Sunshine Cleaning Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
life's a messy business.
In order to raise the tuition to send her young son to private school, a mom starts an unusual business — a biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up service — with her unreliable sister.
| Amy Adams | Rose Lorkowski |
| Emily Blunt | Norah |
| Alan Arkin | Joe |
| Jason Spevack | Oscar |
| Steve Zahn | Mac |
| Mary Lynn Rajskub | Lynn |
| Clifton Collins Jr. | Winston |
| Eric Christian Olsen | Randy |
| Paul Dooley | Sherm |
| Kevin Chapman | Carl |
| Judith Jones | Paula Datzman-Mead |
| Amy Redford | Heather |
| Christopher Dempsey | Gun Shop Suicide |
| Vic Browder | Gun Shop Owner |
| Ivan Brutsche | Above and Beyond Worker |
| Christine Jeffs |
7.40 out of 10 (3049 votes)
Visitor Reviews
The one aspect of CSI they don't tell you about
posted on 23 Aug 2009Emotionally candid, appealingly unpredictable low-budget dramedy features a game cast and admirable use of New Mexico locations but is ultimately less misanthropic and cathartic than its cinematic forebear, 2006's LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (from the same producers). Two twentyish, struggling sisters--Amy Adams' Rose Lorkowski and Emily Blunt's Norah-- in contemporary Albuquerque combine their talents into starting their own crime-scene clean-up service (the only thing missing from their rusty 'Sunshine Cleaning' equipment van is an ongoing audible ice-cream jingle as they head to their next assignment) but their core divisive motivations into enlarging and profiting off the putrid, isolated nature of the profession seeps into much of their personal lives and romances, ultimately exposing the fragile, tragic reason for their tenuous relationship (involving their late mother) and leading into a contrasty concluding final half increasingly alternating between warmly supportive embraces and icy interpersonal stances. Megan Holley's script is somewhat comical regarding the sisters' supposedly threadbare existence (mended throughout with the strong, understanding guidance of their nearby, widowed, salesman Dad, played by Alan Arkin) and persistent distaste with their new & bloody tasks (alleviated with the help of a young local biograde equipment wholesaler played by Clifton Collins, Jr.) and her expansive narrative structuring for such a tiny project--with its very highly multiple use of offices, driveways, lobbies, and gore-splattered rooms--indoctrinate the audience well into the girl's predicament and immediate economic dilemma. Yet some of the inclusions are narratively suspect and oft-putting (making a major point of Rose dating a cop and putting her OCD-ridden son played by Jason Spevack into private school should automatically disqualify her from 'struggling') and I found the unwillingness of the staging by director Christine Jeffs to form a central thematic statement either through Rose, Norah or the characters as a whole in their locale a loss of opportunity (Jeffs' eye and camera coverage is more visually pleasing than LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE--features and close-ups of the actors are vivid and attractive--but much of the nature of MISS SUNSHINE's comparative crossovers, pop-ups and effortive struggling don't appear to be yet part of Jeff's own lexicon. I get the impression there was much more joking in the set designs or costumes than what really ends up on screen). Adams' milkfed Mid-Western pragmatism and wholesomeness befits her very well as she patiently scrubs, grooms, and sighs her way through a series of setbacks (yet I found her not as unself-possessed and vulnerable in the character's romantic and upper-middle-class-scaled desires as the script required. The longer European cut of the film maybe fleshes this out more, however.) and combined with Blunt's Mid-Atlantic-tinged haughtiness (very skilled with props or over-sized set conditions like room decay or train tracks to react with appropriate nausea or genuine wonder) the two generate believable and funny chemistry (they might even look funnier together than anything that could be written). I think a more focused sequel or another film featuring these two is a great idea--SUNSHINE CLEANING is entertaining, enlivening, and not undemanding in the best independent-movie way but the basic story of two sisters starting their own crime-scene clean-up business (honestly, in the end there really is not that much in the film about that concept in relation to everything else) must have come off much funnier or ironically tragic on paper than what ends up on screen.
"Sunshine Cleaning" is dry at times! But Blunt, Collins Jr., and Adams cleaned up the dry mess!
