Sunshine Cleaning

Sunshine Cleaning (Christine Jeffs, 2009) - C+

An unbearably adorable little kid who talks to the heavens on a CB radio; the old man and his rotting shrimp; Mary Ann Rajskub as crazy blood lady; one-armed Clifton Collins Jr.; "I recommend the pecan pie"; not to mention the entire crime-scene-clean-up-as-therapy conceit: yep, it's a real quirk-o-rama up in this bitch. And it's maudlin, too, with the big thematically convenient revelation mucking shit up at the one-hour mark. But my love for Amy Adams conquers all, or nearly all: she perfectly nails the former-star-cheerleader-with-moxie-and-grit-but-low-self-esteem thing, and her insanely charismatic (yet, somehow, believably insecure) presence just about saves the film. A big step up for Christine Jeffs from the godawful Sylvia; moves at a good clip, with a screenplay that has a few big laughs and some nice subtleties in the earlier scenes (I particularly liked the way the movie lets us piece together the details of Adams' relationship with the Steve Zahn character). A little too immaculately cute for me, but certainly watchable.