Eruditass
Characters: 2 Adams, Blunt, and Arkin deliver good performances, allowing me to connect and care about what happensScreenplay: 1.5The plot is one the viewer has seen countless times, but it is cleaned up with a fresh citrus scent of decaying bodies. Cinematography: 1.5 Emotional:3.0 In contrast to the quirky happy title, I was pleasantly surprised with the relatable characters and somber yet positive tone of the film.Overall: 2.0
ohyeahmeow
I love this movie. It has all my favorite actors.However, the film got me really confused about the family dynamic between Alan Arkin, Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. Blunt's performance is lovely but her American accent in this film is just terrible. I kinda blame on the casting department a little bit or at least put her in some American classes before filming for god sake. I was really nervous for Henry Cavill causing a little controversy when he was chosen to play historical Superman, but as a young rising star he did such a great job on his American accent. Some critics mentioned Blunt's accent is a part of this film's humor. Really and how? We don't know Hugh Laurie is British in House,Hugh Jackman and his perfect American accent. Not just doing a perfect American accent, Australian actor Ryan Kwanten does the best Southern accent in True Blood. Is this movie's budget really low or the producer is too cheap to train Blunt's tongue. The film is beautifully done but fails in basic common mistake, three family members all have different accents.
Thomas Drufke
Impression- In its short 90 minutes the film comes off as a heartwarming comedy that is about family. But it's more depressing than happy. Really, at the end of the movie none of the characters really come full circle. Adams seems as though she finally doesn't care what her friends think. But she doesn't make any progress in her work. It's not like she's really going to be making more money by the end anyway. Blunt's character doesn't make any progress. She ends up driving off in the sunset? To do what? How does she have any money for this trip?Complaints- My first gripe with the movie is the opening scene. I thought they could have found a much better way of introducing the movie than a man shooting himself in the head. It was rather startling for me, who thought the movie was about two sisters in a cleaning business. I unabashedly love Emily Blunt but without her accent she didn't have the same appeal. I liked how in your sisters sister they explained Blunt accent my having her be adopted. They could have done the same here. I realize this is a rather strange compliant but I just find Blunt's accent to be incredibly seductive. The character development in this movie I thought was pretty poor, with that being said I thought some of the characters were actually the strong points.Praise- With the script that they had, I loved the acting that was portrayed. I thought Arkin and Clifton Collins Jr were strong points among the cast. Not to mention the young kid who probably has a good future ahead of him. And even in his darker moments it had its funny moments. Arkin shared plenty of great one liners. I also thought there would be much more to the binocular story. But it was merely a way of reminded us the mom had died. I thought the ending was sweet when they both finally saw their mom on T.V. Adams and Blunt are very good at dramatic moments by the way.Overall the movie isn't anything special and is full of clichés, but with the acting and the memorable scenes it deserves a somewhat favorable review.6.7/10
Chris L
Sunshine Cleaning develops a "slice of life" script typical of the indie scene, quite enjoyable, carried by a very good cast with an Adam-Blunt duo that works and an always extra energized Alan Arkin. As for the direction, pretty simple, it didn't fall into the cliché of the indie scene which is always good to point out.Despite everything, the movie seems to lack ambition: the plot is rather classic and the stakes are not enough defined and developed to expect convincing the viewer entirely. The characters aren't totally exploited either such as Joe (the father) or Oscar (the son). The ending is particularly abrupt and expeditious as if the writer didn't know where to go even though a lot of questions are left unanswered.
AD
