No
one gives a thought to what happens with all the muck and gore left
after a particularly messy exit: Murders, suicides, nasty accidents;
someone’s gotta clean it up and that someone is Rose Lorkowski. Rose is
a hard-working single mom, barely able to make ends meet as a cleaning
lady when she receives the news that her young son’s eccentric behaviour
has gotten him tossed out of school. Desperate times call for desperate
measures now that her boy needs to go to a private school and Rose’s
ongoing affair with a married detective leads her to an unusual yet
lucrative new career. Sunshine Cleaning has plenty of potential for
broad comedy when two disparate sisters decide to clean up nasty crime
scenes for a living; thankfully the film is a lot more than that.
Director Christine Jeffs gives
us a modern nuclear family, with the Lorkowski patriarch himself a
single parent who struggled to raise two very different girls.
Hyper-responsible from an early age, Rose took on the role of surrogate
parent to her little sister after their mother’s suicide. Norah, the
younger sibling, is a rudderless ball of slack, who’s practically
expected to screw up even the simplest of tasks and never fails to
disappoint. Even in this new career venture, Norah knows she’s only
working beside Rose because there was no one else to ask. The set up is
ripe for recriminations and all sorts of drama we’ve seen before, but
the difference with Sunshine Cleaning is the real and caring way the
Lorkowskis interact; their acceptance and support of each other despite
their character flaws manages to be heartwarming yet refreshingly light
on schmaltz.
The humour in Sunshine Cleaning
is more dry than riotously hilarious, showing nice restraint by keeping
the icky crime scene snickers to a minimum, while making the most of the
cast’s sharp, yet wonderfully off-hand timing. Amy Adams and Emily
Blunt are totally simpatico as sisters Rose and Norah, sharing a similar
vibe regardless of their character’s differences making their casting as
sisters perfect. Adams, as the capable, nose-to-the-grindstone Rose,
only has joy in her memories of high-school glory days and in illicit
meetings with her married lover. Adams’ hesitant delivery beautifully
registers Rose’s shame when faced with an old schoolmate who married
well and now hires the one-time head cheerleader to clean her palatial
home. Emily Blunt as the ne’er-do-well Norah is hilarious and moving.
For all her good intentions, whether it’s reluctantly becoming the other
half of Rose’s messy new venture, babysitting and contributing to the
delinquency of her nephew, or taking the awkward first steps of romance
with a woman whose picture Norah finds in the home of a departed
subject, the girl just can’t get right. Norah’s wide, kohl-smeared
saucer eyes, stunned at times at her own foolishness, show a wounded,
caring girl who nobody seems to have ever had any faith in, least of all
herself. Balancing the slow burn that going into business together has
lit between the siblings is a nice performance by Clifton Collins, Jr.,
as the one-armed owner of an industrial cleaning shop where the girls
stock up after realising that a spritz of Fantastik might not be the
most suitable option for removing blood stains. Collins’ kindly, gentle
Winston serves as a reminder to Rose that even in unusual packaging,
there really are men in the world who aren’t schmucks. Alan Arkin plays
the girls’ father, a jack-of-all-trades salesman, always on the make for
the next get-rich-quick scheme. Not far removed from Arkin’s
Oscar-winning role as the grandfather of 2006’s Little Miss Sunshine,
the gruff, senior Lorkowski dotes on Rose’s son and supports his two
daughters, right or wrong, only rearing his head when there is strife
between the girls. Whatever drama there’s been about the bad choices
made in this family has already taken place long before our story and
like any real family; the Lorkowskis are dealing with the here and now.
A script that could have easily
tread into Lifetime movie of the week territory is lifted up by skillful
and heartfelt performances from its excellent cast. The utterly
charming combination of Adams and Blunt are the icing on the cake of the
sentimental and smartly funny Sunshine Cleaning.
~ The Lady Miz Diva
March 13th,
2009
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