SunshineCleaning Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Earlier this month, I wrote about Variety's latest list of screenwriters to watch and its double-edged sword -- elation that more female writers were entering Hollywood, mixed with disappointment that these women were busy writing 'bout boys -- all the dramatic and comedic romance the audience-at-large has come to expect from the XX-chromosome set.

Luckily, not every scribe to grace that list has followed this ever-present path. In 2005, Megan Holley was named one of Hollywood's "It" screenwriters by the trade, and it wasn't for typical fare. She had written Sunshine Cleaning -- a film about a woman and sister who start a crime scene-cleaning business and use it to get their lives on track. The film hit the screens earlier this year, and is now hitting the shelves on DVD and Blu-ray tomorrow.

I was eager to talk to Holley. I liked watching Sunshine Cleaning, but more powerfully, I appreciated it. Behind the great performances (Blunt's troubled Norah in particular), there was a unique tone to the film. Its gentleness suggested that Cupid would pop up at some point to shoot his arrow, but he did not. And this didn't reveal a failure in the script or its direction, but rather a revelation about what we've come to expect from cinema -- the romantic resolution.

Overture's latest smart rom-com move was to purchase Celeste and Jesse Forever, a script written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, who will also star as Celeste. Celeste and Jesse Forever is the tale of a divorcing couple that is struggling to keep their friendship together while also seeing other people. Suzanne and Jennifer Todd will produce under their Team Todd shingle. This is the first screenplay credit for both actors; Rashida Jones was, of course, the adorable (and three-dimensional!) fiancé Zooey in this spring's I Love You, Man, and she is currently on the TV show Parks and Recreation. McCormack has been on TV shows like In Plain Sight and Brothers & Sisters, as well as in films like Syriana and Team Todd-produced Prime and Must Love Dogs. As previously reported on Cinematical, the spec script was initially picked up by Fox Atomic.

Overture is also behind another upcoming cool romantic comedy written by and starring a talented and very funny woman, Charlyne Yi's Paper Heart. And while their other non-traditional rom-com, Last Chance Harvey, didn't do all that well, it seemed to be fairly popular with its target audience and garnered Dustin Hoffman a Golden Globes nom. And it was also behind Sunshine Cleaning, which, while it obviously wasn't a romantic comedy (or even that funny, despite what the trailers led you to believe), was an interesting and entertaining movie with women behind and in front of the camera. Amy Adams and Emily Blunt were strong leading ladies, and director Christine Jeffs and first-time screenwriter Megan Holley were behind the scenes.

Is it possible that there is a studio out there willing to take a chance on unique stories and fresh talent, and fresh female talent, at that? I'm rooting for them -- and for Rashida!

The first weekend take for Fast & Furious, a staggering $72 million, beats the entire domestic gross of its series predecessor, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift by $10 million dollars? It is also far and away the year's best opening, though that will likely change come May.

How did this happen? Bringing back Vin Diesel and Paul Walker as part of the "series reboot" helped. The hip new advertising campaign that focused heavily on the car chase action probably succeeded in making the franchise seem less "cheesy" this time around. (The Tokyo Drift subtitle, which turned out to have great traction (ZING!) as a running joke, didn't help the beleaguered third film.) Having seen the movie, that seems a little silly, since it's probably even more hilarious than its predecessors (and never has the description of Vin Diesel as an "angry potato" been more apt). But here we are, and a fifth entry in the series is all but assured.

A sad casualty of the weekend, apart from our collective intelligence, is the lovely Adventureland, which debuted to a disappointing $6 million. I think Miramax was jamming a square peg into a round hole by attempting to market Greg Mottola's film as another Superbad, which it decidedly is not, but I don't really know. It had a great concept but no stars among its lovely cast, so I guess it wasn't the easiest sell.

Monsters vs. Aliens is headed for a not-great $150-160 million finish. I Love You, Man, on the other hand, looks like it'll beat both Jason Segel's Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Paul Rudd's Role Models. Sunshine Cleaning expanded this weekend and snuck into the top 10, with Overture trying hard to platform its way to a sleeper hit. It may have a minor one.

