Long: It’s brilliant.

[00:51:39] Stephen Fenech: To his credit, this is the burning point. Yes, he gets up with her and he risks embarrassment. And the rest of the family, Dwayne, Frank and Cheryl also get on stage.

[00:51:51] Trevor Long: Yeah, the Dwayne doing it is the best part to me. Yeah, I thought that was really good. Yeah, that was awesome.

[00:51:57] Stephen Fenech: They’re on stage dancing alongside Olive., and the scene is now a joyous family celebration. Everyone else is still trying to get them off stage, but for some reason they end up at the cop shop.

[00:52:06] Trevor Long: I still don’t quite understand. It wasn’t, it wasn’t actually illegal.

[00:52:10] Stephen Fenech: They didn’t do, commit a crime. No.

[00:52:12] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:52:12] Stephen Fenech: Anyway, they said, look, uh, you’re, you’re free to go, but you’re not allowed to enter a pageant ever again.

[00:52:18] Trevor Long: Ever.

[00:52:18] Stephen Fenech: And we went, yeah, we could live with that.

[00:52:19] Trevor Long: Yeah. And they’re like, yeah, we’re good.

[00:52:21] Stephen Fenech: So the family accepts the condition. They push-start the van together again one last time, pop it into here, and they all jump into the moving vehicle, crash through the parking lot next to Karen, um, and drive down the highway back towards Albuquerque.

[00:52:36] Trevor Long: Ah, it’s very good.

[00:52:37] Stephen Fenech: So no real other resolution apart from just seeing them. I think they’re changed as a family.

[00:52:41] Trevor Long: Yeah, so I mean, you look at it, you go, Richard’s had a bit of an epiphany there at that last minute. Olive now knows she doesn’t want to be a pageant queen. I think she realized that pretty quick.

[00:52:49] Stephen Fenech: Um, you know, Wayne is sort of out of his shell.

[00:52:52] Trevor Long: Dwayne realizes he’s got to find a new path.

[00:52:54] Stephen Fenech: He said, remember the scene with Frank?

[00:52:56] Stephen Fenech: He says, well, stuff it.

[00:52:56] Stephen Fenech: He goes, I’m I’m going to find a way to do it. I don’t care.

[00:52:59] Trevor Long: Yeah, I’m going to find a way to find a way to fly. He might not be a fighter jet pilot, but—

[00:53:03] Stephen Fenech: And even Frank sort of says in that scene, he goes, yeah, you know, I wrote a book that no one read or whatever he said. He said, oh, so they both sort of have their own little epiphanies as well.

[00:53:13] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:53:13] Stephen Fenech: And so end of the movie, they’ve both— they’ve come to the— they’ve confronted what their challenges.

[00:53:20] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:53:21] Stephen Fenech: And leave together as a family having, I think, in a better place. Yeah, yeah, righto. Some of— some quick lines here, you know, this is a Richard line from the dinner table. Well, what do you think your chances are?

[00:53:35] Movie Audio: [At the dinner table, Olive says she thinks she can win because she practises every day. When Frank wishes her luck, Richard tells him luck is the name losers give to their own failings — you’ve got to want it more than anybody else.]

[00:53:57] Stephen Fenech: How often does Cheryl say Richard?

[00:53:58] Trevor Long: Because like, and so these are those moments, and that’s a good example of it, even though he’s so frustrating. Yeah, because Mum’s got to be like, come on, we can’t, we can’t make her think she’s going to win. Yeah, that’s what challenges the parent. Yeah, it’s a challenge of the parent. You’re trying to push them, but you also wanted to realize it’s a real world.

[00:54:14] Stephen Fenech: Just do your best. Yeah, here’s another one, uh, about Grandpa’s heroin You started snorting heroin? I’m old.

[00:54:21] Movie Audio: [Grandpa warns Dwayne not to take drugs while he’s young — when you’re young you’re crazy to do that stuff, but when you get old, you’re crazy not to.]

[00:54:32] Stephen Fenech: Great line. And this is another one where they get pulled over by the cops. Yeah, by the officer.

[00:54:38] Trevor Long: Yep.

[00:54:38] Stephen Fenech: The great line from Richard: Oh Jesus God, I’m being pulled over.

[00:54:45] Movie Audio: [As they’re pulled over, Richard tells everyone to just pretend everything is normal.]

[00:54:54] Stephen Fenech: Pretend to be normal.

[00:54:56] Trevor Long: There’s a body in the boot, but pretend to be normal.

[00:54:58] Stephen Fenech: That’s funny. Right, let’s move on. How did that happen? Some plot holes. I don’t know, uh, my, my plot hole, uh, is the, the pageant itself was a bit confusing. There were 12 contestants they showed sort of different combination of girls and acts, and there were— there were— the sequence jumps around. And anyway, there was— yeah, I don’t think we’re meant to understand the pageant, basically.

[00:55:22] Trevor Long: Probably not. No, I think— I think it’s just the other plot hole.

[00:55:26] Stephen Fenech: And this is according to some research, that according to Frank saying that Dwayne can’t fly because he is colorblind, it is possible for someone to become a pilot even with colorblindness, provided provided the color blindness is not too severe.

[00:55:42] Trevor Long: I don’t think that’s true. I think in the, in the, um, remember he wants to be a fighter jet pilot, right? So it’s— you can be a pilot, okay, no dramas at all, but a fighter jet pilot, because the instruments, you know, a lot of the warning signs are red versus green, and that’s of course huge no-no. So yeah, it’s the armed forces, it’s fighter jet pilots where you can’t be.

[00:56:00] Stephen Fenech: Well, he’ll fly, but maybe not a fighter jet.

[00:56:02] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah.

[00:56:03] Stephen Fenech: Uh, speaker work Workout, great soundtrack.

[00:56:06] Trevor Long: It is good.

[00:56:06] Stephen Fenech: Ollie’s Dancer, teammate, super freak. Every time I think of that song now, I think of that.

[00:56:12] Trevor Long: Yeah, I didn’t get much of a speaker workout, I’ll be honest with you.

[00:56:14] Stephen Fenech: Why is that?

[00:56:15] Trevor Long: I don’t know, just didn’t.

[00:56:16] Stephen Fenech: Oh, you mean the very front face? It had a nice soundtrack, the music, background music.

[00:56:20] Trevor Long: Soundtrack was good. I didn’t feel like they—

[00:56:22] Stephen Fenech: oh no, it was not meant to be a— uh, in fact, I can prove that because I watched this movie in my theater when my grandson was sleeping upstairs, and I said to Hayley, I said, look, I’m going to watch a movie, there’s not going to be much action and explosions. It’s a pretty tame movie, and I was right, but the music was still good and everything else was fine. Uh, thank God I got a big screen. Well, the road trip is one— it was, it was very well— it was good looking film, well, well shot, well framed. The pageant was, it was a spectacle as well, I thought. Yeah, nice, nice on a big screen.

[00:56:56] Trevor Long: Sorry to go back on something here, but do they from Albuquerque?

[00:56:59] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, so they went from Albuquerque—

[00:57:01] Trevor Long: Breaking Bad was set in Albuquerque. What is happening with this movie and Breaking Bad?

[00:57:05] Stephen Fenech: Albuquerque, and it had Bryan Cranston, two major actors. Dean, someone.

[00:57:09] Trevor Long: Yeah, I think— oh, I thought it was Dean Ritchie.

[00:57:11] Stephen Fenech: Dean Ritchie, that’s a Daily Telegraph.

[00:57:13] Trevor Long: Someone else. Yeah, yeah.

[00:57:15] Stephen Fenech: Uh, right, the business, uh, in this case, pageants. Typical rules in Australian pageants, right? Each event is run independently, so the rules vary by the organizer, but common structures include—

[00:57:27] Trevor Long: I just love you’ve gone to this much research, my God.

