August 18, 2025 • 37 mins
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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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Like that first time they'recleaning that one house in the mattress
and she like knocks, makes itfall onto it.
Like they start and she'strying to apologize but she can't
stop laughing.
Like it'll wash off.
That's not the point.
Yeah.
Oh, it's so good.
(00:25):
Welcome to the what's Everyday podcast.
We fashion ourselves cinematicjudge and jury.
My name is JJ Carter.
I'm here with my co host Alec Burgess.
Get it.
We appreciate you tuning in.
Go ahead, hit that.
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Tell a family member about us.
Tell a crime scene cleanerabout us.
Maybe.
I mean, yeah, we could use the referral.
(00:49):
I'm sure after we talk aboutthe next movie, people will be like,
we got a guy for you.
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(01:10):
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So appreciate that.
(01:31):
But let's, you know, dive intoweek three here of Amy Adams August.
And now we're getting weird.
As if we weren't a littleweird to begin with.
But the, the back end of thisgets real weird.
Really weird.
And, and keep in mind youwatch and listening.
You know we're missing Matsonfor the month of August.
(01:51):
The guy went and bought a newhouse and sold his guys gotta move.
And both of us really set himup because we picked our M.O.
well, I mean, I think I liketo pick these movies because they're
interesting to talk about.
But two, there was some behindthe scenes ideas to.
Yeah, I knew 100 he would hate it.
(02:13):
So.
But now we get to haveconversation that doesn't involve
irrational disgust and hate.
Maybe there'll still be somedisgusting hate, but it won't be
irrational.
We'll have good points tofollow up, why we do that.
But let's jump right in.
Week three, sunshine cleaning.
It was released April 17, 2009.
(02:35):
It was an independent film, soit actually Came out a little earlier
in 2008, but that's theofficial release date.
It was written by Megan Holly.
Extracted by Christine Jeffs.
It stars Amy Adams, EmilyBlunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spivak,
Steve Zahn, Marilyn Rashkub,Clifton Collins and Eric Christian
(02:56):
Olsen.
It's about a woman.
In order to raise the tuitionto send her young son to private
school, a mom starts anunusual business, a biohazard removal
crime scene cleanup servicewith her unreliable sister.
It's a very vague, but it works.
I mean, it's not wrong.
Fix the bill.
Yeah, I think it focuses onthe wrong things, but that's okay.
(03:21):
This one's mine and I.
Tell us why.
Jj yeah.
One was to with Matson.
Two I actually.
So this is one of Casey'sprobably favorite movies because
she likes weird that had like,especially things that are like,
have these like, quote unquotelife lessons, if you will, or, you
(03:44):
know, some deep contentsurrounded by just random ass weird.
And that's like the epitome ofthis film.
And.
And she loves both Emily Bluntand Amy Adams.
So it was one of those thingswhere all the pieces fell together
for her.
And look, I.
She likes some weird thingsand she likes dark and creepy and
(04:06):
strange and heartbreakingmovies, and that fits all these bills
as well.
And I.
Look, I don't love this movie.
Like, it's not like I'm like,yeah, sunshine cleaning.
But objectively, it's interesting.
There.
There's some interestingstorytelling and really good acting.
(04:27):
So knowing Matson, I was like,he's gonna hate this.
And then I was like, aleccould go either way on this, but
I think there's some quirkythat he'll really like and there's
some good conversation to behad outside of messing with Matson.
So that's why I picked it.
And I also did with all myfilms that I picked to vote on on
this one.
Tried to pick ones that wereAmy Adams centric.
(04:47):
Right.
Like, I. I was.
I didn't want to pick ones.
Like, there were a couple onour list of votes that I was like,
this isn't an 80Amy Adams film.
She's just in it and barely at that.
Right.
These two movies that Ipicked, and I think the two that
you picked.
Even are not American Industrials.
Yeah, it could be.
She has less screen time.
That's probably the leastamount of screen time she has in
(05:09):
a film.
