"Sunshine Cleaning" runs the risk of being seen as the prototypical indie family dramedy — a Sundance darling up there with the similarly named (and cast) "
Little Miss Sunshine". Though saddled with some cliches, "Sunshine Cleaning" is a refreshingly honest and absorbing story of two sisters in the process of cleaning up their very messy lives.
Once the head cheerleader with the quarterback boyfriend, Rose Lorkowski (Amy Adams) is a thirty-something single mother, barely making ends meet as a housekeeper. Often enduring the humiliation of cleaning the suburban McMansions of her former schoolmates, the plucky Rose consoles herself with daily affirmations and the occasional romps with her married high school sweetheart, Mac (Steve Zahn).
Rose's primary responsibility is her son, Oscar (Jason Spevak) — a precocious child whose curious imagination often gets him into hot water at school. In addition, Rose looks after her aging father, Joe (Alan Arkin), and her slacker sister, Norah (Emily Blunt). Rose's relationship with her sister is strained by Norah's inability to support herself and a shared trauma over their mother's death.
When Oscar's antics get him in trouble again, Rose needs to find a way to earn enough for private school. At Mac's suggestion, she gets into the unsavory — but lucrative — world of crime scene cleanup. Rose enlists Norah's help in starting their own business. In the process, they begin to deal with each other and the people whose lives they enter in the worst of circumstances.
Penned by Megan Holley and directed by Christine Jeffs ("Sylvia"), "Sunshine Cleaning" takes a step beyond the "woman's film" genre by infusing the work with a sense of realism and spirit in the face of daily struggles and self-doubt. The sisterly relationship between Rose and Norah is note-perfect: the underlying resentments, the frustrations, the little bonding moments are all conveyed in the smallest gestures and looks from the film's talented stars, Adams and Blunt.
Indeed, the story of "Sunshine Cleaning" is one conveyed primarily in the eyes of its cast. Perennially chirpy Adams infuses in Rose the wide-eyed optimism of the pep squad leader within, as she gamely cheers herself on in the face of defeat. Blunt's heavy-lidded, sad eyes speak of her jaded disdain for the world's (and her own) shortcomings. Arkin's portrayal as Joe may draw the most comparisons to "Little Miss Sunshine", particularly in his relationship to Oscar, but his character is a more tragic, haunted figure than the foul-mouthed grandpa in the previous film. Contributing solid supporting performances are Clifton Collins, Jr. (as a kindly, one-armed cleaning supply shop owner) and Mary Lynn Rajskub ("24"'s Chloe) as a medical worker who sparks Norah's curiosity.
At just over an hour and a half, "Sunshine Cleaning" is a prime example of succinct, economical storytelling. However, as the credits roll, one doesn't feel ready to give up the Lorkowskis just yet. Like the recent adaptation of "
Watchmen", there is the sense that the story would be better served as a series rather than as a single film. "Sunshine Cleaning" could easily be the pilot episode for a compelling series about a family cleaning up crime scenes — and their own lives in the process. Hello, HBO?
