Sundance. Sunshine Cleaning.

"Following her beautifully impressionistic debut Rain and the Gwyneth Paltrow vehicle Sylvia, New Zealand director Christine Jeffs lands somewhere in between with Sunshine Cleaning an affecting, well-acted drama that casts an even brighter spotlight on rising starlet Amy Adams," writes Anthony Kaufman at indieWIRE. "What could have been merely an exercise in quirky indie comedy... becomes a more serious dramedy about strained family relationships and overcoming the loss of loved ones."

"People, this sort of Freudian nonsense is killing narrative fiction," argues Mike D'Angelo at ScreenGrab. "Characters are far more intriguing and memorable when their behavior can't be reduced to the sum of their childhood traumas."

"It's in the assorted subplots of Megan Holly's script that the project's self-consciously calculated quirkiness rubs the wrong way," argues Variety's Todd McCarthy.

"It seems almost impossible that as people root through Sundance looking for the next Little Miss Sunshine (aka the little indie that was critically acclaimed, award-nominated and a big hit at the box office), the best contender is a film called Sunshine Cleaning and also stars Alan Arkin," writes Sara Vilkomerson in the New York Observer. "This one seems to have it all: fun and quirky plot (two sisters who go into business cleaning up after crime scenes), terrific performances from Emily Blunt and Amy Adams, with an undercurrent of sad family drama that had more than few members of the audience sniffling."

But for Mike Goodridge, writing for Screen Daily, "Sunshine Cleaning has none of that film's dark edges or eagerness to entertain, and is unlikely to follow its path to breakout box-office success."

Posted by dwhudson at January 25, 2008 5:11 AM