Young Poor & Angry Press

Apparently the studio decided to do a limited theater run, because until I was watching television late one night, I hadn’t even seen a preview for the film - whose cast was incredible. Sunshine Cleaning is the story of a down-on-her-luck single mother played by the always adorable Amy Adams (who I still think might secretly be Isla Fisher’s sister) and her wild and unpredictable sister, Nora, played by Emily Blunt (Devil Wears Prada.) In an effort to pay for her son’s private schooling, the two start a crime scene clean up business with the help of their father (Alan Arkin) and a kindly shop owner with one arm (Clifton Collins Jr.)

If the film’s quirky tragic/comedic style seems at all familiar it’s probably due to it being very similar to 2006’s sleeper hit Little Miss Sunshine. The story is told from three perspectives and allows you to get inside each character’s head without being told out right what is going on. The scene which summed up why everyone should see this film is Rose’s (Adams) speech about her new found crime scene cleaning service to a group of her former high school rivals during a baby shower. A speech which shows Rose transforming from a unispired and emotionally insecure woman whose sleeping with a married man, to a inspiried confident single mom.

Another surprising and enjoyable subplot is baby sister Nora’s coping with the death of their mother when they were young. As well as her new found attraction to the same sex, which is more implied when Nora finds the daughter of a woman whose home the sisters cleaned after she committed suicide. The relationship is wrought with tension, and the scene by the train tracks is easily one of the best uses of visual catharsis in cinema recently. Sunshine Cleaning’s writer Megan Holley (her first film) and director Christine Jeffs (Slyvia and Stroke) did an excellent job of visualizing the complex relationship between Nora and Lynn (Mary Lynn Rajskub.)

One of the best performances was by film newcomer Jason Spevack who plays Rose’s gifted son. The kid is awesome, and his performance is top notch. Sunshine Cleaning is out on DVD and on I-Tunes right now. If you’re looking for a comedy that isn’t ripe with slapstick gags, lost finances, and wacky characters, then this is definitely for you.

From seeing the trailer in whatever god awful movie I sat through (probably the new Transformers) I could tell that The Hangover was going to be an instant “guy movie” classic. That is until I found out it was being written by John Lucas and Scott Moore who brought you such timeless classics as Four Christmases and Ghost of Girlfriends Past. The two redeemed themselves though by pairing up with Todd Phillips, the awesome director of Old School.

The movie is from beginning to end one rip roaring incoherent journey through one night in Las Vegas during a Bachelor party. Think if you mixed up Very Bad Things with Dude Where’s My Car. Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Allen (Zach Galifianaksis) embark on their adventure to find out exactly what happened that night, why there is a tiger in their room and what the hell happened to Doug (Justin Bartha, the sidekick in National Treasure.)

I won’t give anything away, but hands down the best cameo goes to Mike Tyson, who plays himself and sings while then knocking out Ed Helms. I rewound the scene about five times, and laughed each time. This is one of the few movies that lives up to it’s comedic hype.

It’s summer, which means two things for me in sunny Florida. One, it means I’m going to be spending the next few months sweating profusely from every pore in my body because it’s a 100 degrees outside and I don’t have A/C in my car. Two, it means that I’m spending a bunch of hard earned cash to go see movies so you guys will know what sucks and what is worth dropping thirty-five dollars on with a night out with your significant other.

Though this summer it seems like we were bombarded with movies I felt like we’ve all scene before. The plots were all kind of contrived and stereotypical of the summer blockbuster. It felt as though we were getting rehashed sequels in the same vain as Lethal Weapon 4. Same characters, same one liners, just better special effects. I’m breaking the movies into three categories. See it in the theater, rent it, and burn it! Fortunately this time there aren’t any burn its, but that’s because I didn’t bother watching 17 Again and The Proposal.

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