The full top 10 after the jump.

Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the game that Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart totally love to play in between Twilight movies (according to our imagination). Last week we asked you to spit out a humorous caption to go along with a photo from the new flick Sunshine Cleaning, starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. Lots of you entered, but only one grand prize winner was allowed. So congrats to Paul A. for keeping things topical.



1. "I'd like to see you foreclose my house now!" -- Paul A.

See full image and all captions








This week we're bringing out the badass for a little movie called Twilight, which hits DVD tonight at midnight. But instead of standing on line at your nearest Hot Topic, why not try your chance at a little caption game and see if you can win some fantastical Twilight-related prizes (including the hotly-anticipated DVD). Now pay attention Twilight fans because here's where it gets good: Two grand prize winners (ie: the two people whose captions we like the best) will walk away with one Twilight DVD, one $25.00 Wal-Mart gift card, one Twilight T-Shirt, and one Twilight soundtrack. Not bad, huh? So put on your thinking caps, kiss that Robert Pattinson poster for good luck and sound off below!



Read the official rules of this contest

While much of the indie film community has been focused on SXSW, everyone else kept busy making deals, programming festivals, and releasing trailers. Indie Roundup presents an overview of what's been happening during the past week.

Indies Online. Our friends at SnagFilms announced a deal to provide a portion of of their library to Hulu for online distribution. Best known for offering free clips and TV episodes, Hulu is launching a new documentary film section. The SnagFilms library now features 600 docs available for free streaming. Both services remain US only, which I know is frustrating for our readers in Canada and the rest of the world. However, both services intend to expand to international streaming, which can't come soon enough to really expand the online audience for docs.

Deals. Emma Franz's Intangible Asset #82, which is playing at SXSW, and Ben Addelman and Samar Mallal's Nollywood Babylon, which played at Toronto and Sundance, were both acquired by Fox Lorber HT. Both docs will receive theatrical releases in the second quarter of 2009. [indieWIRE] Senator Entertainment picked up rights to Shana Feste's drama The Greatest, starring Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon, and Carey Mulligan. No specific release plans were announced. [indieWIRE] Havana Marking's Afghan Star will arrive in theaters this summer, thanks to Zeitgeist, which acquired rights to the Sundance Audience Award winner. The doc looks at a very popular local version of American Idol in Afghanistan. [indieWIRE]

Box Office. Christine Jeffs' Sunshine Cleaning scored an amazing $54,798 per-screen average at the four theaters in New York and Los Angeles where it opened.

After the jump: Why did Sunshine Cleaning open so well? Plus: the Cleveland International Film Festival opens.

(We're reposting this review from Sundance to coincide with the film's theatrical release this weekend)

By: Kim Voynar

It's not a bad idea for an indie film: Two sisters, still dealing as adults with the aftermath of their mother's suicide when they were children, are stuck in dead-end jobs. Then one of them gets the idea to stop cleaning rich people's houses for a living, and to start a business cleaning up crime scenes instead. That's the basic idea behind Christine Jeffs' Sunshine Cleaning, starring Amy Adams, Emily Blunt and Alan Arkin.

Adams plays Rose, head cheerleader back in the glory days of high school, now stuck raising her son Oscar (Jason Spevack) alone. Rose cleans houses for a living, a job she's not crazy about, and she's having an affair with her high school boyfriend, Mac (Steve Zahn), who likes Rose enough to have sex on the side, but not enough to leave his wife for her. Her sister Norah (Blunt) lives with their father Joe (Arkin), who's always got a scheme going for finally getting rich. When Oscar keeps getting in trouble in school, Rose decides she needs to make more money so she can put him in private school, and cleaning houses for a living isn't going to get her there.

Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- where there's always a good amount of sunshine, yet the place is never clean. Go figure. Last week we asked you to be a sport (a champ? a pal? an awkward stranger?) and chuck out some captions for a photo from the hilarious comedy Role Models (now out on DVD), starring Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott. Okay, so we wouldn't exactly ask these winners to babysit our kids, but congratulations nonetheless.