posted on 16 Jul 2009A female film director helmed the dramedy "Sunshine Cleaning". Why must all the females do all the cleaning? Before you get the National Organization for Woman (N.O.W.) right now on my ass, I meant that as a heartfelt compliment. By the way, the auteur's name is Christine Jeffs, and there were some aspects of her film that felt like the old adventures of past indie comedies from this new Christine. "Sunshine Cleaning" stars Amy Adams & Emily Blunt as sisters Rose & Norah Lorkowski. Rose is a gentle maid trying to make everything look rosy and tidy for her bosses, while the younger sis Norah is not made to hold down a job due to her rebellious nature. Rose has a young son named Oscar (Jason Spevack) who is one curious young cat. Norah still lives with semi-loony pop Joe Lorwoski played by Alan Arkin. Rose does have some thorny issues to deal with such as: transferring her son to a Private School, sleeping in hotels with married cop Mac (Steven Zahn), and struggling to make ends meet. In order to gather the funding for her son's private school tuition, Rose starts her own "crime scene" sanitary cleaning business; And yes, you bloody got it, it is cleaning up the messy bloody remains from dead people. She Cleans Dead People!! Since it is a career choice nobody wants to wants to put their hands into, it does has its lucrative opportunities. So "there will be blood" in order for "there will be money". And again yes, you bloody got it one more time, Rose's business is called 'Sunshine Cleaning". Rose asks Norah to be her assistant, and before you can say "The Organic Spic & Span Sisters", they start getting the many jobs and the clean money. However, "Sunshine Cleaning" primarily touches up on how the sisters want to clean themselves of enduring emotional pain caused by self-esteem and family suicidal issues. A subplot of Norah befriending a lesbian loner for a hidden personal agenda was one of the wishy-washy parts of "Sunshine Cleaning" even though it had a relevant undertone. No doubt that Amy Adams was once again enchanting here with her performance as Rose. But to be blunt with you, I enjoyed Emily Blunt's effort as Norah even more. Ms. Blunt was sensational here on all character facets. Alan Arkin was trying to do a takeoff on his Oscar-winning "Little Miss Sunshine" performance as the caring & candid father/grandfather. Let's just say that the sun will not shine an Oscar light this time around for Arkin. I did vastly enjoy the understated but winning performance of Clifton Collins Jr. as Winston, a one-armed sanitary cleansing products store owner who befriends Rose. I think it was the one-armed man who had the elite male performance of "Sunshine Cleaning". Again, Jeffs did strike too many familiar chords within the emotional elements of "Sunshine Cleaning", but then again she cleaned house getting power-packed performances from Blunt, Collins Jr., and Adams. Screenwriter Megan Holley did scribe up some "Holley S*it" unpredictable dialogue in the film's comedic cleansing moments; but dirtied "Sunshine Cleaning" with too many irrelevant words in some dramatic scenes. Maybe I am no Mr. Clean myself, and in no way am I throwing the "paper towel" to the movie, but in the end- "Sunshine Cleaning" will not be the movie sunshine of your 2009 movie life as I hoped it would be. *** Average
Mediocre at best
posted on 14 Jul 2009This movie was only OK. Alan Arkin and Clifton Collins Jr. stole the few scenes, they were in, with tremendous acting. Entertaining film, but many loose ends. How did Winston lose his arm ? I would have liked to know. They could have added the answer to the nice scene where child and Winston were bonding. Maybe have Rose ex boyfriend , that knocked her up come back into her life ; At least for a scene or 2. The movie could have used more surprises. The fact our beloved protagonist was having an illicit affair with a married man, made it awfully hard to root for her to succeed. The idea was refreshing. I will give the writers that. I ,of course, wanted the movie to be better, but it simply was not. Why did the movie veer off , with Norah trying to find the daughter of a recently deceased mother? I thought that was silly. Overall, a disappointment. I expected more.
I recommend the pecan pie ... Sunshine Cleaning
posted on 02 Jul 2009Sometimes it takes a while for a film to be shown to the masses, no matter how much praise is lauded on it. After being buzzed at Sundance in 2008, it took a complete year before Sunshine Cleaning got out to the public. Thankfully it finally got its shot because this film is a definite gem. The title begs comparison to another Sundance favorite, Little Miss Sunshine, and the trailer even attempts to ride that to financial success, but don't be misled. While that film had some drama and weighty issues to contend with, it was a comedy when all was said and done. This tale of two sisters, coping with the lives they have squandered, still coming to grips with their mother's suicide so many years before, has a powerful story underneath the subtle humor. Cleaning becomes a major theme with lead Rose Lorkowski as a maid trying to support herself and her son, but eventually turning that into the lucrative business of crime scene hazard removal. However, in the end, the real cleaning concerns her life's missteps and lack of self-worth. It is Rose that needs reworking, disposing of the toxins and opening her eyes to life's greatest gift—the ability to help and be appreciated for it.Amy Adams is simply brilliant in this role. She takes the strong vulnerability that vaulted her onto the map in Junebug and mixes it with the cute, humorous girl that comes through her comedic roles, whether forgettable as in Talladega Nights or charming as in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. Her performance as Rose expresses the multitude of emotions buried deep within her. The pain of growing up without a mother, let alone one she found dead in a bathtub, is one thing, but having to then help raise her little sister just added a weight to her shoulders that she could never truly take off. As her character says later on, she has never been good in many things, but one of those was sharing. Rose shared her entire life, in fact, probably gave more away than she kept for herself.Having to mature so quick, looking after her sister, watching over her father as he goes from one get rich quick scheme to the next, and eventually raising a child of her own, by herself, meant that other aspects of her life never quite evolved in the same way. She latched on to those that showed an interest, becoming one of the popular girls—cheerleading and dating the captain of the football team, etc—because that was her way to be a normal kid. However, once school ended, she still had all the troubles she did before, therefore needing to keep attached to what she thought she could count on. It goes to such an extent that she still sees that old flame nightly at motels, (an interesting turn for Steve Zahn as a jock, opposed to the usual goofball