Sunshine Cleaning is a Lifetime movie in Little Miss Sunshine skin. It's not hard to figure; the producers of Little Miss Sunshine had a gargantuan hit, and so they thought they wanted to take on something that might have had a similar flavor and hit lightning twice. Unfortunately, it didn't happen, but it's not really the fault of the actors, as they- Amy Adams (who doesn't like her?), Alan Arkin, Clifton Collins Jr, Steve Zahn- are all likable to one extent or another (the exception's possibly Emily Blunt, though that's more for her character than herself playing the part, and that little kid playing Amy Adams' son who at one point talks to God on a CB radio in a cringe inducing scene).
It's the script, as it tries too hard to meld the quirky (yes, I'm using the word quirky, it's appropriate here) comedy and some pretty dark drama and it doesn't really come off authentic either way. There are a few scenes here and there that vary with potential, but only scene, when Adams sits and comforts the old woman whose husband has committed suicide, felt completely and wholly emotionally satisfying (then again this scene is not populated with get-rich-quick shrimp schemes or a one-armed guy or a kid who talks to God through a CB radio, or another one of those "I'll hang from something and scream loud ala the canyon scene in Garden State).
I didn't ever really laugh either, and I was only pulled into any of the drama because of the actors in the roles (Adams is basically the best you'll get if you want an automatic tearing-up machine). If it had stuck either way it might have had something.
It's the script, as it tries too hard to meld the quirky (yes, I'm using the word quirky, it's appropriate here) comedy and some pretty dark drama and it doesn't really come off authentic either way. There are a few scenes here and there that vary with potential, but only scene, when Adams sits and comforts the old woman whose husband has committed suicide, felt completely and wholly emotionally satisfying (then again this scene is not populated with get-rich-quick shrimp schemes or a one-armed guy or a kid who talks to God through a CB radio, or another one of those "I'll hang from something and scream loud ala the canyon scene in Garden State).
I didn't ever really laugh either, and I was only pulled into any of the drama because of the actors in the roles (Adams is basically the best you'll get if you want an automatic tearing-up machine). If it had stuck either way it might have had something.