Struggling single mother Rose Lorkowski decides to change her luck by becoming a crime scenes cleaner and enlists her ne’er-do-well younger sister Norah to help, hoping to also change their fates in the long run.

CRITIQUE

Sunshine Cleaning is a winning indie dramedy about two misfit sisters (Amy Adams and Emily Blunt at their most winsome) finding life to be nothing but a dead-end until they wind up in a new job endeavor: biohazard/crime scene clean-up service (!)

The fine ensemble makes up for the sometimes-cloying screenplay by Meagan Holley but director Christine Jeffs elicits strong turns by her leads particularly Blunt in arguably her best work to date. It’s both funny and poignant (Adams' scene with an elderly woman after a horrible suicide speaks volumes).

Alan Arkin, who won his Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine (produced by the filmmakers of this film as well), is a delight in a similar ‘grandpa’ role as is his grandson young Jason Spevack proving to be a natural, showcasing how really ‘creative’ youngsters’ thought process/imaginations truly are, and some nice subtle work by Clifton Collins, Jr. as a one-armed storekeeper who becomes Adams’ greatest ally.

THE VIDEO

A rarity these days the disc offers both the standard and letterbox (2.40:1) versions each looking terrific.

THE AUDIO

Sunshine Cleaning is presented in a typical Dolby Digital 5.1 track with English and Spanish subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

Audio Commentary: Shared dialogue between screenwriter Meagan Holley and one of the film’s producers, Glenn Williamson, offer insights and praise for their indie with equal parts pride, humility and humanity (a flashback showing two young girls as the principals proved to be a chilly water sequence that the director Jeffs chose to use in displaying the sadness of a major plot point).  What is truly dismaying is that Jeffs is not on the disk to discuss her filmmaking process (it is refreshing however to hear a writer as well).

A Fresh Look at a Dirty Business: Short profile of a pair of female professional crime scene cleaners who explain their unique jobs and the way the film portrays it accurately.

Also available is the film’s theatrical trailer.

FINAL THOUGHT

Definitely worth a rental and a buy for fans of excellent acting.