 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Sunshine Cleaning
- Review Date: March 12, 2009
- R
- Genre: Comedy
- 2009
Common Sense Media says
Adult dramedy has unusual mix of laughs, gore, heavy themes.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this dramedy, in addition to taking on mature themes like suicide and infidelity, is quite gory. The many post-death scenes include disturbing shots of things like pools of blood on ceilings, floors, and walls; human flesh awaiting clean up; and a brief flash of a suicide victim awaiting discovery. There's also lots of talk about death, and the fact that the adult characters are unable to find direction till the end clearly affects the one child in their midst. All of that said, the movie does have a lot of heart and, in the end, a hopeful message. But to get to the uplift, viewers have to endure a pretty grueling journey.
What's the story?
Rose Lorkowski's (Amy Adams) glory days of cheerleading are long behind her, replaced by a job as a cleaning lady. Her son, Oscar (Jason Spevack), has been kicked out of yet another public school; her father (Alan Arkin) still can't get rich quick despite all his schemes. And her sister, Norah (Emily Blunt), just lost her waitressing job. Eager for a real career, Rose convinces Norah to help her start a business cleaning crime scenes -- Rose's high school boyfriend (Steve Zahn), a married cop with whom she's having an affair, has told her it pays so much more than regular housekeeping (enough for private school, perhaps). And for a moment, it seems sweeping up the blood and gore of lives gone awry is Rose's answer to a better life. But a clean slate isn't what's in store for her after all. Not unless she and her sister finally cleanse themselves of a haunting family heartbreak.
Is it any good?
Quirky and affecting, SUNSHINE CLEANING is a lovely dramedy bolstered by extraordinary performances. As she's done with previous roles as a nun and a real-life Disney princess, Adams brings loads of warmth and empathy to her role. And in Blunt -- who has the rare gift of being able to marry humor and sorry with ease -- she has a formidable partner-in-crime. Rounding out the main cast in a role that harkens back to Little Miss Sunshine (the two movies have the same producers), Arkin cements his place in celluloid history as the patron saint of flawed-but-loving grandfathers. They're damaged, but you feel for them nonetheless.
But here's the rub (or should we say scrub?): Sunshine Cleaning feels painstakingly put together and a bit contrived. Though director Christine Jeffs doesn't reveal the psychological scars branded on the family's psyche until almost the end, she hints at them a little too heavily (the slo-mo flashbacks, the gray visual palette, the mishaps -- and there are many!). And must everyone be so idiosyncratic? Even the former high school classmates Rose runs into at a baby shower seem larded with spite. Still, as blemishes go, these are hardly deal breakers. The film's loudly beating heart and strong performances will wash the doubts away.
Explore, discuss, enjoy
Families can talk about whether the movie's scenes of blood and gore have more impact because it's a comedy rather than a horror movie. Are these scenes scary, disturbing, neither, or both?
Families can also discuss the characters' search for a way out of their present condition. What drives them?
Though the central family is clearly dysfunctional, what's positive about their relationships? What is it about families that make them drive each other crazy but give each other hope, too?
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- Teens & kids
Parent of 8 and 11 year old
February 9, 2010
AGE
Bad for kids and a waste for adults!!!
As an adult, I wish they'd make higher quality movies for us!!!! Even a PG-13 movie isn't safe to enjoy these days!! This was just bad; depressing, discouraging, dumb, and a waste of my .79 cents!!! (My kids would never even want to watch this.) If you have strong moral values/faith, this will not inspire you! F*** used so many times I couldn't even try to keep up for a count...
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Adult
September 16, 2009
AGE
funny and a good movie
i dont like a movie with drug references but everything else makes up for it. its cute realistic and funny. i have problems with the main character. she is insecure and weak when it comes to relationships. one problem is she is a single mom. she should have learned by now.
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Teen, 15 years old
August 26, 2009
AGE
Really funny but also heavy
This movie is about two sisters who find a job cleaning up after crime sceans. There is alot of violance and suicides witch make some parts hard to watch. The girls stick together in hard times witch is nice. Only for kids 16+
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Teen, 13 years old
July 10, 2009
AGE
Not yet
I WANT TO SEE IT!!!!!!
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Teen, 13 years old
May 16, 2009
AGE
I Love You, Amy Adams
Seriously, there hasn't been a movie with her that I've seen that hasn't been good. I loved "Doubt," "Miss Pettigrew Live for a Day," "Junebug," "Enchanted," and now "Sunshine Cleaning." She's like superhuman or something! Now that I've got that off of my chest, let's move in to the movie itself. It has an odd (but never uneasy) mix of genres: comedy, drama, romance, a little bit of gross-out, a little bit of mystery, and a little bit of thriller. Okay, so it's not really a thriller, but I say that because the film has a bunch of threads that all come together with some "a-ha!"s along the way. The film chronicles the lives of two sisters, one a maid and the other a slacker that still lives with their dad. Amy Adams (whose character name I can't remember) is trying to raise the money to send her son to a private school, because he can never seem to hold his own at a public one. She is having an affair with a high-chool flame who is now a cop, and he tells her that cleaning crime scenes can make a lot of money. So, she and her sister Nora (played to perfection by Emily Blunt) begin a crime scene clean-up business, calling it SUNSHINE CLEANING. And that's where it takes off, where Nora becomes obsessed with meeting the daughter of a woman who they "cleaned up" after (perhaps because of her trouble dealing with her own mother's death), when their dad (the hilarious Alan Arkin) starts a business selling shrimp out of a bathtub, and when they befriend the one-armed store clerk Winston. The film is both heartbreaking and hilarious, the right mixture of heart and humor. I for one loved it, and I think that anyone who doesn't must have a heart of stone.
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Teen, 16 years old
September 22, 2009
AGE
Great Humor
There is some pretty gruesome scenes that have to clean up as well as what shown in the movie. There was some very well placed comedy in the movie that lightened it up.
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Teen, 13 years old
January 10, 2010
AGE
For mature teens and adults! :]
I must say, this is a great movie! It has language, so just be aware of that. I think that it has good lessons. Amy Adams' character explains why they stay in their line of work, which is where the lessons come in. Great movie!
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Teen, 15 years old
June 2, 2010
AGE
I lovve misfitted movies tehe:)
Duuude. I lovve this movie. It's obviously not for small children but it has a great plot. Very different then most films, I enjoyed it. :D
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Teen, 16 years old
December 29, 2010
AGE
I think that language is something that teenagers have heard before and that is not the problem. But there are different sex scenes in the movies where you can clearly tell what the people are doing and there is not much guessing of what is going on. If you do not think that they can handle that then do not have them see this movie
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Adult
September 12, 2012
AGE
Enjoyable
Sunshine Cleaning was pretty good and interesting if you like drama films with less action and more story. I would definitely call it a chick flick. Basically about two very different sisters, Rose the responsible one and Norah the wild one, who decide to start a crime scene cleaning business because it pays more than regular housekeeping, although it sounds pretty simple, they soon discover how gruesome it can be and wonder if it's the best move. I think ages 16 and up is appropriate, there is drug use (Norah smokes pot several times) some drinking. Several sexual situations, It's also gory throughout including one sudden suicide scene, lots of cursing, and a small child that seems to be troubled. All in all, it is a pretty good watch.
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| Studio: | Overture Films |
| Director: | Christine Jeffs |
| Cast: | Alan Arkin, Amy Adams, Emily Blunt |
| Genre: | Comedy |
| Run time: | 102 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | March 13, 2009 |
| DVD release date: | August 25, 2009 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | language, disturbing images, some sexuality and drug use |
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