Sunshine Cleaning (2008)
In this episode, we delve into the film "Sunshine Cleaning," an independent cinematic endeavor that intertwines the themes of familial bonds and the complexities of navigating personal trauma through the lens of an unconventional profession: crime scene cleanup. The narrative follows a mother and her sister as they embark on a journey to establish a biohazard removal service, a decision driven by the desire to secure a better future for her son. We explore the intricacies of character development, particularly the compelling dynamics between the sisters and their interactions with supportive figures, such as their father. Throughout our analysis, we address the film’s poignant moments, its relatable yet uncomfortable realism, and the exceptional performances delivered by a stellar cast, including Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. Ultimately, we reflect on the film's narrative choices and their impact on the viewer's engagement, offering insights into the efficacy of storytelling that balances humor, heartache, and personal growth amidst life's absurdities.
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Transcript
Like that first time they're cleaning that one house in the mattress and she like knocks, makes it fall onto it.
Speaker A:Like they start and she's trying to apologize but she can't stop laughing.
Speaker A:Like it'll wash off.
Speaker B:That's not the point.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, it's so good.
Speaker A:Welcome to the what's Everyday podcast.
Speaker A:We fashion ourselves cinematic judge and jury.
Speaker A:My name is JJ Carter.
Speaker A:I'm here with my co host Alec Burgess.
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Speaker A:So appreciate that.
Speaker A:But let's, you know, dive into week three here of Amy Adams August.
Speaker A:And now we're getting weird.
Speaker A:As if we weren't a little weird to begin with.
Speaker A:But the, the back end of this gets real weird.
Speaker A:Really weird.
Speaker A:And, and keep in mind you watch and listening.
Speaker A:You know we're missing Matson for the month of August.
Speaker A:The guy went and bought a new house and sold his guys gotta move.
Speaker A:And both of us really set him up because we picked our M.O.
Speaker A:well, I mean, I think I like to pick these movies because they're interesting to talk about.
Speaker A:But two, there was some behind the scenes ideas to.
Speaker A:Yeah, I knew 100 he would hate it.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But now we get to have conversation that doesn't involve irrational disgust and hate.
Speaker A:Maybe there'll still be some disgusting hate, but it won't be irrational.
Speaker A:We'll have good points to follow up, why we do that.
Speaker A:But let's jump right in.
Speaker A:Week three, sunshine cleaning.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A: Came out a little earlier in: Speaker A:It was written by Megan Holly.
Speaker A:Extracted by Christine Jeffs.
Speaker A:It stars Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spivak, Steve Zahn, Marilyn Rashkub, Clifton Collins and Eric Christian Olsen.
Speaker A:It's about a woman.
Speaker A:In order to raise the tuition to send her young son to private school, a mom starts an unusual business, a biohazard removal crime scene cleanup service with her unreliable sister.
Speaker A:It's a very vague, but it works.
Speaker A:I mean, it's not wrong.
Speaker B:Fix the bill.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think it focuses on the wrong things, but that's okay.
Speaker A:This one's mine and I.
Speaker B:Tell us why.
Speaker A:Jj yeah.
Speaker A:One was to with Matson.
Speaker A:Two I actually.
Speaker A:So this is one of Casey's probably favorite movies because she likes weird that had like, especially things that are like, have these like, quote unquote life lessons, if you will, or, you know, some deep content surrounded by just random ass weird.
Speaker A:And that's like the epitome of this film.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And she loves both Emily Blunt and Amy Adams.
Speaker A:So it was one of those things where all the pieces fell together for her.
Speaker A:And look, I.
Speaker A:She likes some weird things and she likes dark and creepy and strange and heartbreaking movies, and that fits all these bills as well.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:Look, I don't love this movie.
Speaker A:Like, it's not like I'm like, yeah, sunshine cleaning.
Speaker A:But objectively, it's interesting.
Speaker A:There.
Speaker A:There's some interesting storytelling and really good acting.
Speaker A:So knowing Matson, I was like, he's gonna hate this.
Speaker A:And then I was like, alec could go either way on this, but I think there's some quirky that he'll really like and there's some good conversation to be had outside of messing with Matson.
Speaker A:So that's why I picked it.
Speaker A:And I also did with all my films that I picked to vote on on this one.
Speaker A:Tried to pick ones that were Amy Adams centric.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, I. I was.
Speaker A:I didn't want to pick ones.
Speaker A:Like, there were a couple on our list of votes that I was like, this isn't an 80Amy Adams film.
Speaker A:She's just in it and barely at that.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:These two movies that I picked, and I think the two that you picked.
Speaker B:Even are not American Industrials.
Speaker A:Yeah, it could be.
Speaker A:She has less screen time.
Speaker A:That's probably the least amount of screen time she has in a film.
