Sunshine Cleaning

When I first saw this preview (last year), I was looking forward to one of the most hilarious movies of the year. "Very similar to Little Miss Sunshine" was all anyone could say. Well, it took me this long to actually see it because some of the glimmer wore off that preview. And I think that in the end, the film hit the (newly lowered) expectations directly. It wasn't really meant to be the most hilarious movie of the year. Instead, it is a drama that explores family relationships. Amy Adams and Emily Blunt play sisters, each struggling with life in their own way. They fall into a business together (crime scene cleanup) and each begins to learn a bit about themselves and about each other. They also begin to explore their family history (although this piece is more inferred than explicit), resulting in a better understanding of why they have become who they are. Throw Alan Arkin into the mix as wacky dad, add in mal-adjusted boy and one-armed love interest, bake for 91 minutes and quirky relationship comedy is ready to serve. Overall, this gives a pretty entertaining look at the difficulties of family systems, and if one wanted to discuss the methodologies that families use to relate, I am sure that this film would provide a great jumping off point for that discussion. But as pure entertainment, it was good, not great.
3-stars