But it's still enough that I was.
Okay.
Like, that was the main character.
Yeah.
Like, what was the one?
The other two were man of Steel.
And well, she has like a cameo.
Yeah.
And there was something elsethat she was in for like five seconds.
And I'm like, that's not AmyAdams film.
(05:30):
But anyway, I digress.
This, yeah.
Was one of the ones that Iimmediately thought of because it's.
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 andCasey can't hear me right now, but
(05:52):
it's another one of thosefilms that she loves that I'm like,
I really don't enjoy this film.
Not because it's a bad film,but because I just don't want to
watch it a hundred times.
And that's the difference isshe can just re.
Watch the.
Out of anything she enjoys.
But I thought it'd be a funconversation for the, for the group
and it would piss Matson off.
So it was a double dinger.
So is this first time you'deven heard of this film?
(06:14):
Yeah, but it was weird.
I don't know if there's a, Ameme somewhere that's been made out
of this movie, but like thefirst 10 minutes I was sitting there
going, I've seen this movie before.
Yeah.
And then about 20 minutes andI was like, nope, never mind.
But I think it was her.
Pink polo.
Amy Adams, pink polo.
The sunshine cleaning one.
Yeah.
(06:35):
I was like, I think I've seenthat in a meme somewhere.
And so I was like, wait, oh, she.
Is this something you made me watch?
Because.
Oh, she's kind of in the samevein as Casey is sometimes really
weird.
Yeah.
She's like, no.
And I was like, okay.
And so I was sitting there andprobably for the first 30 minutes
of the movie, I was sittingthere going, I think I seen.
No, I haven't seen this.
What?
(06:55):
And so it was, it was thefirst time that I've seen it.
And this is not a movie thatI'll watch 100 plus times.
But what I did like about itwas it, you know, it probably is
testament to being an Indianfilm, but it did not feel like it
was a, you know, Hollywoodtype movie.
(07:16):
Like this felt like thescreenwriter actually lived through
this exact scenario and wroteit down.
Yeah.
Like with all the weird quirksor even the, you know, the ending.
There's no romance in therewith Winston or anything like that.
It just, you know, the, the.
The Shining White horse isjust her dad selling the house to.
(07:37):
Yeah.
Pay off the debt trailer.
And so I was, I.
That's what I appreciate aboutI was like, okay, this.
This feels like, you know, thescreenwriter was like, I've lived
a life.
Or someone told them, like,hey, you should write that story
down and sell it.
(07:59):
Because that's.
That's what it plays out to be.
Every kind of, like, you know,obstacle or hiccup that, you know,
Amy Adams and Emily Blunt runinto him.
Like, that's a.
That's a real obstacle thatpeople who don't know what they're
doing would run into.
That's not something that, youknow, some writer who's written for
movies and TVs is ever goingto throw in that movie.
(08:21):
Yeah, completely agree.
I think, yeah, you make a good point.
And I will say, part of thereason that I don't love watching
movies like this is becauseit's so grounded that I'm like, if
I wanted to live life, I'lljust go live life.
I don't want to watch a moviethat's so familiar feeling.
(08:41):
Even though, like, I've nevercleaned the crime scene.
Like, I'm lucky to clean myown house.
Like, it's, you know, it'slike one of those.
But there's enough realism inthis film to where, like, I can relate
to.
Like, for example, she goesand does the first one as, like,
I need money, and she's gotthis affair going on with her high
school boyfriend who's a copthat can set her up with it.
(09:04):
So she goes and does it and isdoing it completely illegally.
Meaning there's regulationsaround biohazard and things like
that that you have to followto the table.
And she's not.
She's cleaning it.
Like, she's still working forthe happy cleaners that are cleaning
her.
You know, the after the party thing.
And so it's like watching thatgoing, I could relate to that.
Like, I was like, here's anopportunity to make some money.
(09:25):
I'm gonna do it my way andjust make this money.
And yet then you walk insomeone, you're like, oh, that's
how I'm supposed to do that.
