Mar 12, 2009 6:10 pm US/Eastern
'Sunshine Cleaning'
Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
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Done right, and you've got a "Little Miss Sunshine" or a "Juno" on your hands. "Sunshine Cleaning" falls into the latter category -- and its producers happen to have been behind "Little Miss Sunshine," as well.
AP
It has become a genre all its own: the dysfunctional-family indie comedy, a staple of film festivals and art-house theaters alike. Done wrong, and these movies can seem too self-consciously quirky (and by now, "quirky" feels like a word that was created especially to describe this kind of film).
Done right, and you've got a "Little Miss Sunshine" or a "Juno" on your hands. "Sunshine Cleaning" falls into the latter category -- and its producers happen to have been behind "Little Miss Sunshine," as well.
Both films share an Albuquerque, N.M., setting and Alan Arkin as a lovably outspoken father and grandfather. But really, that's where the similarities end; despite its perky title, "Sunshine Cleaning" is much darker as it ventures simply and realistically into suicide, adultery and loss.
Amy Adams and Emily Blunt have great chemistry as Rose and Norah Lorkowski, underachieving sisters who stumble into the crime-scene cleanup business. Once a high-school cheerleader, thirtysomething Rose is now a single mom working as a maid.
Younger sister Norah is even more of a screw-up, partying hard, getting fired from waitressing jobs and still living at home with dad (Arkin). All that changes -- somewhat -- when Rose's married lover (Steve Zahn), a cop, suggests that she try the lucrative world of mopping up messy crime scenes. Megan Holley's unsentimental script and the performances help keep director Christine Jeffs' film from turning too predictably feel-good; besides Adams and Blunt, with their subtle sibling dynamic, Clifton Collins Jr. is lovely in just a few scenes as the gentle soul who runs a cleaning-supply store.
R for language, disturbing images, some sexuality and drug use. 98 min. Three stars out of four.
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