Film Quote of the Day: The 'Little Miss Sunshine' Line That Redefined What It Means to Lose
"A real loser is someone who's so afraid of not winning they don't even try."
One of my absolute favorite movies of all time is Little Miss Sunshine; it's a dark comedy with a big heart that wraps you in a big hug.
This movie was huge in the early 2000s, and I actually feel like it birthed a new wave of 2000s indie films that were able to break out into the mainstream.
The film was written by Michael Arndt (who won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his efforts) and directed by Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton. The story follows a dysfunctional family driving 800 miles to get seven-year-old Olive (Abigail Breslin) to a beauty pageant. And we see how their lives are all falling apart as they go, but what unites them is a deep love for one another.
For me, it was one of those films that made me want to work in Hollywood. It lit a spark underneath me, and to this day, I go back to it any time I need to be inspired.
It sort of dismantles the "win at all costs" ethos of modern culture and instead tells a noble tale about a group of people who are giving life their best shot.
And it sums all that up in one unforgettable quote.
Let's dive in.
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
The Scene In Question
This is a road trip movie where the family is traveling to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant. And in the scene in question, they're taking a quiet pit stop on their journey to California.
In the scene, Olive and her Grandpa are sharing a hotel room. Olive is still reeling from a conversation she had with her Dad, Richard (Greg Kinnard), who is a struggling motivational speaker.
Richard's whole schtick is that the world is divided into two kinds of people—"winners" and "losers." And losing is a moral failure.
Olive has heard him say this to her over and over, and now she's worried that if she loses the pageant, she'll be a loser forever. And her dad won't love her.
Well, Grandpa can't let her believe that, so when she probes him for answers, Grandpa offers her some wisdom that I think every writer and probably every person needs to hear.
He tells her, "A real loser is someone who's so afraid of not winning they don't even try."
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
Why This Matters
How many years have you been trying to achieve your best life in Hollywood? That might be breaking in or working consistently or getting repped, but whatever it is, you have to try to do it.
You can't just exist out here and hope a job comes to you.
And you can't tell people you're a writer or a director if you never make anything.
You have to try to be in Hollywood. It doesn't mean every shot you take will be a good one, but it means you have to take them.
Now, this movie is not about Hollywood, but it kind of is about it, justl ike it;s about many other walks of life, because it carries universal themes.
Scenes like this remind us that a story only resonates when the emotional stakes mirror a pain the audience recognizes in real life.
The fear of being a "loser" is universal, but for creatives, it hits extra close to home.
Other Great Little Miss Sunshine Quotes
There are so many great quotes from this movie I couldn't just leave you with one of them. I knew we had to have a few more to look at and laugh with.
High School and Marcel Proust
Dwayne: I wish I could just sleep until I was eighteen and skip all this crap—high school and everything—just skip it.
Frank: Do you know who Marcel Proust is?
Dwayne: He's the guy you teach.
Frank: Yeah. French writer. Total loser. Never had a real job. Unrequited love affairs. Gay. Spent 20 years writing a book almost no one reads. But he's also probably the greatest writer since Shakespeare. Anyway, he uh... he gets down to the end of his life, and he looks back and decides that all those years he suffered, those were the best years of his life, 'cause they made him who he was. All those years he was happy? You know, total waste. Didn't learn a thing. So, if you sleep until you're 18... Ah, think of the suffering you're gonna miss. I mean high school? High school—those are your prime suffering years. You don't get better suffering than that.
"Go Hug Mom"
Dwayne: (writes on a piece of paper to Olive while Sheryl is crying) Go Hug Mom
Dedicated to Grandpa
Olive: I'd like to dedicate this to my grandpa, who showed me these moves.
Pageant MC: Aww, that is so sweet. Is he here? Where's your grandpa right now?
Olive: In the trunk of our car.
"Do you think there's a Heaven?"
Olive: Do you think there's a Heaven?
Frank: Well, it's hard to say, Olive. I don't think anyone knows for sure.
Olive: I know, but what do you think?
Frank: Well... um... uh...
Olive: I think there is.
Frank: Think I'll get in?
Olive: Yeah.
Frank: Promise?
Olive: Yeah.
"Fuck beauty contests."
Dwayne: You know what? Fuck beauty contests. Life is one fucking beauty contest after another. You know, school, then college, then work, fuck that. And fuck the Air Force Academy. If I wanna fly, I'll find a way to fly. You do what you love, and fuck the rest.
Frank: I'm glad you're talking again, Dwayne. You're not nearly as stupid as you look.
The Refuge of Losers
Richard: Sarcasm is the refuge of losers.
