Sunshine Cleaning (2008/Anchor Bay Blu-ray + DVD)

 

Picture: B-/C+     Sound: B/B-     Extras: C     Film: C

 

 

Sunshine Cleaning (2008) wants badly to be a flipside to Little Miss Sunshine (reviewed elsewhere on this site) from the same producers and though it is not as obnoxious as that overrated release, it is still very uneven and does not know what it wants to do or where it wants to go.  It does have a good cast though.

 

Amy Adams is a mother who is sick of her dead end life and decides to start a business where they are hired to clean up crime scenes after all the evidence and body (or bodies) have been removed.  It is ugly, but profitable.  She even gets here sister (Emily Blunt) to help, but all is not well in their lives.  Their father (Alan Arkin) is a salesman who cannot make any sales and neither of them are in good relationships.  Clifton Collins Jr., Steve Zahn, Jason Spevack and Eric Christian Olsen round out a good cast in Director Christine Jeffs’ attempt to do a drama with a difference.

 

However, it becomes more than she can handle, too predictable, melodramatic and too much of what we have seen before, leaving her new employ and some good performances floating in the same old tired formula soup.  If you really, really liked Little Miss Sunshine, you should see it.  Otherwise, skip it.

 

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot in 3-perf Super 35mm film by Director of Photography John Toon and is a little softer with some slight noise than a new shoot should be.  The anamorphically enhanced DVD is even more problematic.  The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix on the Blu-ray is its default highlight with a score by Michael Penn that stops this from being worse.  The DVD’s Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is also on the active side, but not as warm.  Extras include an audio commentary track by Writer Megan Holley and Producer Glenn Williamson and featurette on cleaning after crime scenes.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo