Monday, March 15, 2010

Sunshine Cleaning (2008)

USA, 91 minutes
Director: Christine Jeffs
Writer: Megan Holley
Photography: John Toon
Cast: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spevack, Steve Zahn, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Clifton Collins Jr., Paul Dooley

A pleasant and engaging dramedy of a struggling broken family in Albuquerque trying to get along, featuring an ingeniously unpleasant concept—the two sisters one day start a business cleaning up crime scenes. The premise is preposterous, of course. No organization that depends on such services, namely police departments and insurance companies, is going to let just anyone do the work. But never mind that. Comedy alternates with gross-outs, including one repulsive and touching scene straight out of "Hoarders," as the movie slowly drifts from promising into cornball territory, exploring the pains of the young women whose mother committed suicide when they were still girls. I particularly didn't see the need for imaginary CB radio conversations with said mother, but overall the whole thing is sweet and affecting enough. I think what raises it a notch or two more are the performances of Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. Adams is solid as a single mother and the type of person no doubt known by many of us, one who never quite made it past the pressures and competitions of high school, and now, a minimum-wage housecleaner, finds herself driven to a series of poor decisions and fits of pathological lying in a never-ending attempt to win the respect of her former classmates. Emily Blunt makes a nice turn as the disaffected, eternally cynical and sarcastic younger sister, a variety of klutzy punk-rock goth chick who can never manage to do anything right. Lots of good chemistry throughout, and Alan Arkin as the failure dad is fine as always.

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