geek he's been relegated to), while he is married with kids of his own. It is never actually said, but he may also be the father of her son Oscar. Only the threat of putting this son into a school for those with learning disabilities gets her to take stock and do something for herself.That new profession becomes the catalyst for change, a stability that had always been absent in her world as well as a venue to connect with her family once again. Sure it brings some laughs, I mean how can two beautiful women walking into a job cleaning up blood and guts, without the slightest clue how, not be at least marginally humorous? It also allows for the inclusion of some strong supporting players that help both her and sister Nora find their way. You cannot deny the appeal of Alan Arkin as the patriarch; he has definitely shored up all parts in Hollywood for the eccentric, slightly off his rocker grandfather. But it was a surprisingly effective turn from Mary Lynn Rajskub and the greatness of my perpetual favorite Clifton Collins Jr. that stand out. Rajskub becomes someone that Nora relates to.And while Adams is the star, you can't help but wonder what the film would have been without Emily Blunt's turn as Nora. She is troubled, depressed, and without a clear path for herself. You truly see her only when she is unencumbered by familial obligations, but unfortunately that true self, while washing away the sarcasm and masks built to hide, is a mess of emotional grief. Watching her trestle, seeing the utter jubilation turn to sobbing as the memories of the day her mother died seep through, is devastating. Sunshine Cleaning is about these two women discovering their true inner voices, accepting each other, as well as themselves. Rose cares so much about what others think of her and Nora doesn't care at all. The two need to help find a livable medium in order to continue on before they end up like their mother.There is so much heart and character serving as the backbone to this story that I almost feel bad at how it was marketed as a feel-good comedy. It is definitely a feel-good film, but it is not as clear-cut as you may expect. Not everything is answered and not everything is rectified. You can't just blindly forgive people, no matter who they are. However, when the end credits role, you will see an evolution in character for all three of the Lorkowski clan's older members. Life has its ups and downs, but as long as you have each other, no problem is unsolvable. It is one thing to look in a mirror every morning and say that you are strong and powerful, it's a complete other to wake up and truly believe it.
sun shines out of your trash
posted on 26 Jun 2009Not another premise movie, gosh! This is a movie with no ambition beyond its kitschy idea. It's a display of some writing team's creativity, filmed with the hope that you admire their "cool movie topic". The idea is unoriginal and improperly presented as comedy. In Sunshine Cleaning, Amy Adams and Emily Blunt clean blood off the walls of homes where people died. This could be funny if the movie abandoned any pretense of seriousness but it doesn't. In between cleaning sequences, melodrama is needlessly introduced. Because this is a bad premise movie, what happens between characters has little to do with the premise. At least one interaction involves the plot in some way.Amy Adams plays Rose Lorkowski, a has-been maid who never succeeded at doing anything other than being pretty. Her sister Norah (Emily Blunt) does not seem to have matured past age 16 and still enjoys partying with younger people. These two characters do not bother me, but Alan Arkin should not have been cast as Joe, their father. Norah, with blue highlights, could be mistaken as Joe's young adult granddaughter. Arkin is typecast in the same role he had in Little Miss Sunshine. Alan's supporting role in that film was superb because it was part of the larger narrative. In Sunshine Cleaning, his dialog with his grandchild is tangential to overarching story. Instead of supporting the film's general humor, it becomes isolated and ineffective over time.Rose and Norah learn that cleaning gore would net them higher income than traditional maid services and unemployment and they begin working. This is funny for a few scenes. Seeing the aftermath of a crime is not intrinsically funny, however. Something has to happen to make it so. Maybe a few lines from the victim's family about how they will save money since grandpa kicked the can or how they won't have to buy birthday presents would be OK. We only see a victim's family member one time and she is disturbed. Rose cries too. People aren't supposed to cry like that in comedies. Emotional tears are reserved for dramas, romances, and horror films. If categorized as drama Sunshine Cleaning also flounders. Too much emphasis is given to visual sensation. The gore and Rose's one-armed love interest detract from what we are asked to care about. With its serious tone and occasionally lighthearted moments, I suggest someone remake this movie as a horror film. Plans fall apart when Norah accidentally ignites a house she was cleaning while Rose attends a baby shower for a friend. Rose and Norah do not speak again until the plot demands it. They are financially and ethically bankrupt now, so why not use that to their advantage? Joe proposes their "sunshine cleaning" should continue in another city with Norah uninvolved. And the cycle is to continue I guess. All while the movie's internal clock moves, Rose's son does not attend school. Apparently he is too weird and bothers other students. Dare I not ascertain why. It's a contrivance that Joe uses to force humor. Sunshine Cleaning should be congratulated for not adhering to the clichés of independent cinema. It is neither funny nor heartfelt. This movie could have been a character study, comedy, drama, romance, or even horror film had it been directed with insight. As it is, the film jumbles elements of all genres without deciding which it wishes to be.** out of *****
Blood Is Still Thicker Than Water (and soap)
posted on 16 Jun 2009This is one of those little films with heart. Amy Adams (most recently seen in the superb 'Doubt'),and Emily Blunt (currently seen in 'The Great Buck Howard')are sisters who form a business,cleaning up bloody,gory crime scenes. Their characters differ some what. One is a single Mother of a somewhat troubled 8 year old,in her 30's,having an affair with a married policeman,while the other is a rootless,drifting from one crappy job to another,slacker. Veteran actor,Alan Arkin is their father,who is involved in one failed "get rich quick" scheme after another. This is quality,quirky film making at it's best. Fraternal bonds seem to be the central theme here. This film was produced last year,but seems to be getting a late (but most welcome)distribution just now. Rated 'R' by the MPAA,this film contains raunchy language,disturbing images of the after effects of crime scenes,and adult situations. May not be an ideal choice for youngsters under 12 years of age.