Frank: (sarcastically) It is? Really?
Richard: Sarcasm is losers trying to bring winners down to their level.
Frank: (sarcastically) Wow, Richard, you've really opened my eyes to what a loser I am. How much do I owe you for those pearls of wisdom?
Richard: Oh, that one's on the house.
"That's how tired I am."
Grandpa: Jesus, I'm tired. I'm so fucking tired. You know how tired I am? If a girl came up to me and begged me to fuck her, I couldn't do it. That's how tired I am.
"Welcome to hell."
Frank: Good night, Dwayne.
Dwayne: (scribbles on notepad) Don't kill yourself tonight.
Frank: Not on your watch, Dwayne. I wouldn't do that to you.
Dwayne: (on notepad) Welcome to hell.
Frank: Thanks, Dwayne. Coming from you that means a lot.
"That makes one of us."
Sheryl: I'm so glad you're still here.
Frank: Well, that makes one of us.
Beautiful Inside and Out
Olive: Grandpa, am I pretty?
Grandpa: Olive, you are the most beautiful girl in the whole world.
Olive: Nah, you're just saying that.
Grandpa: No, I'm not. I'm madly in love with you, and it's not because of your brains or your personality. It's because you're beautiful, inside and out.
"You fell in love with a boy?"
Olive: Why were you unhappy?
Frank: I fell in love with someone... who didn't love me back.
Olive: Who?
Frank: One of my grad students. I was very much in love with him.
Olive: Him? You fell in love with a boy?
Frank: Very much so.
Olive: That's silly.
Frank: You're right, it was silly. It was very silly.
Grandpa: That's another word for it.
"Pretend to be normal."
Richard: Oh my God, I'm getting pulled over. Everyone, just... pretend to be normal.
"I Hate Everyone"
Frank: So who do you hang around with?
(Dwayne shakes his head)
Frank: No one?
(Dwayne whips out a pen and writes on a notepad: "I Hate Everyone.")
Frank: What about your family?
(Dwayne deeply underlines "Everyone")
Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt
Olive: Do you eat ice cream?
Miss California: Yes. My favorite is Chocolate Cherry Garcia... except technically I think it's a frozen yogurt.
Grandpa's Advice on Women
Grandpa: Fuck a lotta women, kid, I have no reason to lie to you. Not just one, a lotta women.
Richard: Okay, Dad, I think we get it.
Grandpa: Are you getting it? Is it going in anywhere? No, don't show me the pad. I don't wanna see the fucking pad.
"The goddamned fucking chicken!"
Grandpa: Every night it's the fucking chicken! Holy God Almighty! Is it possible just once we could get something to eat for dinner around here that's not the goddamned fucking chicken?
A Little Treat
Frank: I am going to get something to drink. You want anything?
Grandpa: Yeah, get me some porn. Get me something really nasty too, I don't want any of that airbrushed shit.
Frank: Okay.
Grandpa: Okay, here's a $20. Get yourself a little treat too, get yourself a fag rag.
Frank: All right, I will.
"Are you gettin' any?"
Grandpa: Are you gettin' any?
Richard: Dad!
Grandpa: You can tell me, Dwayne. Are you gettin' any?
Richard: Come on, please.
(Dwayne shakes his head)
Grandpa: No? Jesus. You're what? Fifteen? My God, man!
Richard: Dad!
Grandpa: You should be gettin' that young stuff.
Richard: Dad!
Grandpa: That young stuff is the best stuff in the whole world.
Richard: Hey! Hey! Dad! That's enough! Stop it!
Grandpa: Will you kindly not interrupt me, Richard! See, right now you're jailbait, they're jailbait. It's perfect. I mean, you hit 18, man! You're talkin' about three to five.
"Where's Olive?"
Frank: (reading Dwayne's notepad) "Where's Olive?"...
Sheryl: Oh!
Regaining Consciousness
Sheryl: What did he say?
Richard: I'll tell you when I regain consciousness.
"No one gets left behind!"
Frank: No one gets left behind! No one gets left behind! Outstanding soldier! Outstanding!
Leaving California Pageants Behind
Officer Martinez: Okay, you're out. On the condition that you never enter your daughter in a beauty pageant in the state of California, ever again. Ever.
Frank: I think we can live with that.
"Politics."
Olive: What are you guys talking about?
Grandpa: Politics.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Frank: Who is that? Nietzsche? So you stopped talking because of Friedrich Nietzsche? Far out.
"FUCK YOU! I can say what I want!"
Richard: Hey, I will pull this truck over, right now!
Grandpa: So, pull the truck over! You're not gonna shut me up! FUCK YOU! I can say what I want!