[00:57:29] Stephen Fenech: Age divisions, so they’re split by age brackets. So youth divisions, uh, you know, 11 to 14, such as such and such. Categories of competition. So there’s the natural photo categories, uh, there’s also the talent section. So children may perform a skill like dancing or singing, formal wear and speaking. So older children are often judged on public speaking confidence and sincerity.

[00:57:53] Trevor Long: Yep.

[00:57:54] Stephen Fenech: And there is a code of conduct. So reputable local organizing force enforce strict family-friendly codes of conduct prohibiting overly adult-themed themed routines and costumes.

[00:58:08] Trevor Long: There you go. I don’t think it’s still police-worthy.

[00:58:10] Stephen Fenech: Little Miss Sunshine, Pageant Karen, was probably doing the— yeah, code of conduct violation. Yeah. Uh, if this movie was made today, really not applicable. It was sort of made 20 years ago, wouldn’t be any different.

[00:58:22] Trevor Long: What would be different?

[00:58:23] Stephen Fenech: No, would there be maybe a little bit more pressure on Olive seeing beauty queens on social media?

[00:58:28] Trevor Long: Probably, yes.

[00:58:29] Stephen Fenech: They’re being sort of body shamed.

[00:58:30] Trevor Long: You could easily have used that instead of the pageant, to be honest.

[00:58:34] Stephen Fenech: Maybe. Every day is a school day. No, I reckon—

[00:58:36] Trevor Long: I’ll stop you right there. If this moves right, you could take the pageant out. Yeah. You could put social media as the thing she watched and adored.

[00:58:42] Stephen Fenech: Yeah.

[00:58:42] Trevor Long: And you could put maybe like make her an up-and-wannabe social media influencer and she ends up doing that dance as a TikTok and she gets—

[00:58:51] Stephen Fenech: and goes viral.

[00:58:52] Trevor Long: Yeah, she goes viral for the wrong reasons.

[00:58:53] Stephen Fenech: Okay.

[00:58:54] Trevor Long: And then you turn it around and she becomes a star because, you know, the Today Show in America get her on because it was so cute. Do you know what I mean?

[00:59:01] Trevor Long: There’s something there.

[00:59:02] Stephen Fenech: But there’s no road trip then.

[00:59:03] Trevor Long: Yeah, we find a way. Like, you had to go to an influencer conference or something.

[00:59:08] Stephen Fenech: All right, every day is a school day. The theme or lesson— well, you see that everyone in the film, right, every character has a fear of failure, risk of failure. So Richard fears he’s going to lose out on his business. He’s been, you know, can’t get his book done. Cheryl is trying to keep the family together. Dwayne is trying to get his ambitions, achieve his ambitions. Frank is humiliated, heartbroken, suicidal. Edwin rejects the, you know, the whole conventions of being an old guy. And Olive is yet not yet, uh, you know, struggling about being judged as well, sort of by society’s standards. So winning Winning is not everything, it can be destructive for some people trying to achieve that. Yeah. So is it, you know, the winner v loser thing that he kept saying through, that’s not really, it’s a fallacy, it’s not real.

[01:00:13] Trevor Long: Yeah, I mean, it’s not a great mantra that he holds. It’s probably why the book didn’t get picked up.

[01:00:19] Stephen Fenech: Perhaps, yeah. And also too, I think the theme is also that failing isn’t the end of the world. Like, what’s the saying? Failure is sort of one closer step to success.

[01:00:32] Trevor Long: Yeah, like, I think there’s a Steve Jobs quote on it.

[01:00:34] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, so your suffering and failures are actually— they humanize you. They’re part of you becoming the person you are.

[01:00:45] Trevor Long: They make you who you are.

[01:00:47] Stephen Fenech: All right, best use of the pause button. I paused it on Richard’s presentation.