Adams and Blunt are remarkable
posted on 29 May 2009Of late, independent films seem to fall into three ruts; the quirky indie film, the contrived indie film and the quirkily contrived indie film. Thankfully, for the most part, Sunshine Cleaning manages to avoid these associated pitfalls, and is instead a benchmark for how two sensational performances can succeed in drastically improving the quality of a film.These aforementioned indie clichés are quite the conundrum when looked at thoughtfully. The birth of independent film-making stemmed from creativity and desire to be liberated from the shadow of the major movie conglomerates. Yet now, most of these offbeat flicks are as cold and calculated as any big budget summer movie and often drown in wacky plots and bizarre characters which are not of what free film should be an expression.Starring the consistently stellar and always delightful leading ladies of Amy Adams and Emily Blunt, Sunshine Cleaning tells the bittersweet story of two sisters (Adams and Blunt) and their struggles to purge the horror of their mother's suicide and live normal lives. Adams as Rose and Blunt as Norah are polar opposites; Rose was the head cheerleader in high school and aches to regain that notoriety in her adult life and Norah the 'screw-up', the black sheep of the family. They are held together loosely by Rose's son Oscar and their father (Alan Arkin) that is until they find themselves in need of work. Through a less than professional police connection of Rose's (Steve Zahn) they come to start a crime scene cleanup service called Sunshine Cleaning and while they sought money, they ended up finding something more profound.Adams and Blunt truly are remarkable and give bonafide Oscar worthy performances. Their characters never fall to any deprecating indie quirks, and are fully realized individuals. Zahn is solid in a smaller role, as is Clifton Collins Jr. as a clean-up store owner and all lend to a story that did not by any means conclude where I was suspecting. Many of the subplots are left open, but not in a unsatisfying way and while featuring ups and downs along the way, Sunshine Cleaning manages to find a hopeful tone without being sticky sweet. Perhaps by favourite aspect outside of the performances was Adam's character. We have seen in many films the former cheerleader who has grown up under the shadow of the 'losers' of their school, but never have I seen such an honest look from the view of the former. Perhaps this is a testament to Adams acting skills, but I was impressed nevertheless.Sunshine Cleaning keeps you involved based on characters alone. There is certainly humour, tragedy and emotion to drive the story but all is born from the relationship between this broken family. I wish fresh faced director Christine Jeffs had forgone all the trends of the recent independent film movement, but there is still more then enough to admire about Sunshine Cleaning, and even more to love.
Adams & Blunt shine in this wisomely winning indie dramedy
posted on 21 May 2009SUNSHINE CLEANING (2009) *** Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spevack, Steve Zahn, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Clifton Collins, Jr., Eric Christian Olsen, Paul Dooley. Winning indie dramedy about two misfit sisters (Adams and Blunt at their most winsome) finding life to be nothing but a dead-end until they wind up in a new job endeavor: biohazard/crime scene clean-up service (!) The fine ensemble makes up for the sometimes cloying screenplay by Meagan Holley but Christine Jeffs elicits strong turns by her leads particularly Blunt in arguably her best work to date. Funny and poignant (Adams' scene with an elderly woman after a horrible suicide speaks volumes).
Ambrose Bierce will find these women follow Clara Barton . . .
posted on 19 May 2009. . . in cleaning up the messes left behind by (mostly) men. Less unstable than SHINE, less kid-centric than LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, less apocalyptic than SUNSHINE, the movie SUNSHINE CLEANING provides quirky fun that should help cheer up Bierce when he realizes he's 207--and has missed celebrating about 136 birthdays. While at times Rose Lurkowski (Amy Adams) and her partner in crime (scene\suicide scene\death scene remediation), sister Nora (Emily Blunt) may fit the definition of "callous" from AB's Devil's Dictionary ("gifted with great fortitude to bear the evils afflicting another"), they experience enough tribulations of their own to satisfy the demands of a plausible karma.TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: The body of noted American author (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge) Ambrose Bierce, born June 24, 1842, recently was discovered in total cryogenic hibernation at the back of a Central American warehouse. Bierce is expected to be fully defrosted by late 2049 or early 2050. Based on my 85 previously posted IMDb comments and background in Bierce studies, the author's guardians have commissioned me to review a periodically updated list of films to help guide his future leisure pursuits, with the provision that my comments also be made available to the general public.