Speaker A:But it's still enough that I was.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Like, that was the main character.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like, what was the one?
Speaker A:The other two were man of Steel.
Speaker B:And well, she has like a cameo.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And there was something else that she was in for like five seconds.
Speaker A:And I'm like, that's not Amy Adams film.
Speaker A:But anyway, I digress.
Speaker A:This, yeah.
Speaker A:Was one of the ones that I immediately thought of because it's.
Speaker A:It's such a character driven, interesting dialogue, heavy topic, crazy, but some really, really, you know, for all the things that I can talk about it and Casey can't hear me right now, but it's another one of those films that she loves that I'm like, I really don't enjoy this film.
Speaker A:Not because it's a bad film, but because I just don't want to watch it a hundred times.
Speaker A:And that's the difference is she can just re.
Speaker A:Watch the.
Speaker A:Out of anything she enjoys.
Speaker A:But I thought it'd be a fun conversation for the, for the group and it would piss Matson off.
Speaker A:So it was a double dinger.
Speaker A:So is this first time you'd even heard of this film?
Speaker B:Yeah, but it was weird.
Speaker B:I don't know if there's a, A meme somewhere that's been made out of this movie, but like the first 10 minutes I was sitting there going, I've seen this movie before.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And then about 20 minutes and I was like, nope, never mind.
Speaker B:But I think it was her.
Speaker B:Pink polo.
Speaker B:Amy Adams, pink polo.
Speaker B:The sunshine cleaning one.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I was like, I think I've seen that in a meme somewhere.
Speaker B:And so I was like, wait, oh, she.
Speaker B:Is this something you made me watch?
Speaker B:Because.
Speaker B:Oh, she's kind of in the same vein as Casey is sometimes really weird.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:She's like, no.
Speaker B:And I was like, okay.
Speaker B:And so I was sitting there and probably for the first 30 minutes of the movie, I was sitting there going, I think I seen.
Speaker B:No, I haven't seen this.
Speaker B:What?
Speaker B:And so it was, it was the first time that I've seen it.
Speaker B:And this is not a movie that I'll watch 100 plus times.
Speaker B:But what I did like about it was it, you know, it probably is testament to being an Indian film, but it did not feel like it was a, you know, Hollywood type movie.
Speaker B:Like this felt like the screenwriter actually lived through this exact scenario and wrote it down.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like with all the weird quirks or even the, you know, the ending.
Speaker B:There's no romance in there with Winston or anything like that.
Speaker B:It just, you know, the, the.
Speaker B:The Shining White horse is just her dad selling the house to.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Pay off the debt trailer.
Speaker B:And so I was, I.
Speaker B:That's what I appreciate about I was like, okay, this.
Speaker B:This feels like, you know, the screenwriter was like, I've lived a life.
Speaker B:Or someone told them, like, hey, you should write that story down and sell it.
Speaker B:Because that's.
Speaker B:That's what it plays out to be.
Speaker B:Every kind of, like, you know, obstacle or hiccup that, you know, Amy Adams and Emily Blunt run into him.
Speaker B:Like, that's a.
Speaker B:That's a real obstacle that people who don't know what they're doing would run into.
Speaker B:That's not something that, you know, some writer who's written for movies and TVs is ever going to throw in that movie.
Speaker A:Yeah, completely agree.
Speaker A:I think, yeah, you make a good point.
Speaker A:And I will say, part of the reason that I don't love watching movies like this is because it's so grounded that I'm like, if I wanted to live life, I'll just go live life.
Speaker A:I don't want to watch a movie that's so familiar feeling.
Speaker A:Even though, like, I've never cleaned the crime scene.
Speaker A:Like, I'm lucky to clean my own house.
Speaker A:Like, it's, you know, it's like one of those.
Speaker A:But there's enough realism in this film to where, like, I can relate to.
Speaker A:Like, for example, she goes and does the first one as, like, I need money, and she's got this affair going on with her high school boyfriend who's a cop that can set her up with it.
Speaker A:So she goes and does it and is doing it completely illegally.
Speaker A:Meaning there's regulations around biohazard and things like that that you have to follow to the table.
Speaker A:And she's not.
Speaker A:She's cleaning it.
Speaker A:Like, she's still working for the happy cleaners that are cleaning her.
Speaker A:You know, the after the party thing.
Speaker A:And so it's like watching that going, I could relate to that.
Speaker A:Like, I was like, here's an opportunity to make some money.
Speaker A:I'm gonna do it my way and just make this money.
Speaker A:And yet then you walk in someone, you're like, oh, that's how I'm supposed to do that.
Speaker A:Okay, well, I could do that too, right?
Speaker A:Like, and then I can charge more and I can do, you know, so it's like the realistic nature of this.
Speaker A:Got into this to make money and then had to learn it as you go and get better at it.
