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Created Apr 02, 2009 12:22AM PST • Edited Jun 19, 2014 01:30AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   A quality date movie for grownups, Sunshine Cleaning shares more than just an ironically radiant title with 2006’s Little Miss Sunshine. Both are about overcoming failed dreams, not to mention both feature Alan Arkin as a kooky grandfather. While this year’s model doesn’t reach the inspired transcendence of 06’s Oscar winner, it is nonetheless an enjoyable and thoughtful entertainment.

   Bittersweet, though more sweet than bitter thanks to a plucky spirit and a reasonably happy ending, Sunshine Cleaning succeeds in no small measure because it provides a terrific showcase for the deepening charms of Amy Adams, coupled with several quality supporting performances.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   Amy Adams and Emily Blunt are terrific as grown sisters who finally take responsibility for their lives. Adams’ trademark winsomeness plays nicely against her struggles to succeed in a grownup world that requires more than charm to pay the bills.

   Blunt, whom I’ve never liked before, finally displays something approximating a full range of emotions, proving herself to be a charismatic and capable performer.

   Alan Arkin turns in his trademark performance of late: a slightly kooky grandfather, though less so than the Oscar winning one he played in Little Miss Sunshine.

   Also notable are Clifton Collins Jr. and Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe from TV’s 24) as the sisters’ potential love interests. Collins brings quiet dignity and charisma to his character’s one-armed shop keeper, while Rajskub delivers a toned down version of the idiosyncratic seriousness that is familiar to every fan of 24.

5. Male Stars Very Good 3.5

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Very Good 3.5

8. Male Costars Very Good 3.5

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

    Kudos to rookie screenwriter Megan Holley and director Christine Jeffs. While the film was clearly created from a woman’s POV, it speaks to universal truths and doesn’t condescend to either gender. In fact, the entire story is uncommonly respectful and mature: to the good man who might be Mr. Right even though he’s only got one arm; to the sober lesbian who has made her peace with the fact that her mother is a no-good drunk; to the striving grandfather with his doomed entrepreneurial ventures; not to mention to the sisters who finally decide to rescue themselves from lives of failure.

    Plus, it’s more than occasionally funny.

11. Direction Very Good 3.5

12. Play Great 4.0

13. Music Good 3.0

14. Visuals Good 3.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.6

    While Sunshine Cleaning specializes in crime scenes, our heroines come in after the fact. IOW, it’s about the clean-up, not the crime. That said, the movie does start off with a bang.

17. Sex Titillating 1.6

18. Violence Fierce 1.6

19. Rudeness Salty 1.6

21. Reality

    Glib 1.2

    Work ennobles. Even dirty jobs ennoble.

    Yet more empowering is to be able to say “I own my own company.” Here in the Great Recession, this entrepreneurial truth resonates more clearly than ever. The movie also does a good job of showing how small time entrepreneurs often get by on moxie, fortitude and wit.

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.5

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0