Sunshine Cleaning

I'm late on this review as I saw it at least a month ago, but it’s still in the top 20 box office and it’s worth a review. This is made by the same filmmakers who made Little Miss Sunshine and it is similarly a slice of life about a family. This film follows two sisters, the oldest sister’s young son and their father. Alan Arkin plays the crusty older father in a role similar to his Little Miss Sunshine role except here he plays a dreamer whose schemes of making money turn out to be losing gambles at each turn in his life.

Amy Adams and Emily Blunt are terrific as the two sisters. Amy is the elder sister who has landed in the caretaker role for her son and her sister. Their chemistry is wonderful and feels real as two sisters interacting. Amy Adams is a maid who ends up cleaning the homes of the women who were her classmates in high school where she was the popular cheerleader. She got pregnant and ended up as a single mom who works hard to get by. She needs a break to get out of the rut in life where she finds herself.

She’s having an affair with the love of her life that ended up marrying someone else. He’s a town cop (played by Steve Zahn in another good non-stoner role; see Rescue Dawn also) who gives her the idea of starting her own crime scene clean up business. She enlists her younger loser sister (Emily Blunt) and the business is begun. The odd thing is the two are good at the business and it begins to flourish. That’s enough plot set up. See the movie!

This film is a dramedy though there are fewer laughs and more toward drama than Little Miss Sunshine. This is a good film. One I’ll see again when it comes out on DVD. On the A to F scale I’d give it a B+. The big bonuses for this film is a good story, well told with two excellent young actresses who among the best working in Hollywood today.