Okay, well, I could do thattoo, right?
Like, and then I can chargemore and I can do, you know, so it's
like the realistic nature of this.
Got into this to make moneyand then had to learn it as you go
and get better at it.
(09:46):
Like, that's so grassroots to me.
I'm like, I get that.
Like, I can relate completelyto that.
Then you flip it over to thekid and I'm, look, I'm not a parent,
but I'm an uncle.
And I've seen heard stories oflike other kids and my nieces and
nephew getting in trouble for silly.
And it's like this weird kidthat's like, probably is addicted
to at the very least, maybe alittle bit on the spectrum, licking
(10:12):
walls, having weirdconversations with kids.
And I'm like, so kids do, right?
But then gets suspended.
And I love that.
The mom was like, it, we'regonna take you out of this school.
They can't handle it.
And then you got this quirkygrandpa that's like, Alan Arkin's
like the greatest thing everin this film.
Because it's like he's justleaning into this really smart, intelligent
(10:33):
kid.
It's just a little weird.
And so it's just for me, I'mlike, I can see.
I start to point out, I waslike, I can relate to this because
of this group of people.
And I can relate to thisbecause of something that I've done
that.
And so I. Yeah, to your point,like, it is so grounded in what feels
reality that to me, I don'twatch movies to find reality.
(10:53):
Like, I watch movies most ofthe time.
My goal is to escape realityto a certain degree.
So movies like this, I'm like,it's really good and it's made really
well and it's really dialogueheavy that I like and really relatable.
But I don't want to do that.
I'll just live life.
If I want to feel like I'mliving life, I don't want to watch
movies that make me go, oh,yeah, at least not a lot.
And Casey watches those a lot.
So.
(11:13):
But that's where.
Yeah, it's so to your point,like, it's so relatable.
Even though the actual contentmay not be like the act, the.
The overarching themes andlike, how these people are feeling,
what they're dealing with isso relatable that it's so well done
in the dialogue and the conversations.
And I love the back and forth.
(11:33):
And I think you pick when youthink about it, like, Amy Adams has
never been one that, like, Ilay on and go, she's one of the greatest
actresses we have in the rightnow, but she's really good at carrying
a scene.
And Emily Blunt, I put on the.
One of the better actresses wehave right now.
So watching the two of them,especially before they were super
famous and had hit big on somemovies, they interact so well together.
(11:57):
And I really, really like that.
So they're two of my.
It's my favorite parts whenthey're together and arguing.
And like that first timethey're cleaning that one house in
the mattress, and she, like,knocks, makes it fall onto it.
Like, they start and she'strying to apologize, but she can't
stop laughing.
Like it'll wash off.
(12:17):
That's not the point.
Yeah, it's just, oh, it's so good.
It's.
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.
Like, so good.
So good.
The two of them just kill it together.
That's.
That, That's a good pointbecause I. I don't like them when
(12:39):
they're on their own very muchin this movie.
It's, you know, like, AmyAdams character is a little whiny.
Yeah.
And then, you know, EmilyBlunt's character almost just feels
like that's the one part,like, that does feel almost Hollywood.
Right.
The.
The angsty, rebellious youngersister type of a, you know, character.
(13:05):
But together, they're phenomenal.
Yeah.
And so I, I do wish that therewas more screen time of their machine,
the screen.
Because it's.
It's not.
It's almost treated likethey're two separate stories.
Yeah.
You know, it's.
It's Nora's story and it'swhatever bucket Amy Adams story.
But you have this going, youknow, it's like they're trying to
(13:29):
tell two stories when the beststory is when they're together.
And I don't need the, youknow, the payoff sort of with the
Emily Blunt's character.
Yeah.
Like, I don't.
I don't need the closure withthis type of movie that you would
kind of get with a more bigbudget film.
Yeah, it's.
(13:50):
It's.
It's fun when they're onscreen together and they're doing
a great job.
I don't need to.
