I'm In Love! - Murphy's Law

I’m in love!

No, not really.

But I am in love with this movie (Sunshine Cleaning), the writer (Megan Holley) and especially the two leading ladies, Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. Am I the last dude on earth to figure out I need to see every movie both of them have been in? (Check that: looking at their respective resumes, I think there are some dude-unfriendly –or at least intelligence-unfriendly– flicks in the bunch.)

I definitely read some positive stuff about Sunshine Cleaning when it came out last year, and I duly put it in the queue. In the meantime, I had caught Adams in the very underwhelming (and, considering it was yet another Meryl Streep platform, wildly overrated) Doubt: Adams, along with the always reliable Philip Seymour Hoffman, did not disappoint, but that turgid melodrama was dead on arrival.

Adams, however, is the real deal, and she is a revelation of sorts in Sunshine Cleaning. Every actor is ideally cast, which is always the sign of a confident director and more than a little good fortune. The script is ambitious, managing to balance genuine (and convincing) hilarity with convincing (and genuine) pathos. I mean, two sisters living paycheck to paycheck –when they are actually receiving paychecks– getting into the post-crime scene cleanup business? It works, on metaphoric (two women dealing with the ugliest types of messes made by other people, and, inevitably, their own) and literal (the strains and redemptive possibilities of any family dynamic) levels.

And did I mention that both of these fantastically talented actresses incredibly beautiful?

The film confronts some ugly and (quite) uncomfortable rites of passage. In fact, and I’m sure certain reviewers harped on this, it does seem like the film offers a virtual laundry list of life’s misfortunes: single parenthood, adultery, poverty, suicide, loneliness, the ways fathers can disappoint their daughters, sibling rivalry, unrequited love, repressed feelings and burnt down houses. Here’s the thing: so many “serious” movies that are more concerned with how serious they are than the genuine attempt to present authentic characters and invoke actual feeling would take some of these topics and suffocate them in overly mannered acting and ready-for-Oscar showboating (Meryl Streep!). It’s not that Sunshine Cleaning does not take these things, or itself, seriously; it does, but the scenes are written with a warmth and familiarity that make you believe in, and care about, these people. And it’s consistently hilarious.

And then, for good measure, there is the also the automatic-magic inclusion of the great Alan Arkin. Nice to see him get some overdue props (and mainstream recognition) for his work in Little Miss Sunshine. Watching, and enjoying, him in this one was a tad bittersweet, as he is not exactly a spring chicken. I am not sure how I’m going to handle it when he is gone, so I’ll not let myself go there and think happy thoughts.

Friends, don’t sleep on this one. And don’t be afraid to break the bad news: I know Amy Adams is already married. And lastly, the irony is not lost on me that I’ll now have to watch Adams and Streep (together again!) in the vehicle for Streep’s impersonating abilities, Julie & Julia.