Valerie Faris Movies

A young author creates a character based on his dream girl, and gets the surprise of his life when she turns out to be real. Celebrated novelist Calvin (Paul Dano) used to be the darling of the literary scene; now he's wondering if he'll ever actually write another book. His inspiration at an all-time low, Calvin creates Ruby (screenwriter/co-star Zoe Kazan) and the ideas start flowing. A week later, when Ruby shows up in Calvin's apartment completely smitten, the lonely writer begins to fear he's losing his mind. Elliott Gould, Chris Messina, and Annette Bening also star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

When a pudgy, bespectacled seven-year-old, Olive (Abigail Breslin), voices her desire to take home the coveted Little Miss Sunshine crown at an upcoming beauty pageant, her wildly dysfunctional family sets out on an interstate road trip to ensure her a clear shot at realizing her dreams in former music video directorial team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' quirky feature debut, starring Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, and Toni Collette. Despite early career success as an outspoken motivational speaker, family patriarch Richard (Kinnear) continues to cling to his "Refuse to Lose" philosophy, much to the chagrin of his increasingly annoyed spouse, Sheryl (Collette). Add into the mix a Nietzsche-reading teenage son (Paul Dano) who has taken a vow of silence until he finds his fate as a fighter pilot; a horny, heroin-happy grandfather (Alan Arkin) with a penchant for creative profanity; and a suicidal genius (Carell) and Proust scholar still reeling about losing both his male lover and his MacArthur Foundation genius grant -- and the stage is set for a road trip in which sanity is sure to take the back seat. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi