Sunshine Cleaning
Starring: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin
Put yourself in the place of Rose Lorkowski (Adams). She's a single mother, who cleans houses for a living and has an on-going affair with a married man, her high school sweetheart, who happens to be a police officer. He plants the idea that bio-hazard clean-up on crime scenes is a good source of income and a real niche market.
Taken with the thought and wanting to try and make something of herself, Rose enlists her unmotivated sister, Norah (Blunt). Reluctant to the idea at first, she eventually figures working for her sister is better than working for a stranger. With the encouraging words of their father (Arkin), who constantly has get-rich-quick plans that fall through, the sisters begin their venture into the work of bio-hazard and crime scene clean-up.
The movie, even when dealing with such a drab topic as crime scenes, murder, and suicide, revolves completely around the Lorkowski family. The family cares for each other and even when one stumbles or falls, they're always willing to slow down to help them back up.
Norah is the cliche darker, goth sister, who is completely misunderstood and Blunt plays her very well. On one of their jobs, she finds the license of a deceased woman and decides to try and locate her family. Norah finds the daughter, but instead of initially telling her why she's found her, the pair start a relationship. It's one of the more interesting storylines, however peculiar and unfortunate.
The viewers roots for Rose, as one of her multiple issues are sure to ring a bell with someone in the audience. Through her new job and her family, she is able to make changes to further better herself and turn her life in a new direction.
The cast works well together and it's easy to see them as a family. The movie was just alright, often leaving out points that would have been nice to see played out a little further.
It's a heart-warming story of a family brought closer by a disgusting occupation.
Overall Rating: 3.5/5
Rose (Adams) and Norah (Blunt) on their first job
The Lorkowski family out to dinner
Norah, Oscar (Jason Spevack), and Rose in the Sunshine Cleaning van
peace.