Another day, another quirky indie movie written by an unknown. It is becoming a given that first-time writers (and frequently, though not in this case, directors) produce a piece of whimsical comedy that combines the dramatic elements of everyday problems with a strange or surreal undertone. Of course, I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing. Hell, I'd watch a million of these movies over some of the expensive action bilge I've been subjected to lately, and I certainly enjoy them much more than regular dramas that so often reek of pretension and offer very little real substance (for example, overrated crap like Two Lovers). What's more, as these low-budget movies becomes more popular and prevalent you'll find that certain producers get a knack for spotting the best of them: and I suspect that this is becoming the case with the producers of Sunshine Cleaning, who are the guys who also brought us the brilliantLittle Miss Sunshine.. I suspect they felt they'd missed out by not getting their hands onSunshineand Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and were unwilling to lose out on any more warm sunny cinema. Like Little Miss Sunshine, Sunshine Cleaning begins with a broken family, some stalling dreams, and an unusual way to try and make things better. Here, Amy Adams and Emily Blunt play sisters Rose and Norah Lokowski. Rose is a single mother working as a cleaner to get by, she is having an affair with her high school sweetheart Mac (Steve Zahn) who is married to another woman. Norah is a deadbeat, a loser with no direction who is incapable of holding down a job. Meanwhile their father Joe (Indie omnipresent Alan Arkin) is busy hatching crackpot schemes to make cash to buy his grandson Oscar some cool new binoculars. On one particularly depressing day Mac, who is a cop, is attending a suicide scene and baulks at the cost of the clean-up. Then he has an idea, why not get Rose in on this lucrative business? As you might expect, Rose is dubious of this plan. But somehow gets the business off the ground, roping in her sister in the process. Starting out slowly, and somewhat dangerously (falling onto a blood-stained mattress destined for a dumpster is a little taste of the hygiene fo-pars engaged in) they gradually improve their blood-mopping skills, and their sisterly relationship, with a little help from local cleaning-products salesman Winston (Clifton Collins Jr). The story vacillates through some familiar family drama territory on it's undulating ride through the trials and tribulations of this bizarre business, but on the whole the film is brilliantly balanced. The performance from Adams and Blunt are excellent, they avoid coming across as too ditsy and stupid or too feminist and empowered. The plot is infused with drama and comedy in equal measure, and has several stand-out scenes which interweave the two to great effect. Subplots related to the deceased whom the girls have to clean up offer some excellent perspective on the problems of the ladies themselves, and give a well-written device through which we can examine the heroines without merely judging their own pre-staged 'moments'. The best thing about this film is that it is populated with interesting, realistic female characters, a rare treat in contemporary cinema. Better still, the presence of these refreshingly recognisable women does not reduce the male characters to a group of grunting archetypes. Alan Arkin's Joe Lorkowski is at once a dedicated father, ingenious ideas man, and lovable old rogue prone to the odd poor decision (door-to-door shrimp sales being one such moment of endearing idiocy). Salesman Winston is likewise portrayed in the difficult role of the oddball outsider and the wise and helpful sage, a strange combination that works surprisingly well. Overall it's an entertaining comedy and a moving drama. It's lapses into the more standard dramatic arcs can be forgiven for the simple reason that first-time writers are bound to play it safe. That it avoids excessive and unnecessary 'quirkiness', and manages to create characters not caricatures, is far more important for this sort of movie. Well worth a look for those who aren't too disillusioned with the post-Juno Indie film scene.