We don't need to separate themso they can come to their own realizations
about, you know, this traumathat they experienced when they were.
They were younger.
Yeah.
And so, yeah, I, I would havejust kept them together on screen
as much as possible.
Same.
I feel like a movie of twoduos would have been better.
(14:12):
Like, because that's why youget bored with the movie with the
Emily Blunt and the daughterof the first cleaning house.
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.
Like, she's trying to dealwith the fact that she's created
this fantasy in her head abouther mom, and she's got to deal with
the fact that her mom actuallytook her own life and that, you know,
(14:35):
it was understanding thatabandonment and the abandonment issues
that she has and that shewon't let herself get close to anybody.
And then.
So she puts herself in thisterrible position of stalking this
woman and then make building arelationship out of a lie.
So it's just.
It's.
It's interesting, but itdoesn't fit the movie to me.
Like, that's where in thatwhole storyline, every time it's
(14:56):
on, I'm like, ah, it just doesn't.
Doesn't work for me because it.
I can't relate it back towhat's going on when they're having
this goofy sister relationship.
Right?
And there's only the onemoment near the end when the two
of them are having, like, thisserious conversation after the fire.
And, like, she's like, I'm leaving.
I'm not gonna.
Whatever.
(15:16):
Like, there is a little bit ofa payoff there between their relationship,
but I think you could havegotten there without that side story.
And it.
You could have gotten therethrough more time with the two of
them on screen together, whichmakes a lot more interesting film
watching.
And even the.
The parts with, like, SteveZahn's character.
(15:36):
Like, I love Steve Zahn, butI'm like, there's too much into this.
Like, I don't care about their affair.
Like, I get why it'shappening, and I get early on in
it.
But as it continues to go onand, like, there's this whole.
And she's all busted up aboutit, I'm just like, eh, I don't need
this.
Like, just let that end.
Let's get back to you and yoursister, you and your dad, you and
(15:59):
your son.
Like, those are theinteresting relationships.
Are you and, you know, thecleaning guy that's got one.
I mean, all of thoserelationships are more interesting
to me than the setup relationships.
We could have moved past thosereally quickly or never even had
them with the one daughter lady.
Right?
Like, understanding, I thinkEmily Blunt's character understanding
(16:20):
that this woman that they'recleaning her house and died alone.
Having a daughter that doesn'tknow she's dead is enough to trigger
the trauma response.
Right?
That we need to get throughthat part and then let her work it
out with her family, not withsome random woman that she ends up
anyway.
That's.
I agree with you completely.
Like, there's some storylinesthat I'm like, ah, you did A little
(16:42):
too much here when you havegold that you could work with on
the other side of it.
Yeah.
Instead you went straight toEmily Blunt as a crazy cat lady.
Yeah.
Just skip right into that.
True.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I will say you.
You mentioned it earlier,like, grandpa.
Oh, grandpa is amazing, dude.
(17:03):
And this like side hustle kindof mentality.
I got the.
I got the next big thing.
Yeah.
And it's always fancy, right?
Fancy corn and fancy shrimp.
And I was just cackling.
I was.
I. I have spent zero time inNew Mexico except to drive through
it.
Sure.
(17:23):
But I was like this, thisfeels like something from New Mexico.
Just.
Oh yeah.
Especially old guy.
Just.
We'll slap fancy on it andgood to go.
Yeah.
I love it.
Dude.
The.
The fancy corn comp.
Like the whole scene with thekid when he.
After he gets suspended orexpelled and like he tells the little
(17:43):
girl, have you ever heard offancy corn?
Do you know if they sell it?
Like, he just completely baitsthis little girl.
Ev.
That's my favorite part ofthis movie.
Bar none.
No questions asked.
And when he walks out and the grandpa.
Alan Arkin's like, geniusmove, my boy.
Way to sell it.
Like, I just was like everysingle time I could watch the two
of them on screen, the wholeweird creepy ass binocular and the
(18:08):
dude just trying to sell anything.