[01:00:53] Trevor Long: Oh, what are the 9 steps?

[01:00:56] Stephen Fenech: 9-step program. Number 9, refuse to lose. Number 8, reject rejection. Number 7, think big, act big, be big. Number 6, trust and be trusted. Number 5, good enough is never good enough. 4, say no to the negheads. 3, no hocus pocus, just focus. Number 2, aspiration, inspiration, perspiration. And number 1, giving up, losing, finding a new address in a winner-take-all world.

[01:01:33] Trevor Long: Wow, Richard was destined for failure.

[01:01:35] Stephen Fenech: There you go. Right, things you might not know, uh, there were 5 identical Volkswagen Type 2s used during the filming. Oh wow, I had 5 of them.

[01:01:45] Trevor Long: Jesus.

[01:01:46] Stephen Fenech: Oh. Abigail Breslin, you mentioned, you touched on this, yeah, wore a fat suit.

[01:01:52] Trevor Long: Interesting.

[01:01:52] Stephen Fenech: For this part of Olive.

[01:01:54] Trevor Long: Wow.

[01:01:54] Stephen Fenech: So she’s actually slimmer than what she is, but they put a fat suit on her to make it look a little bit plumper.

[01:01:58] Trevor Long: Yeah, nice. Yeah, because that, like, you know, the swimsuit thing, it’s like, that’s a bit harsh, poor thing.

[01:02:02] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. Um, even though Paul Dano, who plays Dwayne, Toni Collette plays his mum. Yeah, supposed to be mother and son. The age difference between them, have a guess?

[01:02:13] Trevor Long: 10 years?

[01:02:14] Stephen Fenech: 12 years. All right, 12-year difference. Uh, one VW bus that Greg Kinnear drove during the filming is on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

[01:02:26] Trevor Long: Yeah, you’ve seen that? I’ve been there twice.

[01:02:28] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, so you were looking at something you didn’t realize what it was.

[01:02:30] Trevor Long: Exactly right.

[01:02:31] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, I know. Uh, did you notice Duane’s t-shirt?

[01:02:37] Trevor Long: Yeah, it’s— there was a— wasn’t there— was there a couple jeans Jesus.

[01:02:40] Stephen Fenech: No, there was one, there was one he had of an image of a face, right? That was the image used on the Big Brother posters from the 1956 film version of George Orwell’s 1984. Oh yeah. Uh, what’s the meme here? I think it will— the Super Freak. I just— anything with Super Freak in it, that’s gonna work.

[01:03:00] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[01:03:00] Stephen Fenech: Um, winners v losers.

[01:03:02] Trevor Long: There’s something to do with winners. I just don’t know which clip you use.

[01:03:04] Stephen Fenech: Like the one at the— sarcasm is The weapon is the tool of a loser. You know that one? That’s a funny one. Uh, do you eat ice cream?

[01:03:12] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[01:03:13] Stephen Fenech: And the other one from Grandpa: fuck as many women as you can. Yeah, that’d be a funny one.

[01:03:17] Trevor Long: Yeah, that’d be a good gift.

[01:03:18] Stephen Fenech: By any other name? Uh, Olive.

[01:03:23] Trevor Long: I mean, you know what would be funny would be to call it Super Freak.

[01:03:26] Stephen Fenech: Super Freak?

[01:03:27] Trevor Long: Yeah, because you wouldn’t—

[01:03:29] Stephen Fenech: you’d just be thinking there was a movie out at the time, I think called Super Bad.

[01:03:33] Trevor Long: Yeah, right.

[01:03:34] Stephen Fenech: Superbad, remember, with, um, Seth—

[01:03:36] Trevor Long: Seth— what’s his name?

[01:03:38] Stephen Fenech: Seth Rogen and, um, and Jonah Hill. Yeah, and McLovin. Remember that guy McLovin? I met that guy in real life. Um, The Wheels on the Bus may be another, another name for it.

[01:03:48] Trevor Long: No, Stephen.

