“Sunshine Cleaning” takes on a very fascinating premise but transforms it into a story where the shoe doesn't fit the foot; making a feel-good movie about people who clean up after the dead is not going to work unless you're a gifted emotive genius. Produced by the producers of that wonderful and “right” comedy “Little Miss Sunshine” and directed by Christine Jeffs (director of Gwyneth Paltrow's “Sylvia”), “Sunshine Cleaning” tries to apply the same formula of the dysfunctional family (Alan Arkin again plays the adorably grumpy grandpa who excels in the use of profane language) trying to put things in perspective and experience personal development through a bizarre chain of events, but this time the element of bizarreness vastly outweighs the element of cuteness and sentiment, despite the fine acting of the two main female protagonists. Meet Rose (Amy Adams) and Norah (Emily Blunt), two sisters in their late twenties. Rose used to be the most popular cheerleader in high-school, only now she's at the bottom of the social ladder jumping from one dead-end job to another. She's also a single parent, raising her 7-year-old son, Oscar, whom she conceived with her fickle high-school sweetheart Mac (Steven Zahn) who chose to marry another woman. Mac and Rose occasionally get together in a shabby motel and do the dirty. Of course, that doesn't really work out well for Rose's already declining self-esteem issues but nevertheless, she loves the man -- ah, the situations women get themselves into. Norah, the younger sister, on the other hand, is the self-proclaimed black sheep of the family. At least Rose has a house of her own and tries to establish some sort of normalcy for her kid, but Norah still lives with Dad, refuses to take any kind of responsibility and chooses cynicism as her life philosophy. The girls' mother passed away a long time ago when they were both kids. Ever since then, Rose has truly performed her role as the wiser older sister and Norah has become the kind of sister who always needs to be taken care of.
One day, Mac, who is a police detective, tells Rose about this new business opportunity -- a kind of strange service where people clean up after ghastly murders and messy suicides. Basically, it's a cleaning service where you scrub blood and body parts off the rug and the walls. This is no job for the weak and god knows what kind of psychological effect it has on the people who perform this job. Nevertheless, this might be Rose's last shot at making something of herself, so she enlists little sister Norah and they open up shop, calling it “Sunshine Cleaning.” Seriously, being so sugary regarding something so frightening is either pure insanity or pure stupidity.
The girls take on several jobs and make some decent money; Papa Alan Arkin is fully supportive even though no-one knows how to explain to little Oscar the nature of the new family business. There are some scenes that make you think to yourself, and most of them are indeed quite farcical in their nature of human absurdity, how is it possible to have such a brave smile while you're cleaning cerebral goo off the bathroom tiles? Things get a tad complicated when Norah starts stalking the daughter of a suicide victim and Rose is adamant to prove to her high-school classmates that she's finally an independent businesswoman. Without a doubt, the nature of the new business does start affecting both sisters in different ways, the circumstances of how their own mother died will re-emerge through shared memories, the past will once and for all be confronted, sororal frustrations will be debated and tears will be shed. Nevertheless, business will always thrive (since death is the most certain thing about life) and everyone in this dysfunctional family will surely live happily ever after.
The problem with “Sunshine Cleaning” is that it has a lot of interesting material to work with but the most interesting parts about the “death cleaning business” are never really fully probed and explored. The movie is too shallow and saccharine for it's own good; it is as if director Jeffs is too afraid to indulge in the sorrows and cruel loneliness of cleaning up after the dead and forsakes the most important part in order to make the independent movie audience empathize over the jubilations of the everyday person; a poor family opens up a business, sort out past issues and make something of themselves -- if only it were that simple given these extenuating circumstances. But despite everything, there is a certain charm to “Sunshine Cleaning” thanks to actresses Emily Blunt and Amy Adams who have the perfect screen chemistry to perform as sisters who love and despise each other at the same time. At least you understand that their relationship is genuine and real.
Don't expect to leave the cinema with a huge fulfilling smile on your face; it's probably going to be a bit crooked as you'll be contemplating: “I'm so happy that these nice girls solved all their issues, but oh … they'll be cleaning up corpses tomorrow, that's too bad.” For those who prefer something a bit more complicated, “Six Feet Under” is available at a DVD store near you.