Speaker A:Like, that's so grassroots to me.
Speaker A:I'm like, I get that.
Speaker A:Like, I can relate completely to that.
Speaker A:Then you flip it over to the kid and I'm, look, I'm not a parent, but I'm an uncle.
Speaker A:And I've seen heard stories of like other kids and my nieces and nephew getting in trouble for silly.
Speaker A:And it's like this weird kid that's like, probably is addicted to at the very least, maybe a little bit on the spectrum, licking walls, having weird conversations with kids.
Speaker A:And I'm like, so kids do, right?
Speaker A:But then gets suspended.
Speaker A:And I love that.
Speaker A:The mom was like, it, we're gonna take you out of this school.
Speaker A:They can't handle it.
Speaker A:And then you got this quirky grandpa that's like, Alan Arkin's like the greatest thing ever in this film.
Speaker A:Because it's like he's just leaning into this really smart, intelligent kid.
Speaker A:It's just a little weird.
Speaker A:And so it's just for me, I'm like, I can see.
Speaker A:I start to point out, I was like, I can relate to this because of this group of people.
Speaker A:And I can relate to this because of something that I've done that.
Speaker A:And so I. Yeah, to your point, like, it is so grounded in what feels reality that to me, I don't watch movies to find reality.
Speaker A:Like, I watch movies most of the time.
Speaker A:My goal is to escape reality to a certain degree.
Speaker A:So movies like this, I'm like, it's really good and it's made really well and it's really dialogue heavy that I like and really relatable.
Speaker A:But I don't want to do that.
Speaker A:I'll just live life.
Speaker A:If I want to feel like I'm living life, I don't want to watch movies that make me go, oh, yeah, at least not a lot.
Speaker A:And Casey watches those a lot.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But that's where.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's so to your point, like, it's so relatable.
Speaker A:Even though the actual content may not be like the act, the.
Speaker A:The overarching themes and like, how these people are feeling, what they're dealing with is so relatable that it's so well done in the dialogue and the conversations.
Speaker A:And I love the back and forth.
Speaker A:And I think you pick when you think about it, like, Amy Adams has never been one that, like, I lay on and go, she's one of the greatest actresses we have in the right now, but she's really good at carrying a scene.
Speaker A:And Emily Blunt, I put on the.
Speaker A:One of the better actresses we have right now.
Speaker A:So watching the two of them, especially before they were super famous and had hit big on some movies, they interact so well together.
Speaker A:And I really, really like that.
Speaker A:So they're two of my.
Speaker A:It's my favorite parts when they're together and arguing.
Speaker A:And like that first time they're cleaning that one house in the mattress, and she, like, knocks, makes it fall onto it.
Speaker A:Like, they start and she's trying to apologize, but she can't stop laughing.
Speaker A:Like it'll wash off.
Speaker B:That's not the point.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's just, oh, it's so good.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:And then the fact that, like, when she pukes in the little laundry cave or whatever, she's like, well, then we got to clean that up too.
Speaker A:Like, so good.
Speaker A:So good.
Speaker A:The two of them just kill it together.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker B:That, That's a good point because I. I don't like them when they're on their own very much in this movie.
Speaker B:It's, you know, like, Amy Adams character is a little whiny.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And then, you know, Emily Blunt's character almost just feels like that's the one part, like, that does feel almost Hollywood.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:The angsty, rebellious younger sister type of a, you know, character.
Speaker B:But together, they're phenomenal.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so I, I do wish that there was more screen time of their machine, the screen.
Speaker B:Because it's.
Speaker B:It's not.
Speaker B:It's almost treated like they're two separate stories.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, it's.
Speaker B:It's Nora's story and it's whatever bucket Amy Adams story.
Speaker B:But you have this going, you know, it's like they're trying to tell two stories when the best story is when they're together.
Speaker B:And I don't need the, you know, the payoff sort of with the Emily Blunt's character.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like, I don't.
Speaker B:I don't need the closure with this type of movie that you would kind of get with a more big budget film.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's fun when they're on screen together and they're doing a great job.
Speaker B:I don't need to.
Speaker B:We don't need to separate them so they can come to their own realizations about, you know, this trauma that they experienced when they were.
Speaker B:They were younger.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so, yeah, I, I would have just kept them together on screen as much as possible.
Speaker A:Same.
Speaker A:I feel like a movie of two duos would have been better.
Speaker A:Like, because that's why you get bored with the movie with the Emily Blunt and the daughter of the first cleaning house.
Speaker A:Like, that whole storyline, I'm like, that's a little weird and creepy and I don't understand, like, I understand the point when we get to it.