[01:03:49] Stephen Fenech: The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round.

[01:03:50] Trevor Long: No, Stephen.

[01:03:51] Stephen Fenech: Or On a Winner. No, something with winner and losing. No, no.

[01:03:55] Trevor Long: Okay, what about just The Yellow Bus?

[01:03:56] Stephen Fenech: Little Miss Sunshine. It’s a perfect name.

[01:03:59] Trevor Long: That is good.

[01:04:00] Stephen Fenech: Sunshine.

[01:04:00] Trevor Long: They’ve done it.

[01:04:01] Stephen Fenech: The one thing you want?

[01:04:02] Trevor Long: The bus.

[01:04:03] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, I’ve got—

[01:04:03] Trevor Long: I don’t know why we don’t call it a combi. It’s a combi.

[01:04:05] Stephen Fenech: Olive’s glasses. I’ll take that.

[01:04:07] Trevor Long: Oh, pretty cool.

[01:04:08] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. Dwayne’s t-shirt with the 1984 dude on it. Her perform— Olive’s performance outfit, including the top hat. Yeah, I’ll take that.

[01:04:15] Trevor Long: I’ll put that in a frame.

[01:04:16] Stephen Fenech: Grandpa’s porn mags.

[01:04:20] Trevor Long: Or just his little bum bag.

[01:04:21] Stephen Fenech: His little, his little snorting pipe. What did he have, a bum bag?

[01:04:27] Trevor Long: Did he have— he was always wearing a bum bag. Okay, yeah, his fanny pack is what they call it, which had his heroin in.

[01:04:33] Stephen Fenech: Righto, okay, 3 questions for Trev.

[01:04:36] Trevor Long: All right, hit me.

[01:04:36] Stephen Fenech: What happens to the family now?

[01:04:40] Trevor Long: Um, you know what, Frank, Frank’s good.

[01:04:44] Stephen Fenech: Frank gets it together, back into it.

[01:04:45] Trevor Long: Yep, he moves out but visits more regularly. Yep, Olive finds some— this, I mean, no, they’re good. But Richard just gets a real job and they live a typical American life, do you know what I mean? Like, he doesn’t—

[01:04:58] Stephen Fenech: so he doesn’t hit it big on the speech, on the circuit.

[01:05:03] Trevor Long: He fails.

[01:05:03] Stephen Fenech: Doesn’t publish a book. No, he doesn’t. Self-publish, mate.

[01:05:06] Trevor Long: Self-publishing, good luck, it won’t work.

[01:05:07] Stephen Fenech: Good idea. Okay, uh, question 2: sequel, prequel, or leave it alone?

[01:05:11] Trevor Long: I was just about to say, you could sequel this.

[01:05:13] Stephen Fenech: I reckon there’s a sequel.

[01:05:14] Trevor Long: You could sequel the crap out of this.

[01:05:15] Stephen Fenech: I reckon the sequel would be Olive a little bit older. Yes, facing another challenge in her life maybe, or, you know, she’s starting dating.

[01:05:25] Trevor Long: Sequel it with a 14-year-old protective brother and under modern pressures of social media. It’s the same ice cream, the same ice cream theme.

[01:05:32] Stephen Fenech: Yes, could run through it, I reckon too.

[01:05:35] Trevor Long: Yeah, that’d be fun.

[01:05:36] Stephen Fenech: Uh, Michael Arndt probably won’t write that. Michael Arndt, by the way, uh, co-wrote The Force Awakens, you know, Star Wars.

[01:05:43] Trevor Long: No wonder we’re doing this movie.

[01:05:45] Stephen Fenech: Uh, it’s question 3: too long, too short, or just right?

[01:05:48] Trevor Long: It was a touch long.

[01:05:50] Stephen Fenech: What, like 10 minutes? An hour and 40 minutes?

[01:05:52] Trevor Long: No, it wasn’t.

[01:05:52] Stephen Fenech: It was an hour 40.