Like you said, throw slappingfancy on the front of it.
Dude.
It's amazing.
It's gold.
Pure writing gold.
Love it.
Can't even stop watching it.
That was cackling.
Especially like, you know, thewhole kind of meeting the driver.
Right.
Just.
Just the whole process.
(18:29):
Like, because, you know AmyAdams, she's dropping her son off
with her dad.
Yeah.
Right.
So the, the logical thing is.
Oh, like they'll just stay athome or they'll drive around.
They'll go to the movies orgrab something to eat or whatever
it is.
Now this dude's just going tomeet us at gas stations in the middle
of nowhere to pick up some shrimp.
Or he's.
He's peddling his corn at thelocal mom and pop store.
(18:52):
It's great.
It's just like that.
That's the kind of educationthat, you know, this.
Yes.
Kid responds to clearly.
But it's the, it's those extralittle moments, right.
Where it's, it's the lifeexperience that's getting stacked
up.
That kid's gonna remembersitting out there for the shrimp.
You know, it's like, yeah, Imight have it bad, but it was never
(19:13):
this bad.
Yeah.
You know, the business acumenRemember that.
Write that down.
It's just so good.
And I. I would have justalmost preferred, you know, little
snippets of the cleaning, butjust focus on grandpa and grandkid.
Oh, dude, that.
That would have been incredible.
(19:34):
Just.
I just want to spin off ofthose two.
Yeah, yeah.
Because it was.
It was.
That was the most enjoyablefor me.
Yeah, agreed.
I think, too, one of thethings that I've always thought about
this movie is where they missthe boat.
Like, I love the storytelling.
I think it's interesting.
But I.
Where they missed the boat, tome, is the more.
And I.
They hit on it a little bit.
(19:54):
But the fact that this kidobviously doesn't have an easy life,
right?
But, oh, no, the one thingthat he doesn't have is a fear of
abandonment.
Like, his mom's there, hisaunt's there, his grandpa's there,
and they focus on him.
Like, they take care of him.
Now, granted, she has to leavehim with a cleaning guy one time.
Like, poor, you know, but evenhe takes him and, like, starts showing
(20:17):
him the model stuff.
And, like, he gets these lifelessons, to your point, from these
people that care about him.
And so it's there.
It's.
You want to talk about a movieabout breaking the cycle, right?
Like, a lot of times, and it'strue in life, someone goes through
a trauma, and then they un.
They naturally, because of theway that it works, flow into creating
(20:38):
that trauma in their own livesor, you know, passing it on to their
kids or, you know, their lovedones and things like that.
But you see an obvioussituation here where through all
the problems and the issuesand the struggles they're having.
Amy Adams character is workingto make sure that her son doesn't
have to deal with the samelevel of trauma and difficulty in
(20:59):
the same ways that she did andher sister did.
Right?
And so she's surrounded withpeople that.
He's surrounded with peoplethat care about him and take care
of him and do their best forhim in most cases.
And so I really appreciate that.
And that's why I think theyshould have centered that around
the story.
And to your point, like, thecleaning's great, the grandpa doing
weird shit's great, the auntfiguring her out is great.
(21:21):
But let's do it with the scope of.
It's to make sure that thiskid never has to feel the way that
they do or they have.
And so to me, that center thatwould center this story better then
the two adult sisters tryingto figure out their trauma bonding
situation and how they'redealing with, you know, what happened
(21:43):
with their mother, you know,20, 30 years ago, whatever it was,
to me, that would havecentered this story a little bit
better.
We wouldn't have had thedisparate storylines that made it
feel a little janky or allover the place.
We could have just brought itback to, he's the center of the world
and everybody's there to tryto figure out how to take care of
him by selling shrimp out of atrunk of a car or cleaning crime
(22:07):
scenes and going into reallydisgusting, smelly houses.
And so, yeah, anyway, that'skind of where I, I think, to your
point, if they had focusedmore on that one and we would have
got more Alan Arkin and thiskid time, because it was just amazing.