Speaker A:Like, she's trying to deal with the fact that she's created this fantasy in her head about her mom, and she's got to deal with the fact that her mom actually took her own life and that, you know, it was understanding that abandonment and the abandonment issues that she has and that she won't let herself get close to anybody.
Speaker A:And then.
Speaker A:So she puts herself in this terrible position of stalking this woman and then make building a relationship out of a lie.
Speaker A:So it's just.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's interesting, but it doesn't fit the movie to me.
Speaker A:Like, that's where in that whole storyline, every time it's on, I'm like, ah, it just doesn't.
Speaker A:Doesn't work for me because it.
Speaker A:I can't relate it back to what's going on when they're having this goofy sister relationship.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And there's only the one moment near the end when the two of them are having, like, this serious conversation after the fire.
Speaker A:And, like, she's like, I'm leaving.
Speaker A:I'm not gonna.
Speaker A:Whatever.
Speaker A:Like, there is a little bit of a payoff there between their relationship, but I think you could have gotten there without that side story.
Speaker A:And it.
Speaker A:You could have gotten there through more time with the two of them on screen together, which makes a lot more interesting film watching.
Speaker A:And even the.
Speaker A:The parts with, like, Steve Zahn's character.
Speaker A:Like, I love Steve Zahn, but I'm like, there's too much into this.
Speaker A:Like, I don't care about their affair.
Speaker A:Like, I get why it's happening, and I get early on in it.
Speaker A:But as it continues to go on and, like, there's this whole.
Speaker A:And she's all busted up about it, I'm just like, eh, I don't need this.
Speaker A:Like, just let that end.
Speaker A:Let's get back to you and your sister, you and your dad, you and your son.
Speaker A:Like, those are the interesting relationships.
Speaker A:Are you and, you know, the cleaning guy that's got one.
Speaker A:I mean, all of those relationships are more interesting to me than the setup relationships.
Speaker A:We could have moved past those really quickly or never even had them with the one daughter lady.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Like, understanding, I think Emily Blunt's character understanding that this woman that they're cleaning her house and died alone.
Speaker A:Having a daughter that doesn't know she's dead is enough to trigger the trauma response.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:That we need to get through that part and then let her work it out with her family, not with some random woman that she ends up anyway.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:I agree with you completely.
Speaker A:Like, there's some storylines that I'm like, ah, you did A little too much here when you have gold that you could work with on the other side of it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Instead you went straight to Emily Blunt as a crazy cat lady.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Just skip right into that.
Speaker A:True.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I will say you.
Speaker B:You mentioned it earlier, like, grandpa.
Speaker B:Oh, grandpa is amazing, dude.
Speaker B:And this like side hustle kind of mentality.
Speaker B:I got the.
Speaker B:I got the next big thing.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it's always fancy, right?
Speaker B:Fancy corn and fancy shrimp.
Speaker B:And I was just cackling.
Speaker B:I was.
Speaker B:I. I have spent zero time in New Mexico except to drive through it.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:But I was like this, this feels like something from New Mexico.
Speaker B:Just.
Speaker A:Oh yeah.
Speaker B:Especially old guy.
Speaker A:Just.
Speaker B:We'll slap fancy on it and good to go.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker A:Dude.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The fancy corn comp.
Speaker A:Like the whole scene with the kid when he.
Speaker A:After he gets suspended or expelled and like he tells the little girl, have you ever heard of fancy corn?
Speaker A:Do you know if they sell it?
Speaker A:Like, he just completely baits this little girl.
Speaker A:Ev.
Speaker A:That's my favorite part of this movie.
Speaker A:Bar none.
Speaker A:No questions asked.
Speaker A:And when he walks out and the grandpa.
Speaker A:Alan Arkin's like, genius move, my boy.
Speaker A:Way to sell it.
Speaker A:Like, I just was like every single time I could watch the two of them on screen, the whole weird creepy ass binocular and the dude just trying to sell anything.
Speaker A:Like you said, throw slapping fancy on the front of it.
Speaker A:Dude.
Speaker A:It's amazing.
Speaker A:It's gold.
Speaker A:Pure writing gold.
Speaker A:Love it.
Speaker A:Can't even stop watching it.
Speaker B:That was cackling.
Speaker B:Especially like, you know, the whole kind of meeting the driver.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Just.
Speaker B:Just the whole process.
Speaker B:Like, because, you know Amy Adams, she's dropping her son off with her dad.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So the, the logical thing is.
Speaker B:Oh, like they'll just stay at home or they'll drive around.
Speaker B:They'll go to the movies or grab something to eat or whatever it is.
Speaker B:Now this dude's just going to meet us at gas stations in the middle of nowhere to pick up some shrimp.
Speaker B:Or he's.
Speaker B:He's peddling his corn at the local mom and pop store.
Speaker A:It's great.
Speaker B:It's just like that.