Average
posted on 17 May 2009SUNSHINE CLEANING is what I'd consider an average dramedy. It tries to copy the success of other Indie homeruns in recent years like Little Miss Sunshine and Juno but the fact is SUNSHINE CLEANING is not... original enough. Yes it's heartfelt, a tearjerker, melancholy emotional ride for some who's into soap opera type of story and it has a few laughs along the way but it's predictable and nothing that we've never seen or heard before, the only major difference is the occupation.I used to think that you can just use concepts that have been used and just put in a few new twists here and there to make it work, well that method isn't effective every single time. I love Amy Adams, that woman is a force of nature but she won't get nowhere with this gig. Her character is too much of an open book, there are no surprises and you know exactly every move she's made and is about to make, the same as well with Emily Blunt and Alan Arkin and even Steve Zahn. Great talents for such a mediocre movie.Blunt may know how to do American accent and can easily cry if need be. She plays the sister who's the black sheep in the family and tends to mess things up in whatever she does. She's bound to give somebody what she thinks was robbed of her when she was a child, a chance to know the mother but the thing is.. none of these characters have a hook to them. Don't get me wrong, you can connect and relate to what they're going through but moviewise, nothing stands out as memorable other than their occupation which is cleaning up after dead people at crime scenes, probably the most interesting part of the movie. But even that isn't dealt with well enough if you ask me. They could've shown in a brief entertaining montage sorta way what type of stuff they have to use to clean which type of mess.Alan Arkin is a great actor but it's disappointing how he basically just recycled his character from Little Miss Sunshine, there's no difference whatsoever.As far as humor goes, it'll get you chuckle once in a while, nothing impressive about the direction or cinematography, not even the score. What I don't like is how easy it is for the story to just resolve itself.. way too simple for something that tries too hard to be complex. The movie has the responsibility of being more than what the audience would expect but instead, it chooses to play safe.--Rama's SCREEN--
Underdog
posted on 19 Apr 2009I watched this movie in a sneak Preview, so I had no idea, what I had to expect from this. The title is not giving away too much, which I will respect, so if you want to read something about the story, read the summary here on this site.The acting in this is really great, but some might have a problem with the pace of the movie. It moves along slowly and it's not "in your face" funny, but more a subtle kind of humor (most of the times). It's actually more a drama than a comedy. And Alan Arkin is exceptional as ever, even if he's not the main role here. With a few up and downs, this nice little film has a winning charm, that is worth a view.
Sunshine and clouds
posted on 07 Apr 2009"Sunshine Cleaning" is an odd mix of gross-out comedy and melodramatic family drama, possibly why it's being compared to its producer's first film "Little Miss Sunshine." The other reason might be that Alan Arkin is in it. But if the goal was to capture all of the sweet gooey fun of "Little Miss", then "Cleaning" comes up a couple inches short. This flick from director Christine Jeffs and screenwriter Megan Holley is less about being cute or sweet and more about how a person's death can shape our lives. It can be very funny at times and also a downer at times but what keeps things fairly level are the two fantastic performances coming from Amy Adams and Emily Blunt.They play sisters Rose (Adams) and Norah (Blunt). Rose was once a high school cheerleader dating the star quarterback, but now wonders what happened to her life. A single mother forced to work as a maid to support herself and her young son (Jason Spevack), Rose clings to what's left of the good in her life by being the mistress to the former HS Quarterback (Steve Zahn) and hoping that one day she has enough money to get her real estate license. Norah is the younger sister, still living at home with dad (Alan Arkin) and too irresponsible to even hold on to a waitressing job. Desperately in need of money, the two hear about the gross yet apparently lucrative business of biohazard clean up and before you know it they're the Martha Stewarts of murder/suicide aftermath.It's a funny premise and you can just imagine the morbid and disgusting fun the movie can have with blood, body excretions, horrible smells and other sloppy situations one might encounter with dead-body mess. A scene where Rose and Norah are carrying a mattress is gross-out humor at its funniest. Holley likes these things but doesn't revel in them. She wants to add some heart as well and succeeds in being both honest and introspective as the job encourages both girls to think about how the death of their own mother has shaped them into the women they've become. Unfortunately the laughs stop in the second half and the family stuff is pushed to the point of being a drawn-out downer.Another thing I thought the movie could have done better was the subplot of the girls bringing some comfort to the remaining family of the deceased. Rose sits with a woman whose husband just committed suicide and Norah befriends one's aloof daughter (Mary Lyn Rajskub) and tries to connect with her because of her own mommy issues. Just I wished the movie spent more time inserting the girls into the lives of these people and fleshing them out to a point where they're not just tools for sympathy. A supply clerk (Clifton Collins Jr.) is also tossed into the script as a possible love interest for later but nothing ever happens with him either.The melding of gross comedy and heartfelt family drama doesn't really work but what holds this movie together are what I believe to be the two best female performances i've seen all year so far. Adams is very sympathetic and resourceful as a woman trying to achieve respect again whereas Blunt plays the wayward younger sister role as both irresponsibly endearing (her going on about the story of lobster man and how being a bastard is badass makes her a fantastic aunt) and painfully vulnerable. The two of them together counteract each other and make a funny, heartfelt pairing. The rest of the cast includes Alan Arkin, whose quirky but doesn't really get that much funny material, Clifton Collins, who shows considerable charm and charisma despite playing a one-armed supply store clerk, and Jason Spevack, whose cute but not in that annoying little kid way."Sunshine Cleaning" works on the backs of its two stars though. Overall it doesn't feel as much of a complete work as say "Little Miss Sunshine", not that I'm trying to compare the two or saying that "Cleaning" is a bad flick, because it's not. I'd say its one of the better movies I've seen this year, but it could have benefited from a tighter script.