Breaking the Silence
Dwayne: FUUUUUUCK!
"She's kickin' ass..."
Pageant Official Jenkins: What is your daughter doing?
Richard: She's kickin' ass... that's what she's doing.
Snorting Heroin
Sheryl: He started snorting heroin.
Frank: You started snorting heroin?
Grandpa: Let me tell ya, don't do that stuff. When you're young, you're crazy to do that shit.
Frank: Well, what about you?
Grandpa: What about me? I'm old. When you're old, you're crazy not to do it.
Finding the Dressing Rooms
Pageant Assistant Pam: Are you authorized to be here?
Dwayne: No. Where are the dressing rooms?
Girl in Hallway: Are you allowed to be here?
Dwayne: Just tell me where the dressing rooms are!
The Preeminent Scholar
Frank: Have I mentioned that I am the preeminent Proust scholar in the US?
Winners and Losers
Richard: There's two kinds of people in this world, there's winners and there's losers. Okay, you know what the difference is? Winners don't give up.
Dwayne's Breakdown
Sheryl: Dwayne, for better or worse, we're your family...
Dwayne: No, you're not my family, okay? I don't want to be your family! I hate you fucking people! I hate you! Divorce? Bankrupt? Suicide? You're fucking losers! You are losers! No, please just leave me here, Mom. Okay? Please, please. Please just leave me here.
"Grandpa won't wake up."
Olive: Mom? Dad?
Richard: What is it, hon?
Olive: Grandpa won't wake up.
"Not going to have any fun."
Frank: (reading Dwayne's notepad) But. I. Am. Not. Going. To. Have. Any. Fun. Yeah, we're all with ya on that one, Dwayne.
A La Mode
Frank: Did you know that "a la mode", in French, translates literally to "in the fashion"? A la moooode... It comes from the Latin word modus to do or proper measure.
Richard: Frank, shut up.
The Equestrian Thing
Richard: It's this Sunday? Why can't Jeff and Cindy take her?
Sheryl: They have some equestrian thing in Santa Barbara.
Richard: You know, they do that horse shit every single weekend.
Sheryl: Well, it's the nationals. They're taking both horses, so apparently it's a big deal.
Proud of Olive
Richard: You know, Olive, Grandpa would have been proud of you today.
Olive: Really?
Sheryl: You were great.
Frank: You were better than great.
Dwayne: You were incredible.
Dwayne's Apology
Dwayne: I apologize for the things I said. I was upset, and I didn't really mean them.
"Meat on her bones."
Grandpa: Olive, Richard is an idiot. I like a woman with meat on her bones.
Larry Sugarman
Frank: He fell in love with another man, a colleague of mine; Larry Sugarman.
Sheryl: Who's Larry Sugarman?
Frank: Probably the second highest regarded Proust scholar in the US.
Richard: Who's number 1?
Frank: That would be me, Rich.
Richard: Really?
Discovering Colorblindness
Olive: Mom, Dwayne's got 20/20 vision!
Sheryl: I bet he does...
Olive: Now, let's see if you're colorblind. What's the letter in the circle? No, in the circle. The letter... in the circle?
Frank: Can you see a letter, Dwayne?
Olive: It's an A. See? Right there?
Frank: It's bright green. Oh man. Dwayne, I think you might be colorblind. You can't fly jets if you're colorblind.
"I will kill those little fuckers!"
Frank: (as audience members boo Olive's performance) Where are they? I will kill those little fuckers!
Looking for a Funeral Home
Kirby: Your packet has tickets in it, and there's your badge number.
Richard: Okay.
Kirby: Is there anything else?
Richard: Uh, yeah. Is there a funeral home around here?
Sunset Manor
Frank: I take it you didn't like it at Sunset Manor?
Sheryl: Frank...
Grandpa: Are you kidding me? It was a fucking paradise. They got pool... They got golf... Now I'm stuck with Mr. Happy here, sleeping on a fucking sofa. Look, I know you are a homo and all, but maybe you can appreciate this. You go to one of those places, there's four women for every guy. Can you imagine what that's like?
Frank: You must have been very busy.
Grandpa: Ho oh. I had second-degree burns on my johnson, I kid you not.
Frank: Really?
Grandpa: Forget about it.
Summing It All Up
Great screenwriting is rare. This is a movie with a great script by a great writer, and it should be celebrated. It was able to find universal ideas inside it, and the reason we're still talking about it is that it holds a special place for creatives.
So, the next time you're staring at a blank page, remember Edwin's advice: the only real failure is staying on the sidelines.
So get out there and try to be somebody.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
