???The producers of Little Miss Sunshine have done it again with their latest effort, Sunshine Cleaning, a comedic drama that examines the physical and emotional hazards that come with every profession.
???The film opens on the lovely, but occasionally irritating, Amy Adams (Enchanted) as Rose, a professional house cleaner down on her luck in Albuquerque.
???After her sociopathic son Oscar's (Jason Spevack, Fever Pitch,) expulsion from elementary school, Rose tries her hand at crime-scene cleanup with the help of her cynical and equally troubled sister Norah (Emily Blunt, Charlie Wilson's War). What follows is a series of bizarre and occasionally unsettling encounters within the homes of the recently violently departed, as well as a comedy of errors surrounding the red tape of this industry.
???Funny guy Steve Zahn (Strange Wilderness) and Academy Award-Winning Alan Arkin (Marley and Me) complete the cast as Rose's married lover and eccentric father, respectably.
???It's the film's realism that makes it especially heart-wrenching. While it is a comedy, the tone of regret is evident in all of the poignant characters. Adams' sense of melancholia for days gone by, specifically her longing for her lover and father of her son, is a particular standout.
???Blunt also distinguishes herself, offering up a superb performance as a moody character releasing her feelings of unfinished business regarding her mother in some particularly harrowing and life-threatening episodes with drugs and alcohol.
???The girls' continued interaction with the dead does little to improve their outlooks or their sentiments, but the irony of using the fatal misfortune of others as a stepping-stone to improve their own lives is felt throughout.
???The sublime Arkin provides a plethora of amusement and comic relief to counterbalance the darker tones of the movie as the girl's eccentric businessman father. Together along with Rose's delinquent in training son (Spevack), he embarks upon a variety of cumbersome yet amusing get rich quick schemes all in the name of finally being able to provide for his family.
???All in all, a movie like this one can be wholly recommended as a quirky comedic drama. ???The acting is superb, the plot is realistic and intense, and the themes are profound. It is without a doubt one of the best comedies of the year so far and gives fans of Little Miss Sunshine a reason to rejoice and rush to the theaters.