A slice of pecan pie
posted on 03 Apr 2009Greetings again from the darkness. Ahhh, the first 2009 script (by Megan Holley) that has the depth, nuances and multiple sub-plots that keep me addicted to movies. Sure one can view this as a simple story of the emotionally struggling sisters who start a bio-hazard clean-up company to connect not just with each other, but also with those who have been the victim of a profound event involving a loved one. It works just fine on that level.Of course, I never make things that easy. For this viewer, I was absorbed in the connection the sisters had to their dead mother. The quest for a glimpse of her one movie of the week performance as a waitress had the sisters trained to stop in their tracks whenever a "waitress" scene appeared on TV. The sisters are played exceedingly well by the extraordinarily talented Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. Their performances lift a really good script to greatness.For most movies, that would be plenty. Not here. Director Christine Jeffs ("Sylvia") gets to play with Alan Arkin as the always scheming father, a quick commentary on the disgusting "solution" of public schools tendency to require medication on less than robotic kids, emotionally empty relationships, and the absolute need of people to connect with others.The fine acting continues with Steve Zahn as the former high school hero turned local cop, whom Adams' character has maintained a long term "bond". Trouble is Zahn's character picked someone else to marry. Clifton Collins Jr adds a wonderful dimension as Adams' possibly new prospect. Mary Lynn Rajskub is just plain fascinating as the lonely lady Blunt thinks she is helping. Being promoted as from the creators of "Little Miss Sunshine", this one offers up a nice story complimented by many quirks that make it stand apart from the masses. Hopefully it will find wider distribution as we can never have enough top notch story telling.
Not as good as Little Miss Sunshine
posted on 03 Apr 2009Okay, so I did my best to not compare this to Little Miss Sunshine. Despite all the similarities before seeing the movie, prior to seeing the film I kept telling myself they aren't THAT similar, but they kind of are. With the titles, the companies, Alan Arkin, being "indie dramadies", the cute young kid, and driving around in a van, you can't help but think this movie was driven by the success of Little Miss Sunshine. Unfortunately, it doesn't exactly live up to it. The cast delivers great performances overall, and the quirky idea of running a crime clean up service is very interesting, but overall it just feels like a Little Miss Sunshine rip off which had more complicated but better developed characters (although Alan Arkin could easily be playing the same person in both movies). Little Miss Sunshine had a genuine rawness to it which is part of what made it so exceptional and easy to relate to. Sunshine Cleaning feels like a Hollywood film badly disguised as an independent film in an attempt to reach a different audience.
Working Class Respect
posted on 28 Mar 2009I quite liked the film. I would watch Amy Adams stare at grass and Emily Blunt is always top notch. One thing that stuck out for me about the film was that it offers a look at real working-class people doing real work, and does so in a respectful manner. Rose tries to put a positive spin on her post-mortem cleanup work to gathered yuppies in an awkward social setting and is clearly defensive. But you can see her coming to value the work for the good it does. There is nothing wrong with adventure thrillers about high crimes and misdemeanors, about the far-too-well-to-do, and about easy lives, but it is heartening to see hard-scrabble work valued, not just as a barrier to be overcome but as a thing that has intrinsic value and that does real good. Rose and Nora take on work that the yuppie ladies would never dream of tackling, and do real good for real people. This is a film that does not dazzle us with fireworks or glitter, but it has heart. We like that.
A Light Family Drama Touches Down
posted on 18 Mar 2009Take Amy Adams ("Enchanted" 2007), Emily Blunt ("The Devil Wears Prada" 2006), Alan Arkin ("Little Miss Sunshine" 2006), and even Mary Lynn Rajskub ("24" television series 2003-2009) and the comedian actor Steve Zahn in a serious role and you have a rather interesting family drama that was billed more as a comedy. "Sunshine Cleaners" doesn't have the sparkle and delightful humor as "Little Miss Sunshine," instead this film captures more of a brief moment in time where by two sisters learn more about themselves and their relationship with each other. There aren't so much as explanations as experiences from which to learn from and nothing really turns out the way one might expect in this more realistic this-is-life perspective. The pacing of this movie is somewhat ragged and slow, particularly the first half of the movie. This movie provides no great insight, has a mild but solid twist at the end, and provides the audience with two decent human interest stories that reveal human development and human improvement over time. It's a positive if not stunning message about being human. Seven out of Ten Stars.
Illuminating as sunshine, this film is a sharp, sweet look at the working class
posted on 08 Mar 2009Rose Lorkowski (Amy Adams) was once a popular cheerleader and a person of envy, back in those high school years. However, she has made some questionable choices since then and now works as a home cleaner to support herself and her young son, Oscar. She does a have a back-up system in her wheeler-dealer father, Joe (Alan Arkin) and in her frequently out-of-work younger sister, Norah (Emily Blunt), if she needs babysitters. She calls upon the eccentric Norah often, especially so that she, Rose, can have a late-night tryst with a married policeman, Mac (Steve Zahn). Ouch, she is still going in the wrong direction, it seems. However, Mac does give her a work tip. If she could get into the "crime scene" cleaning business, she would be pulling in large bucks, as removing blood stains is big stuff. Receiving some leads, Rose does begin to get some assignments, like cleaning up after suicide victims and folks that die in their slovenly homes. Reluctantly, Norah agrees to help and "Sunshine Cleaners" is born. But, with Oscar still having trouble in school and with Mac continuing to string her along in the love department, will Rose really rise above her present circumstances? This is a fine film about people who work hard and get nowhere. First, the cast is great, with Adams, Blunt and Arkin delivering terrific performances, ones worthy of honors. Blunt, especially, is a treasure as the unconventional woman, haunted by past circumstances, and having trouble fitting into "modern" existence. The lesser actors are also nice, but Zahn is, unfortunately, given no chances to show off his comedic touch. The setting in New Mexico is also lovely, while the costumes and look of the film are likewise wonderful. That said, special mention should also go to the very fine, sharply worded script and the secure direction. This is a heart-grabbing story, with unusual elements and unsettling realities. If you love films that are not of the typical, churn-em-out variety, this one is definitely a worthy choice. It is as illuminating as sunshine and as touching as they come.
Sometimes Works, Sometimes Strays Into Unbearably Corny Positivism
posted on 24 Feb 2009Christine Jeffs' sometimes charming, sometimes real, sometimes funny, always lop-sided uber-bittersweet dramedy is a little too gushy for its material. Its heroine, Rose, is a single mom in dire lack of income, trapped in a one-way affair with her high-school flame, who fathered her son but married someone else. Her son is always in trouble at school. Her sister, Norah, is a hard-living fool. Then Rose starts a new business cleaning up tragic crime scenes.Does this sound gushy, sentimental? The subject matter has definite flair as a black comedy, but its lack of such wryness, as well as its intention to put on a sparkling mask is hard to swallow. That regardless of the work by charming and expressive, not to mention incredibly hot Amy Adams as Rose and adaptable and versatile Emily Blunt as Norah, Rose's hilarious bon vivant sister. The actresses are two adept communicators who would be breathtaking playing these characters in a different movie. And luckily Alan Arkin is here, and second to none, but arriving at an unsafe distance from "the Alan Arkin role." He's their father, Joe, always plotting half-witted financial contrivances. But no matter how limited his character or his screen time, his presence nevertheless burns, roars, waits for nothing. His scenes with his 7-year-old grandson, Oscar, inspire the notion that they should have their own movie.Rose is a good mom. She understands her son Oscar, played by Jason Spevack, who is not actually displeasing but merely his own enlivened self. I wonder how many little boys are charged with misbehaving just because they are...boys. Why does she still sleep with the two-timing high-school quarterback who strung her along only to ditch her? She asks herself the same question. Steve Zahn plays her unattainable high school flame as superficially nice and easy-going, striking an insightful balance between being selfish and hurtful, and being so much so that he does not realize.It's Zahn who tips her off on a potential enterprise. He's a cop and notices that people get paid well for mopping up after gruesome murders. So is born Rose and Norah's Sunshine Cleaning, which will clean up the rugs and scrape the brains off the wall, etc. The nature of this beast obliges them to behold the residuum of lives prematurely discontinued, beyond recall. An ID in a dead woman's purse leads Norah to make a clumsy companionship with Mary Lynn Rajskub, who delivers laughs as the kind of sensitive conversationalist she brings to Chloe on 24.This is hopeful text. Evidently, the filmmakers were inspired by an NPR All Things Considered report about two suburban women who started a biohazard removal/cleaning service. There is even a documentary theme there. But their film makes trite concessions for everything it entails, since it wants to be downright neighborly about people who don't have much to be neighborly about. To be played for laughs, it has to be dryer, less sentimental. From time to time, the movie works, but those are the times it loses sight of what it's truly about. (The poster to some degree evokes Little Miss Sunshine, by the same producers, also with a great bit performance by Arkin. That film had a more congruous pitch and felt more consistent.)One factor does work, and it's off to the side, apart from the odds and ends of the story. It concerns Clifton Collins Jr. playing a one-armed hardware store owner, who baby-sits the kid when she's in a fix and supplies a refuge of kindness and levelheadedness. An actor like this plugs away a great deal but doesn't consistently attain cultivated character parts. Now he's starting to come to light. So you've got various sundry cast highlights and a few decent laughs hence. You won't have an unsatisfactory time seeing this film. Part of me admires that it manages to seesaw along with buoyant, if at times unbearably corny positivism. You may just get a bit exasperated sitting tight for it to return on track after it strays down various divergent avenues.