Speaker B:That's the kind of education that, you know, this.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Kid responds to clearly.
Speaker B:But it's the, it's those extra little moments, right.
Speaker B:Where it's, it's the life experience that's getting stacked up.
Speaker B:That kid's gonna remember sitting out there for the shrimp.
Speaker B:You know, it's like, yeah, I might have it bad, but it was never this bad.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, the business acumen Remember that.
Speaker B:Write that down.
Speaker B:It's just so good.
Speaker B:And I. I would have just almost preferred, you know, little snippets of the cleaning, but just focus on grandpa and grandkid.
Speaker A:Oh, dude, that.
Speaker B:That would have been incredible.
Speaker B:Just.
Speaker A:I just want to spin off of those two.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Because it was.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:That was the most enjoyable for me.
Speaker A:Yeah, agreed.
Speaker A:I think, too, one of the things that I've always thought about this movie is where they miss the boat.
Speaker A:Like, I love the storytelling.
Speaker A:I think it's interesting.
Speaker A:But I.
Speaker A:Where they missed the boat, to me, is the more.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:They hit on it a little bit.
Speaker A:But the fact that this kid obviously doesn't have an easy life, right?
Speaker A:But, oh, no, the one thing that he doesn't have is a fear of abandonment.
Speaker A:Like, his mom's there, his aunt's there, his grandpa's there, and they focus on him.
Speaker A:Like, they take care of him.
Speaker A:Now, granted, she has to leave him with a cleaning guy one time.
Speaker A:Like, poor, you know, but even he takes him and, like, starts showing him the model stuff.
Speaker A:And, like, he gets these life lessons, to your point, from these people that care about him.
Speaker A:And so it's there.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:You want to talk about a movie about breaking the cycle, right?
Speaker A:Like, a lot of times, and it's true in life, someone goes through a trauma, and then they un.
Speaker A:They naturally, because of the way that it works, flow into creating that trauma in their own lives or, you know, passing it on to their kids or, you know, their loved ones and things like that.
Speaker A:But you see an obvious situation here where through all the problems and the issues and the struggles they're having.
Speaker A:Amy Adams character is working to make sure that her son doesn't have to deal with the same level of trauma and difficulty in the same ways that she did and her sister did.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And so she's surrounded with people that.
Speaker A:He's surrounded with people that care about him and take care of him and do their best for him in most cases.
Speaker A:And so I really appreciate that.
Speaker A:And that's why I think they should have centered that around the story.
Speaker A:And to your point, like, the cleaning's great, the grandpa doing weird shit's great, the aunt figuring her out is great.
Speaker A:But let's do it with the scope of.
Speaker A:It's to make sure that this kid never has to feel the way that they do or they have.
Speaker A:And so to me, that center that would center this story better then the two adult sisters trying to figure out their trauma bonding situation and how they're dealing with, you know, what happened with their mother, you know, 20, 30 years ago, whatever it was, to me, that would have centered this story a little bit better.
Speaker A:We wouldn't have had the disparate storylines that made it feel a little janky or all over the place.
Speaker A:We could have just brought it back to, he's the center of the world and everybody's there to try to figure out how to take care of him by selling shrimp out of a trunk of a car or cleaning crime scenes and going into really disgusting, smelly houses.
Speaker A:And so, yeah, anyway, that's kind of where I, I think, to your point, if they had focused more on that one and we would have got more Alan Arkin and this kid time, because it was just amazing.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:There's one scene where it felt like they were doing that, and it's the one where she opens the door and just gets hit with that rotting shrimp smell.
Speaker B:And she makes him sit on the porch because her immediate thought goes to, oh, great.
Speaker B:And that's kind of where they're leading you.
Speaker B:Like, great, I'm gonna.
Speaker B:I'm doing this again.
Speaker B:Yeah, right.
Speaker B:Phones off the hook and you can.
Speaker B:And it's like, oh, no, it's just a.
Speaker B:The shrimp went bad and you and grandpa's in there and he's upset, he's frustrated.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Because this was his, you know, this is how he's gonna take his kid, the grandkid at Disney Land.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:This is the goal.
Speaker B:This was gonna work.
Speaker B:It didn't work.
Speaker B:And so you can see the frustration boil over there.
Speaker B:And then they.
Speaker B:They talk a little bit about the fact that.
Speaker B:Or it's the only time they really mentioned, like, he raised his two girls on his own after, you know, mom off herself.
Speaker B:And so he throws it kind of back at her like, oh, you think one kid is hard?
Speaker B:Try it with two and try it with being thrown into it just one day.
Speaker B:It's like, great.
Speaker B:Now you're a single parent with two kids.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so that was.
Speaker B:That's my favorite scene because it's.
Speaker B:It's like, you know, the one time where this almost facade is cracked and you can see that they are all very stressed and they're.