[01:05:54] Trevor Long: Okay, it should have been an hour 30.

[01:05:55] Stephen Fenech: I was going to say, you— this is in your wheelhouse.

[01:05:58] Trevor Long: Close.

[01:05:59] Stephen Fenech: All right, give us your wrap-up and rating.

[01:06:02] Trevor Long: No, I quite enjoyed it. It’s a good story, it’s a fun yarn. I didn’t love the dead grandpa thing. It just—

[01:06:07] Stephen Fenech: I felt like that was hilarious.

[01:06:08] Trevor Long: I feel like— no, I— yeah, the hilarity of him dying playing, and the line that she used was great, but it just felt less believable at that point. I know it’s not meant to be a believable movie, but yeah, it just— I struggled with it a little bit. But I loved it. Steve Carell is a genius. Yeah, like a genuine genius.

[01:06:26] Stephen Fenech: All of them are.

[01:06:26] Trevor Long: And I, to be honest, I think Dwayne was unbelievable.

[01:06:29] Stephen Fenech: Paul Dano.

[01:06:30] Trevor Long: He played that part so well.

[01:06:33] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, he’s a good actor. He’s been in a lot of other good movies.

[01:06:35] Trevor Long: So yeah, I think it’s a fun one. Everyone should have— should see it at some point. For me, uh, you know, I compared this to 40-Year-Old Virgin. I thought, is this better? I put this one half a point above that, so I gave it a 7.5.

[01:06:46] Stephen Fenech: 7.5? Yeah, I gave this a 9. Wow, this is 9 for me.

[01:06:51] Trevor Long: That’s just a lot.

[01:06:52] Stephen Fenech: You know what, just the purity of the screenplay, the structure— this is like textbook screenplay. Okay, in story, writing the screenplay, I was writing the finished product, the finished The product is a reflection of that amazing structure.

[01:07:06] Trevor Long: And, and it’s not the Warriors, calm down. 7.5 is a good score for me.

[01:07:10] Stephen Fenech: That’s your opinion, that’s great. Yeah, let’s talk about next week, shall we? We’re going back to 1992 and you’re gonna love this. Okay, this is a baseball movie. Yeah, baseball. A League of Their Own.

[01:07:22] Trevor Long: Oh, the women’s baseball.

[01:07:23] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, so this is when the women—

[01:07:25] Trevor Long: Rosie O’Donnell.

[01:07:26] Stephen Fenech: Uh, yes, Geena Davis and Tom Hanks. Okay, this is when during the war where the men were off fighting famous women in it. There is, that’s my question, just relax a second. Okay, she, uh, they play in the, the, uh, the women are playing the major leagues because the men are off fighting wars. The war—

[01:07:42] Trevor Long: can I buzz in now?

[01:07:43] Stephen Fenech: Um, which music star has a significant role?

[01:07:48] Trevor Long: Is it Madonna?

[01:07:49] Stephen Fenech: Is it Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Gloria Estefan, or Madonna?

[01:07:55] Trevor Long: It’s Madonna! I got this!

[01:07:57] Trevor Long: I’ve not seen the movie, but I must—

[01:07:59] Stephen Fenech: How the hell did you know that?

[01:08:01] Trevor Long: I feel like I’ve seen an interview with Rosie O’Donnell recently.

[01:08:04] Trevor Long: Yeah, where it was mentioned.

[01:08:06] Stephen Fenech: You got it right before I even asked the question.

[01:08:07] Trevor Long: That’s the first— That’s the best I’ve ever done in 257 episodes. Best I’ve done.

[01:08:12] Stephen Fenech: All right, well, you’re gonna love that. A League of Their Own, that’s next week’s show. But I’m glad you, uh, we got to Little Miss Sunshine.

[01:08:18] Trevor Long: Very nice, mate.

[01:08:18] Stephen Fenech: See you next week.

[01:08:19] Trevor Long: See you, mate.