The pair of lead actresses in "Sunshine Cleaning," Amy Adams and Emily Blunt, are a joy to watch in a film that has a lot of comedic elements but at heart is more drama than comedy.
Adams is known for the 2005 indie hit "Junebug," and Blunt has recently graduated from mostly TV work to films such as "Dan in Real Life" and "Charlie Wilson's War." They make a dynamic pair and are quite believable playing siblings.
Rose (Adams) is a single mom, struggling to raise her young son, Oscar. In high school, Rose was the captain of the cheerleading squad, the homecoming queen and quite the social butterfly. These days she works for a housecleaning service and is having an affair with her old high school flame, Mac (Steve Zahn). He's a police detective who married someone other than Rose but remains "faithful" to her - when it comes to their trysts.
The younger Norah (Blunt) still lives with her dad and seems to be without an anchor in life. Dad is played by the always wry Alan Arkin, and had his character in "Little Miss Sunshine" not passed away it would be easy to think that this character is the same man. His love for Oscar is much like his affection for Olive, his granddaughter in "Little Miss Sunshine," which was produced in part by Marc Turtletaub and Peter Saraf, who also have production credits attached to this film.
When Rose finds it increasingly more difficult to make ends meet, Mac tells her she should get into the crime scene/biohazard cleanup business. It pays much more than regular housecleaning and, while it can be a bit gory, there are never any dead bodies to be dealt with.
Rose convinces Norah to join her in the endeavor, which she names Sunshine Cleaning, and the two begin flying by the seat of their pants doing a job that is more intricate than Rose had first imagined. Rules, regulations and certification requirements abound, and when the premier crime scene cleaning company in the area gets wind of new competition, they are not happy about these new upstarts.
At the specialty cleaning supply store, Rose meets the proprietor, Winston (Clifton Collins Jr.), who becomes an ally both professionally and, later, on a personal level. Collins' role is small but important and he executes the character with subtle finesse.
This relationship is just one of several subplots in "Sunshine Cleaning." The other important one involves Norah and a woman who is the daughter of one of the crime scene victims. The woman's mother committed suicide (this leads to another subplot/family secret) and Norah finds pictures and contact information. She is afraid to confront the woman directly with such sad news so goes about stalking her and eventually strikes up a friendship - a very deep friendship that reaches an intense climax.
Meanwhile, Oscar, a high-spirited but good kid, is having his own troubles and getting comfort and advice from his grandpa.
The business has its ups and downs, and when Rose misses a gig, Norah makes a rather serious mistake doing the job by herself. This leads to conflict in their relationship, but a new beginning is presented in the final scenes.
Rose, Norah, Oscar and dad make up a slightly dysfunctional family that learns a lot in the journey that comprises the film. There are many great movies in this genre, including the aforementioned "Little Miss Sunshine" and a personal favorite, "Pieces of April." "Sunshine Cleaning" doesn't quite hit the heights (or even the emotional depths) that either of those films did, but it's an enjoyable movie with a cast that makes the screenplay come alive.
The film was a hit at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival but it took Overture Films more than a year to get it into distribution. It's getting mixed reviews, the main criticism being that it seems to be a pasted together plot based on similar films. I don't think that's a fair assessment and enjoyed it a lot. Adams and Blunt make it well worth watching.
Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.