Speaker B:They're putting on their best face.
Speaker B:But, you know, when.
Speaker B:When you kind of have that fight or flight adrenaline pumping situation, like, everything.
Speaker B:The cracks happen and, you know, the kids not around there to see us.
Speaker B:I would even like it if it was a little bit more from his point of view.
Speaker B:So you can almost see, you know, or you know, switch between point of view so you can see what he's seen versus what is actually happening or what they're allowing him to see to, you know, prevent this almost generational trauma from, you know, repeating the cycle.
Speaker A:That's a good call out.
Speaker A:I. I would have liked to like, he see that conversation from like, set the camera lower, have it show him sneaking up till eavesdrop.
Speaker A:Because that would have been a him thing to do.
Speaker A:You could even have him watching it through a crack in the door or something through his binoculars or through the window.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like, that would have worked pretty good.
Speaker A:And let him actually hear how much he's cared for, which I don't think he questions.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That's not something that you get from this kid is that he, he knows how much he's cared about.
Speaker A:But like him hearing the difficult side of it versus everyone just pumping him up and, you know, being like, we're gonna get away from these school.
Speaker A:They don't understand you.
Speaker A:Blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's a good call out.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker A:There we go, Solutioning films again.
Speaker A:That's what we do.
Speaker A:That's what we do.
Speaker A:I need to hire us for this.
Speaker A:I'm telling you.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:But I. I think to get one of the things, regardless of, you know, some of these story beats that I think they could have done a little bit better on and focused on.
Speaker A:I will say that the acting in this film across the board, like, this is one.
Speaker A:And again, I can't admit this out loud because Casey has been like, off.
Speaker A:But like, because I talk about her with her.
Speaker A:Like, I'm like, oh God, we're watching Sunshine cleaning.
Speaker A:But the acting is across the board phenomenal.
Speaker A:Like everybody.
Speaker A:There's not a character in this film that I can think of and I'm Maybe I'm missing one or two.
Speaker A:But like, that are just even like I. I go to.
Speaker A:And this is where.
Speaker A:So at the very beginning when she's cleaning and the girl, like, she's trying to talk to that one girl.
Speaker A:Real rager, huh?
Speaker A:And the girl just kind of looks at her.
Speaker A:Like even that moment, I'm like, that's some good acting.
Speaker A:Because that's what would happen, like if some young person was having a party and the cleaning lady's like, real rager.
Speaker A:You'd be like, the.
Speaker A:Are you talking about.
Speaker A:Like, yeah, go away, weirdo.
Speaker A:Like, so it's just like.
Speaker A:But the acting across the board in this film is amazing.
Speaker A:Right down to the kid like Alan Arkin.
Speaker A:We know because he's been around for 100 years.
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker A:So it's like.
Speaker A:But yeah, I, and I love, and I've talked about this a million times on this podcast, but I love a well acted film.
Speaker A:Like if you can give me, even if the story could be better or, you know, things like that, if it's well acted and it's believable from an acting perspective, you got me more than most movies.
Speaker A:And this one is killer good from that perspective.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because like you said, even the side characters, like the actors and actions, they got to play those side characters are real rocks.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:When it comes to acting, like Steve's on phenomenal.
Speaker B:He doesn't really, he never really leads anything, but he makes every movie better because he's a great actor.
Speaker B:And even the girl they got to play, the one lady that helps Nora solve all her problems, I don't remember her name, but she is consistently in stuff very briefly and does a good job.
Speaker B:Like the one thing that comes to mind that I've seen there and recently or relatively recently was Tomorrow War.
Speaker B:And she does a great job.
Speaker B:She has like four minutes of screen time.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:But it's a really good four minutes.
Speaker B:And so it's the, a great, you know, kind of like star studded cast before they were stars.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:But then the people that they get surrounded with in this are, you know, there's no scrubs, no slouches.
Speaker B:Yeah, they're, they're good, solid.
Speaker B:And so you have this great, well acted movie, but you're also not blowing through your budget on the talent part of it.
Speaker A:Oh yeah.
Speaker A:What is that, man?
Speaker B:I don't remember.
Speaker A:I don't remember her name.
Speaker B:But she's in, she's, she's in quite a bit.
Speaker B:And it's always, it seems anyway that it's not very much your screen time.
Speaker B:Mary Lynn Rascoop.
Speaker B:Just looked her up.
Speaker A:Mary Lynn Rascue.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker A:I didn't, I didn't know her name.
Speaker A:I know her face.
Speaker A:I know exactly who you're talking about.
Speaker A:But I couldn't.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And she, she.
Speaker B:So she's in a lot, but it's very little screen time.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And it's always a solid performance.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:And so it's, it's everybody they went after or thought of or casted in this.