1. "I knew trying mail-order steroids was risky, but they said the side effects are barely noticeable." -- Aaron N.

2. "All you said was to wear "a suit". If you meant fancy business suit, you should have said fancy business suit. " -- Nathan T.

3. "Seann desperately tried to explain to Paul the terrible mix-up at his mother's fertility clinic, which, unfortunately, also doubled as a bovine (cow) insemination center." -- Patrick F.

See full image and all captions

This week we're bouncing from a popular male duo to an equally-as-popular (and prettier) female duo in Amy Adams and Emily Blunt, who hit theaters this weekend with their new flick Sunshine Cleaning. In the film, the two gals decide to clean crime scenes for a living to earn some extra cash, and with that theme in mind one grand prize winner (ie: the dude or dudette with the best caption) will sweep away with one Sunshine Cleaning prize pack filled with Method cleaning products and one $250 gift certificate for Salon Wish. Someone's about to have a very clean pad, ya think? Sound off below neat freaks!



Read the official rules for this contest

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Sunshine Cleaning, starring Amy Adams, Emily Blunt and Alan Arkin. The film follows a down-on-her-funds mom (Adams) who, in order to raise money to send her son to private school, listens to the advice of her father (Arkin) and starts up a crime scene cleaning business with her sister (Blunt). Adams and Blunt together seems like a recipe for success, and advanced buzz on the film -- which comes to us from the producers of Little Miss Sunshine -- is pretty positive so far. Directed by Christine Jeffs and written by Megan Holley (nice female duo at the top there), Sunshine Cleaning hits theaters on March 13th.

Click below for a larger version of the poster.

This week I'm taking a look at trailers chosen purely on the basis of how much they caught my eye.

Marley and Me
What caught my attention here was the idea that Owen Wilson is yet again playing a man wrestling with his inability to grow up, kind of like he did in Wedding Crashers and You Me and Dupree. Is this a groove or a rut? This time out Wilson is playing a married man who is unsure about whether or not he's ready to be a father, so he and his wife (played by Jennifer Aniston) test the parental waters by getting a dog. There's lots of cute doggie hijinx on display here, but between the Beethoven flashbacks and the fact that I've yet to see a really good Jennifer Aniston movie, I think I'll be passing on this one.

Sunshine Cleaning
In this indie comedy, two down on their luck sisters launch a business in which they clean up after crime scenes and untimely deaths. It's no one's dream job, but I can see there being a market for it. This is being touted as coming from the producers of Little Miss Sunshine, and one of that film's stars (Alan Arkin) appears here as the sisters' father. We've got some laughs and endearing characters here and there's a scene with Amy Adams lounging fetchingly in her underwear. I'll be watching for this one. Check out Kim's review of the film.

I'm not sure what it is about sunshine and cleaning, but the two have been all over movie titles as of late. Last year we had Little Miss Sunshine and Code Name: The Cleaner, and in 2007 we're looking at a film called Sunshine from Danny Boyle, another simply called Cleaner (which stars Samuel L. Jackson) and one that combines both, Sunshine Cleaning, starring Emily Blunt, Amy Adams and the newly casted Mary Lynn Rajskub (best known for her role as Chloe O'Brian on Fox's hit show 24.) Both Cleaner and Sunshine Cleaning focus on characters who clean up crime scenes, though the latter seems a bit more interesting ... to this guy, at least.

In Sunshine Cleaning, Adams and Blunt play sisters who clean crime scenes for a living and, in the process, somehow learn the meaning of life. Sounds sort of cheesy until I tell you that Rajskub will play a blood bank technician who's the object of Blunt's sexual obsession. (Yeah, that little plot point completely caught me off guard too.) I should also note that Alan Arkin snagged a role, which makes this his second Sunshine-related indie comedy in two years; pic was written by Megan Holley and will be directed by Christine Jeffs. No word on a release date, but Sunshine Cleaning is currently sweeping up the streets of Albuqerque, New Mexico.