good premises and a failed opportunity to make more than just a nice film
posted on 20 Feb 2009'Sunshine Cleaning' has many premises to be a different kind of film. The story is quite unusual including a mix of black humor and family comedy, of childhood trauma and post college social comment, or next door and weird characters in a beautiful and typical American surrounding on the fringe of the desert, which can be as boring as it gets or as uneasy as you cannot take it. The re-use of the 'sunshine' brand by the producer of 'Ms. Sunshine' is also a nice idea, hinting to a cycle of a 'slightly nonfunctional families in slightly nonfunctional America' movies. Promising. Yet, it was me who was slightly disappointed. The mix works only at certain moments, but not as a whole. It may be the lack of courage of director Christine Jeffs who having dared in previous endeavors especially in 'Sylvia' but not reached the success that she may have expected is now trying a much more beaten path. It's a pity, as the material she worked from was worth a more courageous approach. What we get is a film that avoids shocking, with none of several promising threads being investigated in depth, where the strong light of the American South-West is too warm and friendly, and where good actresses like Amy Adams and Emily Blunt are told to act nicely failing to consume the promise of a killing black comedy female couple, something we have not seen for ages on screen if ever. The balance of feel-good vs. feel-bad lends too much on the conventional feel-good side. If it dared 'Sunshine Cleaning' could have been a much better film.
Two Great Parts for the Girlies
posted on 31 Aug 2009How often do you see a movie with two such great roles for young women? Not often enough, and Sunshine Cleaning is worth praising for that alone. Set in Arizona, Sunshine Cleaning follows the fortunes of Rose (Amy Adams) and her grungy sister Norah (Emily Blunt) as they try to drag themselves out of the morass of a dysfunctional upbringing and – in Adams' case – single parenthood, to make a success of their own business, the very unromantic task of cleaning up the mess at crime scenes. Rose was a stereotypical pretty high school cheerleader who dated the football hero but who ultimately sank without trace when he moved on and married someone else, leaving her holding the baby (Jason Spevack – an excellent young actor.) She discovered rapidly that cheer leading isn't really a marketable skill and she'd have been better off paying attention in biology class. Then she'd at least have been better positioned to understand the intricacies of bio hazard waste disposal when she moves out of her house-cleaning number and into crime scene cleanup, at the suggestion of her (now secret) married lover. Norah is into some minor drugs and serial waitressing, dad Joe (Alan Arkin) is a no hoper who drifts from one hair brained money losing scheme to another, and hovering over them all is the ghost of Rose and Norah's dead mother who apparently committed suicide when they were young. My local critic suggested that the ending has been changed substantially from the original version, rendering it more palatable to what are considered main stream audiences, and certainly the ending is a little too pat (defined by my thesaurus as 'so gliby plausible as to seem contrived.') I wouldn't disagree with that. It all works out for the best and everyone apparently lives happily ever after....Hmmmmm…………… There is a thread quickly dropped of Norah having a lesbian relationship and certainly she seems pretty bored during a brief, cursory bonk with her boyfriend. But I find it hard to believe that after the success of Brokeback Mountain and Milk, mainstream audiences are considered unable to deal with a secondary character being gay; it's not even the main character we are talking about here. If that is indeed what happened to the script of Sunshine Cleaning, then it certainly was a cop-out on the part of the producers, distributors or whomever, and personally I think they are misjudging their audience. But that doesn't detract from the overall quality of the movie which is well written, often very funny (extracting humour from the macabre nastiness of death and mayhem), has some nicely observed scenes such as the dire baby shower, and is highly original both in concept and execution, (set on the unglamorous outskirts of Albuquerque rather than New York or LA yet again). It's very well acted. I truly think that both Amy Adams and Emily Blunt are very good young actresses and they are both going to be around for a long time to come. The fact that they are also very attractive is secondary here for a change. Both bring a brittle vulnerability to their roles and it's a pity the movie was apparently sanitized for our viewing pleasure. Good movie. Go see.