Speaker B:It kind of fits that bill.
Speaker B:I mean, you even found a child actor that was pretty good.
Speaker A:Oh yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:And you know, that's the, that's gold right there.
Speaker A:Well, and even down to like the.
Speaker A:So the Little girl that he dupes into buying the corn.
Speaker A:That actress is Amber Mid Thunder.
Speaker A:And she's gone on.
Speaker A:She did that.
Speaker A:I think we reviewed it too.
Speaker A:The Predator movie.
Speaker A:The Predator.
Speaker A:It was on straight to, like, Hulu or whatever.
Speaker A:It was Prey called Prey.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker B:That's her.
Speaker A:And her mom is the mom in it too.
Speaker A:So, like, even down to the bit parts, this was a kickoff for Amber Mid Thunder.
Speaker A:Because, like.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And I was like.
Speaker A:Because I've always recognized it.
Speaker A:But then until we did this and I was looking at the cast prior, I was like, oh, that's Amber Mid Thunder.
Speaker A:That's amazing.
Speaker A:Anyway, yeah, amazing acting.
Speaker A:Interesting story.
Speaker A:I like it.
Speaker A:Should we rate it?
Speaker B:Let's do it.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:My movie.
Speaker A:I'll kick it off.
Speaker A:I'm gonna give it a three and a half Look, I think it gets it Die tonight.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:She ever sees this, I'm fin in trouble.
Speaker A:Good thing is she never watches or listens.
Speaker A:So she might ask and I might fib about what I scored it.
Speaker A:Look, I'm giving it a three and a half.
Speaker A:And I'll tell you why.
Speaker A:I think I almost give it a 4.
Speaker A:Because the acting almost carries it to that level for me.
Speaker A:I think to your point, and what we've talked about is, like, there's some story beats that make it feel like it drags on.
Speaker A:It's not even a long movie.
Speaker A:It's under two hours.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:But it gets a little in its own way in a couple times.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:To me, it, like, it stops to lose interest when I go to certain story points.
Speaker A:And if I start losing interest, if I have parts in a movie that I'm like, okay, I can go get some soda or a snack right now, and I'm not gonna miss anything.
Speaker A:That's where I start to struggle giving it too high of a score.
Speaker A:And there's at least three or four parts where I'm like, I got five minutes to go grab this.
Speaker A:Because there's a scene here that doesn't add any value to me, and I don't enjoy it.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:From an acting point perspective, that's the only thing that's there.
Speaker A:But to your point, like the side story with Nora and the.
Speaker A:The girl, the mom, the daughter of the one woman that dies, that they clean up the one house every time they go off on their own.
Speaker A:I don't care.
Speaker A:And it's tough because it's well acted, to your point.
Speaker A:Two very good actors there.
Speaker A:But it doesn't add value to the story for me.
Speaker A:So that whole thing draws me out and can't.
Speaker A:I can't get fully behind the film.
Speaker A:But what is good is phenomenal.
Speaker A:The, the, the.
Speaker A:When we've talked about all of it.
Speaker A:Amy Adams and.
Speaker A:And what's her face together like.
Speaker A:Good God, they're great, the sisters.
Speaker A:Grandpa Alan Arkin and the kid are great.
Speaker A:Alan Arkin and both of his daughters interacting.
Speaker A:Like the opening scene where she's in bed and she's like, you gotta go to work.
Speaker A:And she's like, I'm sleeping, dad.
Speaker A:That's great.
Speaker A:Yeah, but there's just so many things to me that pull away from the greatness of the story in the film because it's like they were just doing too much and trying too hard in certain areas.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:Yeah, but other than that, like, really well acted, really good.
Speaker A:I love the cast.
Speaker A:I love the story from grounded perspective.
Speaker A:I just think there are little things that could have been edited differently or just left out entirely.
Speaker A:So three and a half for me.
Speaker A:I know I'll watch this movie, but not by choice.
Speaker A:So there you go.
Speaker B:All right, I'm gonna be similar.
Speaker B:I'm gonna give it a three for kind of a similar reasoning.
Speaker B:This.
Speaker B:This is a really hard one for me to walk up to someone and be like, hey, we should watch this movie, or, hey, you should watch this movie.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's good, but it's not something that I'm gonna say, hey, you should watch this.
Speaker B:You should go spend two hours and watch it.
Speaker B:It's just not that type of movie.
Speaker B:It's a very different.
Speaker B:Like, I would have to know somebody really, really well and have spent lots and lots of times watching movies that they've recommended to me in order for me to then reciprocate and send this back to them type of thing.
Speaker B:Like, I don't have anybody that has that kind of movie love or love of, you know, watching these kind of off the wall, intriguing, but like, it.
