Sunshine Cleaning is one of those little independent films that gets made, finds its way into Sundance then spends a year or so on the festival circuit before finally being released 12-18 months later. Starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt, it follows two sisters who start to move into the lucrative crime scene cleanup "racket" in a bid to raise lots of money quickly. In this respect it is what Dr. Mark Kermode would label a "high concept film", in that it can be pitched in one sentence.
The result is a very nice little film, but it is not without flaws. Lots of subplots get dropped suddenly (Adams' affair with her married high-school sweetheart and equally Blunt's relationship with the daughter of someone they "cleaned up" after) and there are numerous loose ends in general that aren't tied up by the end. It is amusing in places, but very rarely laugh-out-loud funny and simultaneously too light to fully hit as a drama.
Where the film does work though is the acting, Adams has more to do the longer it goes and she gives a lovely little turn. Blunt is funny when she needs to be and Alan Arkin, Steve Zahn, Clifton Collins Jr. and perennial comedic add-on Mary Lynn Rajskub all do nicely with underwritten roles. Another plus is the direction, it's unfussy, gets the job done and is absolutely in service of telling this story the best way possible as it bears very little resemblance to Christine Jeffs' previous film Slyvia.
So a low-key film which is certainly diverting, not a cinematic masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but then again it doesn't try to be. Unfocused to be sure with some things being too neat (for example a subplot about their dead mother) and others as mentioned are too sloppy, but worth seeing for anyone who's a fan of either of the two main actresses, or gentle American independent cinema in general.