su·per·cil·i·ous·ness

Website: sunshinecleaning-themovie.com
Director: Christine Jeffs
Lead: Amy Adams
Co-Star: Emily Blunt
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Runtime: 91mins
Rating: M
Stars: ★★★★

You have to love a movie which is all about a women in a desperate situation - a hopeless job, the mistress of a guy who is not going to leave his wife, and decides to set herself up in a new business cleaning up messy crime scenes to make a bit of extra cash.

What Sunshine Cleaning turns out to be is a wonderfully funny little black comedy which I totally enjoyed. Indeed like its cousin film Little Miss Sunshine the sense of humour in this film is one that will more likely find a market in Australia and the UK than it will in the US where it only had a limited release.

Our heroine is Rose (Amy Adams). She is a good mum. She works a deadend job to try and make ends meet for her slightly weird 7 year old son Oscar (Jason Spevack). Along with her deadbeat sister Norah (Emily Blunt) she goes into business as a crime scene cleanup crew. Of course she knows nothing about the business, and her father (Alan Arkin) tries to talk her out of it, and the two girls end up bungling their way from one case to another but generally being seen as doing a good job. Indeed, the fact that they take a more caring approach to the job and actually engage with the people left behind actually makes them high endearable.

I am not a fan of the romance - but it is so subtle her that it works. Rose is working out that Oscar's father is never going to leave his wife and make her an honest woman and she meets Winston (Clifton Collins Jr) who ends up offering support both professionally and emotionally. There is no hint of a romance between them - but I'm sure if the movie was 10 minutes longer they would have hooked up.

If you like your comedies quirky and dark - then this one will work for you too. Well worth checking out.