Speaker B:You got to be special now to watch a movie like this.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:There's been too much saturation of the market with cheap action flicks or romantic comedy or something along those lines, and this isn't it.
Speaker B:Yeah, like you even have the opportunity for a little romance subplot and they leave it out.
Speaker B:And so it's.
Speaker B:It's like, it's hard to then pitch this to somebody else and say, oh, hey, you should watch this.
Speaker B:It's got.
Speaker B:Well, what does it have?
Speaker B:You know, it's got great acting, it's got this or that's.
Speaker B:Got Alan Arkin.
Speaker B:And you say Alan Arkin.
Speaker B:People like who?
Speaker B:And you have to be like, well, gee, think Hispanic Michael Caine or something along those lines.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so you have to.
Speaker B:It's got those off the wall kind of.
Speaker B:How do you recommend this to someone else to go watch?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so from that point, it's.
Speaker B:It's tricky for me, but I'll give it a three.
Speaker B:I won't watch it again.
Speaker B:At least not necessarily look to go.
Speaker B:Go watch it again.
Speaker B:But if someone.
Speaker B:If someone wanted to say, hey, let's watch Sunshine Cleaning, I'd be.
Speaker B:I'd be down with it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because at that point, I know that they're on the same wavelength or understanding as me.
Speaker B:That makes any sense?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Three, four.
Speaker A:Nice.
Speaker A:There it is.
Speaker A:One.
Speaker A:Matson.
Speaker A:We missed out on.
Speaker A:Matson missing out.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:Stupid.
Speaker A:They hated this movie.
Speaker B:I've never been so mad.
Speaker B:I know I can.
Speaker B:We can do his rating as a man of the people.
Speaker B:Yeah, you know, I'm.
Speaker B:I do this for you guys.
Speaker B:Alec and JJ are stupid.
Speaker B:They don't know what they're talking about.
Speaker B:This is the worst movie.
Speaker B:Don't watch this movie.
Speaker B:Don't waste your time they made fun of before.
Speaker B:Go watch man of Steel.
Speaker B:That's a much better movie with Amy Adams in it.
Speaker B:Watch.
Speaker B:Watch.
Speaker B:Anything with Amy Adams in it versus watching this movie.
Speaker A:It's pretty spot on, man.
Speaker A:Pretty spot on.
Speaker A:Better red than dead.
Speaker A:Love you, Mats.
Speaker A:It's good that he'll never listen to this either.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker A:Oh, all right.
Speaker A:Alec, tell everybody where they can find us when we're not on Mats.
Speaker B:Well, happy to, but even where you can find us, we're always sure that'll live it.
Speaker B:So best place to get in contact, connect with us, is on Patreon.
Speaker B:Like JJ said, we started kind of our actor and actress phase, where we're gonna be doing the entire months devoted to one single actor or actress.
Speaker B:Those votes are going up on Patreon, completely free to vote like JJ said.
Speaker B:So this is week three of Amy Adams August, and we just kind of started off bubbly and happy and just went straight fucking downhill from there.
Speaker B:So next week's gonna be even better.
Speaker B:Next month, I think we got Brad Pitt loaded up.
Speaker B:Is that right, jj?
Speaker B:So Brad Pitt's loaded up.
Speaker B:We're still getting our votes in for those specific movies.
Speaker B:So hurry up, go vote real quick before we have to watch Matson's picks.
Speaker B:Because as I've said before, this is very important to us whose movies get picked.
Speaker B:And as JJ And I learned this month, sometimes it's not.
Speaker B:It's not the greatest idea to pick movies solely to mess with your third co host that decides to go off and sell his house and move into a new one.
Speaker A:Bastard.
Speaker B:So these picks mean a lot.
Speaker B:You can go to Patreon at what's our verdict?
Speaker B:Reviews vote there if you want to toss us a little bit extra money.
Speaker B:There's about, what, 550 extra little content episodes that range from little outtakes and bloopers to shitting on each other and all the way up to full length episodes of movies that nobody should watch, but we did.
Speaker B:And so there's hours and hours and hours of extra content.
Speaker B:If for whatever reason, a weekly episode isn't enough for you with that, I will kick it back to the King of Crash, the Colossus of clout.
Speaker B:A J.J. that's right.
Speaker A:Hey, yeah, that's how we.
Speaker A:That's how we ended up with.
Speaker A:With Alec, some of you, what's our verdict?
Speaker A:DJ man, we appreciate you.
Speaker A:And maybe you end up on the podcast at some point and then you.
Speaker B:Get to torture them in person every week.
Speaker A:That's fair.
Speaker A:That is fair.
Speaker B:They're stuck with you forever.
Speaker A:It's good stuff.
Speaker A:All right, friends, we appreciate you tuning in, as always.
Speaker A:We'll catch you on the next one.
Speaker A:Cinematica.
