The opening scene of Christine Jeffs’ (Sylvia, Rain) 2008 Sunshine Cleaning shows a man purchasing a shotgun at a gun shop and proceeding to blow his head off by reaching into his pocket and pulling out a shell that he brought into the store. Steve Zahn (Rescue Dawn, Sahara) plays police detective Mac, who, after ending his investigation into a suicide, meets the crime scene cleanup crew and learns about the above-average wages this profession offers. Rose Norkowski, played by a convincingly good Amy Adams (Doubt, The Fighter), is Mac’s mistress.
Once a head high school cheerleader and the girl on quarterback Mac’s right arm, Rose is now a down-on-her-luck single mother of one in need of a better job and, more importantly, better pay. Her lack of marketable skills has made it difficult for her to be anything more than a maid. Mac has done very well for himself since high school. He’s married and makes a decent living as one of the town’s most respected police detectives. He still has time to meet Rose in a motel room once or twice weekly. There, Mac tells Rose of the wages earned by crime scene cleanup crews.
So Rose and her eccentric younger sister Norah (Emily Blunt – The Adjustment Bureau, The Young Victoria) start Sunshine Cleaning, a company that cleans up the blood, guts, and every other bodily fluid imaginable from crime scenes. Norah is nearly as irresponsible and careless as Rose’s seven-year-old son, Oscar (Jason Spevack – Ramona and Beezus), and needs care. After several disturbing incidents, Oscar is expelled from his current school and requires a private school. The incident is what led Rose to start the business.
From there, we go through a series of comedic events in which Rose and Norah show they are obviously over their heads. They don’t know any of the standards related to bio-chemical cleanup. They lie about their credentials. They botch some of their initial assignments.
The main problem with Sunshine Cleaning is that it doesn’t know whether it is trying to be a comedy with quirky characters and loving bonds or a drama about how people deal with family, issues, and the bumps of everyday life.
Sunshine Cleaning is by the same people who brought 2006’s Little Miss Sunshine. It tries to piggyback on this movie’s coattails rather than carve out a niche of its own. And because of this, it isn’t nearly as successful. Unlike Little Miss Sunshine, this movie does not have those unique characters that captured many audience members’ hearts. Unlike Little Miss Sunshine, this movie doesn’t have a plot that many audiences can relate to. It would have been better if Sunshine Cleaning’s advertising hadn’t linked it to Little Miss Sunshine, because viewers would go into the movie with unrealistic expectations.
Rose is a likable character who always wants to do the right thing. As a result, we cheer for her. But her character isn’t the focus. We try to get a glimpse and a resolution of each movie’s characters. Jeff is broad in her ambitions and narrow in her successes. As a result, Sunshine Cleaning leaves us with a sour taste in our mouths, one that hopefully the next movie can help us clean.
Plot 7/10
Character Development 7.5/10
Character Chemistry 7.5/10
Acting 7.5/10
Screenplay 6/10
Directing 5/10
Cinematography 6/10
Sound 5/10
Hook and Reel 9/10
Universal Relevance 6/10
60.5%
D
Movies You Might Like If You Like This Movie
- Little Miss Sunshine
- The Upside of Anger
- Joy
- The Savages
- Margot at the Wedding