Yeah.
There's one scene where itfelt like they were doing that, and
it's the one where she opensthe door and just gets hit with that
(22:30):
rotting shrimp smell.
And she makes him sit on theporch because her immediate thought
goes to, oh, great.
And that's kind of wherethey're leading you.
Like, great, I'm gonna.
I'm doing this again.
Yeah, right.
Phones off the hook and you can.
And it's like, oh, no, it'sjust a.
The shrimp went bad and youand grandpa's in there and he's upset,
(22:50):
he's frustrated.
Right.
Because this was his, youknow, this is how he's gonna take
his kid, the grandkid atDisney Land.
Yep.
Right.
This is the goal.
This was gonna work.
It didn't work.
And so you can see thefrustration boil over there.
And then they.
They talk a little bit aboutthe fact that.
Or it's the only time theyreally mentioned, like, he raised
his two girls on his ownafter, you know, mom off herself.
(23:13):
And so he throws it kind ofback at her like, oh, you think one
kid is hard?
Try it with two and try itwith being thrown into it just one
day.
It's like, great.
Now you're a single parentwith two kids.
Yeah.
And so that was.
That's my favorite scenebecause it's.
(23:34):
It's like, you know, the onetime where this almost facade is
cracked and you can see thatthey are all very stressed and they're.
They're putting on their best face.
But, you know, when.
When you kind of have thatfight or flight adrenaline pumping
situation, like, everything.
The cracks happen and, youknow, the kids not around there to
(23:56):
see us.
I would even like it if it wasa little bit more from his point
of view.
So you can almost see, youknow, or you know, switch between
point of view so you can seewhat he's seen versus what is actually
happening or what they'reallowing him to see to, you know,
prevent this almostgenerational trauma from, you know,
repeating the cycle.
(24:18):
That's a good call out.
I. I would have liked to like,he see that conversation from like,
set the camera lower, have itshow him sneaking up till eavesdrop.
Because that would have been ahim thing to do.
You could even have himwatching it through a crack in the
door or something through hisbinoculars or through the window.
Right.
Like, that would have workedpretty good.
And let him actually hear howmuch he's cared for, which I don't
(24:41):
think he questions.
Right.
That's not something that youget from this kid is that he, he
knows how much he's cared about.
But like him hearing thedifficult side of it versus everyone
just pumping him up and, youknow, being like, we're gonna get
away from these school.
They don't understand you.
Blah, blah, blah, blah.
Yeah, that's a good call out.
I like that.
There we go, Solutioning films again.
That's what we do.
(25:03):
That's what we do.
I need to hire us for this.
I'm telling you.
I know.
Yeah.
But I. I think to get one ofthe things, regardless of, you know,
some of these story beats thatI think they could have done a little
bit better on and focused on.
I will say that the acting inthis film across the board, like,
this is one.
And again, I can't admit thisout loud because Casey has been like,
(25:26):
off.
But like, because I talk abouther with her.
Like, I'm like, oh God, we'rewatching Sunshine cleaning.
But the acting is across theboard phenomenal.
Like everybody.
There's not a character inthis film that I can think of and
I'm Maybe I'm missing one or two.
But like, that are just evenlike I. I go to.
(25:48):
And this is where.
So at the very beginning whenshe's cleaning and the girl, like,
she's trying to talk to thatone girl.
Real rager, huh?
And the girl just kind oflooks at her.
Like even that moment, I'mlike, that's some good acting.
Because that's what wouldhappen, like if some young person
was having a party and thecleaning lady's like, real rager.
You'd be like, the.
Are you talking about.
Like, yeah, go away, weirdo.
Like, so it's just like.
(26:08):
But the acting across theboard in this film is amazing.
Right down to the kid likeAlan Arkin.
We know because he's beenaround for 100 years.
You know what I mean?
So it's like.
But yeah, I, and I love, andI've talked about this a million
times on this podcast, but Ilove a well acted film.
