Movie Review: Sunshine Cleaning

”Sunshine Cleaning” is a sweet movie about a family living a tough life and trying to improve their lot. Rose (Amy Adams) is a single mother who works as a maid. She’s having an affair with a local police officer. They used to date as lead cheerleader and high school quarterback. He’s now married to someone else, but continues to see Rose. She runs into a high school cheerleading classmate who is doing very well in life – either via marriage or the fact that she is doing well in real estate. Via the earlier storyline, we learn that there is a relatively lucrative career in biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up service. She convinces her sister, Nora, to join her in the business.

I don’t think there are any great life lessons to take away from this movie. It is rather a simple movie that just happens to sweep you into the lives of the characters. I love the character of Rose. A single mother just living life, stuck in a rut of sleeping with former boyfriends and working a dead end job. Then she runs into her former classmate and she is essentially embarrassed into making something of herself. She jumps at an entrepreneurial opportunity, not having the slightest clue of what it involves. Honest truth, she probably isn’t even taking into account business expenses such as equipment and income taxes, because her first job pays only $500 while earlier you learn that someone else charges $3,000 for a similar job. She slowly finds out that there are certain certificates she must obtain and procedures she must follow. You get to witness her slowly developing a legitimate business.

With Alan Arkin in the movie, playing a father/grandfather role, you may think “Little Miss Sunshine.” I saw “Little Miss Sunshine” a long time ago so I won’t argue that there might be traces of influence, but this is definitely a movie that stands on its own.