MOVIE: Sunshine Cleaning (2009)

Sunshine Cleaning
2009
direction: Jeffs, C.
screenplay: Holley, M.

quickie:
A former high school queen (and her sister) start a “biological cleaning” service in an attempt to make something of her life.

general impression:
Quite good. Not too bitter, not too  sweet.

lows:
A very specific Hinkle’s bathroom scene where Emily Blunt’s character Norah does a little monologue about how she does not need to be taken care of because she does this after she BURNS A HOUSE DOWN.

highs:
Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin. Strong cast. Efficient use of humor. Well-wrote.

notes:
This movie had a really, really good poster. It’s the reason why I watched it. The fact that it had Emily Blunt and Amy Adams was enough to make me watch it.

I really, really find Amy Adams quite endearing to watch. She’s sweet and she has this certain depth that so many actors wish they had. She’s very charming. And then there’s Emily Blunt who has this amazing offbeat vibe about her. In a movie which relies on making the audience really feel for the character, it’s just absolutely necessary to cast the right people.

The story is simple but rather odd because crime scene clean ups aren’t really discussed very often anywhere. On top of that, we have two rather pretty girls doing this grunge work and it’s just… funny.

The better part of the movie is that it does not fixate itself on the job the women perform. It quietly integrates everything that we all deal with everyday: trying to earn money, trying to impress other people, trying to make yourself feel good and, of course, being with your family.

The flow of the film feels almost natural until it reaches that “confrontation” (in quotations because it wasn’t much of a confrontation) scene between Norah and Rose. There was something off about that conflict the writer threw in.

Otherwise, the movie just carries itself well. I recommend this to everyone (but more specifically, to the people who loved Little Miss Sunshine) because it’s such a sweet, sweet movie. Very quiet. Very cool.

FINAL RATING:
[4] out of [5]