Like if you can give me, evenif the story could be better or,
(26:30):
you know, things like that, ifit's well acted and it's believable
from an acting perspective,you got me more than most movies.
And this one is killer goodfrom that perspective.
Yeah.
Because like you said, eventhe side characters, like the actors
and actions, they got to playthose side characters are real rocks.
Yeah.
When it comes to acting, likeSteve's on phenomenal.
(26:53):
He doesn't really, he neverreally leads anything, but he makes
every movie better becausehe's a great actor.
And even the girl they got toplay, the one lady that helps Nora
solve all her problems, Idon't remember her name, but she
is consistently in stuff verybriefly and does a good job.
(27:14):
Like the one thing that comesto mind that I've seen there and
recently or relativelyrecently was Tomorrow War.
And she does a great job.
She has like four minutes ofscreen time.
Yeah.
But it's a really good four minutes.
And so it's the, a great, youknow, kind of like star studded cast
before they were stars.
Yeah.
But then the people that theyget surrounded with in this are,
(27:37):
you know, there's no scrubs,no slouches.
Yeah, they're, they're good, solid.
And so you have this great,well acted movie, but you're also
not blowing through yourbudget on the talent part of it.
Oh yeah.
What is that, man?
(27:57):
I don't remember.
I don't remember her name.
But she's in, she's, she's inquite a bit.
And it's always, it seemsanyway that it's not very much your
screen time.
Mary Lynn Rascoop.
Just looked her up.
Mary Lynn Rascue.
Cool.
I didn't, I didn't know her name.
(28:18):
I know her face.
I know exactly who you'retalking about.
But I couldn't.
Yeah.
And she, she.
So she's in a lot, but it'svery little screen time.
Yeah.
And it's always a solid performance.
Oh, yeah.
And so it's, it's everybodythey went after or thought of or
casted in this.
It kind of fits that bill.
I mean, you even found a childactor that was pretty good.
(28:40):
Oh yeah.
Oh, yeah.
And you know, that's the,that's gold right there.
Well, and even down to like the.
So the Little girl that hedupes into buying the corn.
That actress is Amber Mid Thunder.
And she's gone on.
She did that.
(29:01):
I think we reviewed it too.
The Predator movie.
The Predator.
It was on straight to, like,Hulu or whatever.
It was Prey called Prey.
That's.
That's her.
And her mom is the mom in it too.
So, like, even down to the bitparts, this was a kickoff for Amber
Mid Thunder.
Because, like.
Yeah, yeah.
(29:22):
And I was like.
Because I've always recognized it.
But then until we did this andI was looking at the cast prior,
I was like, oh, that's AmberMid Thunder.
That's amazing.
Anyway, yeah, amazing acting.
Interesting story.
I like it.
Should we rate it?
Let's do it.
All right.
My movie.
I'll kick it off.
I'm gonna give it a three anda half Look, I think it gets it Die
(29:43):
tonight.
I know.
I know.
She ever sees this, I'm fin in trouble.
Good thing is she neverwatches or listens.
So she might ask and I mightfib about what I scored it.
Look, I'm giving it a threeand a half.
And I'll tell you why.
I think I almost give it a 4.
Because the acting almostcarries it to that level for me.
(30:04):
I think to your point, andwhat we've talked about is, like,
there's some story beats thatmake it feel like it drags on.
It's not even a long movie.
It's under two hours.
And.
But it gets a little in itsown way in a couple times.
And I.
It.
To me, it, like, it stops tolose interest when I go to certain
(30:24):
story points.
And if I start losinginterest, if I have parts in a movie
that I'm like, okay, I can goget some soda or a snack right now,
and I'm not gonna miss anything.
That's where I start tostruggle giving it too high of a
score.
And there's at least three orfour parts where I'm like, I got
five minutes to go grab this.
Because there's a scene herethat doesn't add any value to me,
(30:44):
and I don't enjoy it.
And I.
