Today’s quick review: Sunshine Cleaning. Rose (Amy Adams) and Nora (Emily Blunt), two sisters with dead-end jobs, decide to go into business for themselves as Sunshine Cleaning, a cleaning service specializing in crime scenes and hazardous waste. As the sisters learn the ropes of their new business, Rose works to raise her son with the help of her father (Alan Arkin), while Nora grieves for the mother she lost as a child.
Sunshine Cleaning is a slice-of-life comedy with an unusual premise and a poignant tone. The film follows Rose and Nora in the daily struggles of their lives, from Rose’s affair with Mac (Steve Zahn), an old flame who married someone else, to Nora’s attempts to connect with Lynn (Mary Lynn Rajskub), the daughter of a woman who passed away. In spite of their setbacks and disappointments, the movie never loses its sense of quiet optimism.
Sunshine Cleaning’s greatest strength is its characters. Rose and Nora are fleshed out in considerable detail, a pair of sisters with complementary personalities and realistic issues. Rose is the responsible older sister, preoccupied with finding work, managing her personal relationships, and raising her son. Nora is her younger sister, a free spirit who has difficulty holding down a job and lingering scars from her mother’s death years before.
Sunshine Cleaning has little in the way of plot. Instead, the story has the undirected ebb and flow of real life. Rose and Nora experience the same mixture of success and failure as anyone else, and the film follows them through the twists and turns in the various aspects of their lives. The benefit of this approach is a grounded story and relatable characters. However, the story lacks the fixed direction and tidy arcs of other fiction.
Sunshine Cleaning also has little in the way of overt humor. Its comedy arises naturally from the quirks of its characters and their interactions. Instead of canned punchlines, Sunshine Cleaning focuses on cultivating a light, sentimental tone. The sisters’ business gives them an intimate look at the lives of strangers, but the film does a skillful job of tempering drama with comedy and tragedy with hope.
Give Sunshine Cleaning a watch if you’re interested in an understated comedy with well-drawn characters and plenty of heart. Sunshine Cleaning misses out on the payoffs afforded by sharper humor and a richer plot, but its charm lets it carve out a worthwhile niche for itself for the right viewer. For a more elaborate comedy with a similar tone, check out Little Miss Sunshine. For a comedy from Wes Anderson with similar themes, try The Darjeeling Limited.
6.9 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 7.0 for rich characters and a satisfying blend of levity and meaning.