“We come into people’s lives when they’ve experienced something profound. And we help. In some small way, we help.”
The first thing I’ll say about “Sunshine Cleaning” is that their makeup crew deserves some serious awards, because it must be hard work to make two beautiful women like Amy Adams and Emily Blunt look as downtrodden and trailer-trashish as they did. I had heard this movie compared to “Juno” somewhat, and I could definitely note a similar look and feel to that film. Overall, “Sunshine Cleaning” was a raw, frank, no-holds-barred look at the depths that desperation can drive people to and the means that folks can use to justify the ends.
In a fairly intricately woven plot, this flick touches on a tremendous number of themes: depression, hopelessness, dementia, old age, fragility, sexuality, weirdness, eclecticness, abuse, family problems, communication, exile, suicide, death, disability … you name it, and “Sunshine Cleaning” had it. In fact, it evoked memories of George Costanza’s famous line: “I’m disturbed! I’m depressed! I’m inadequate! I’ve got it all!”
One of the intriguing aspects of watching this piece is witnessing surprising performances from actors in roles that are way outside of what we expect of them. Adams (who looks more and more like Pam from "The Office" every time I see her) cast in the role of the former-cheerleader-turned-white-trash-maid-with-real-estate-dreams is a huge departure from her other projects, while it takes some getting used to to see the usually funny Steve Zahn cast as a philandering cop. Blunt is tremendous as the bad-luck sister, Alan Arkin is great as always as the misguided, well-intentioned father, and Adams’s son is … well … creepy on purpose. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention Clifton Collins Jr., who turned in a really touching performance as Winston, a store owner/Def Leppard drummer. “Chloe” from “24” made an appearance as well, but she’s always going to be typecast as the weird loner, and that’s exactly what she played again here.
Directed by Christine Jeffs and written by Megan Holley, “Sunshine Cleaning” is never described without the use of the word “offbeat,” and that adjective fits ideally. The movie features some well-timed music usage, but for the most part there is very sparse intrusion of camera techniques and music overall. I applaud the strong acting, and I only took issue with a few parts of the plot—for instance, the idea of using the CB to talk to loved ones in heaven felt a bit forced and the ending felt a bit too neatly-tied-up and contrived. So this film wasn’t a great one by any stretch, but it was really good, funny and had a sentimental heart … and these days, those things are hard to find in a movie, so they go a long way with me.
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