Review of Sunshine Cleaning (2008) by Michael W — 06 Apr 2011

This movie was much better than I expected. The story was simple but quirky, the characters felt amazingly real, honest and lovable. The only antagonists in this film were life, death and the struggle to find one's place in the world. These are the real antagonists in life and it was great to see a film tackle that reality so beautifully.

Amy Adams was amazing (probably better than in The Fighter - her Oscar is half due to this film!), Emily Blunt was incredible, and more great performances came from Alan Arkin (although his character was torn almost straight from his role in "Little Miss Sunshine"), Mary Lynn Rajskub (you know her face), Clifton Collins Jr. (and you know his face) and a great little scene-stealer, the young Jason Spevack as Adams' son. Steve Zahn also has a role here and he's perfectly apt for playing a dramatic role as much as any comedic role.

I loved the direction, some shots - combined with some perfectly apropos music - nearly brought me to tears. The writing was great and, over all, the film was quite moving. I laughed, I (almost) cried... Feel good movie of the year (2008)!