From an acting pointperspective, that's the only thing
that's there.
But to your point, like theside story with Nora and the.
The girl, the mom, thedaughter of the one woman that dies,
that they clean up the onehouse every time they go off on their
own.
I don't care.
And it's tough because it'swell acted, to your point.
(31:06):
Two very good actors there.
But it doesn't add value tothe story for me.
So that whole thing draws meout and can't.
I can't get fully behind the film.
But what is good is phenomenal.
The, the, the.
When we've talked about all of it.
Amy Adams and.
And what's her face together like.
Good God, they're great, the sisters.
(31:27):
Grandpa Alan Arkin and the kidare great.
Alan Arkin and both of hisdaughters interacting.
Like the opening scene whereshe's in bed and she's like, you
gotta go to work.
And she's like, I'm sleeping, dad.
That's great.
Yeah, but there's just so manythings to me that pull away from
the greatness of the story inthe film because it's like they were
just doing too much and tryingtoo hard in certain areas.
(31:49):
But.
Yeah, but other than that,like, really well acted, really good.
I love the cast.
I love the story from grounded perspective.
I just think there are littlethings that could have been edited
differently or just left out entirely.
So three and a half for me.
I know I'll watch this movie,but not by choice.
(32:09):
So there you go.
All right, I'm gonna be similar.
I'm gonna give it a three forkind of a similar reasoning.
This.
This is a really hard one forme to walk up to someone and be like,
hey, we should watch thismovie, or, hey, you should watch
this movie.
It's.
It's good, but it's notsomething that I'm gonna say, hey,
(32:32):
you should watch this.
You should go spend two hoursand watch it.
It's just not that type of movie.
It's a very different.
Like, I would have to knowsomebody really, really well and
have spent lots and lots oftimes watching movies that they've
recommended to me in order forme to then reciprocate and send this
back to them type of thing.
(32:54):
Like, I don't have anybodythat has that kind of movie love
or love of, you know, watchingthese kind of off the wall, intriguing,
but like, it.
You got to be special now towatch a movie like this.
Right.
There's been too muchsaturation of the market with cheap
(33:14):
action flicks or romanticcomedy or something along those lines,
and this isn't it.
Yeah, like you even have theopportunity for a little romance
subplot and they leave it out.
And so it's.
It's like, it's hard to thenpitch this to somebody else and say,
oh, hey, you should watch this.
It's got.
Well, what does it have?
(33:35):
You know, it's got greatacting, it's got this or that's.
Got Alan Arkin.
And you say Alan Arkin.
People like who?
And you have to be like, well,gee, think Hispanic Michael Caine
or something along those lines.
Yeah.
And so you have to.
It's got those off the wallkind of.
How do you recommend this tosomeone else to go watch?
(33:56):
Yeah.
And so from that point, it's.
It's tricky for me, but I'llgive it a three.
I won't watch it again.
At least not necessarily lookto go.
Go watch it again.
But if someone.
If someone wanted to say, hey,let's watch Sunshine Cleaning, I'd
be.
I'd be down with it.
Yeah.
Because at that point, I knowthat they're on the same wavelength
or understanding as me.
(34:17):
That makes any sense?
Yeah.
Three, four.
Nice.
There it is.
One.
Matson.
We missed out on.
Matson missing out.
Yes.
Stupid.
They hated this movie.
I've never been so mad.
I know I can.
We can do his rating as a manof the people.
(34:39):
Yeah, you know, I'm.
I do this for you guys.
Alec and JJ are stupid.
They don't know what they'retalking about.
This is the worst movie.
Don't watch this movie.
Don't waste your time theymade fun of before.
Go watch man of Steel.
That's a much better moviewith Amy Adams in it.
Watch.
Watch.
Anything with Amy Adams in itversus watching this movie.
(35:04):
It's pretty spot on, man.
Pretty spot on.
Better red than dead.
Love you, Mats.
It's good that he'll neverlisten to this either.
Exactly.
Oh, all right.
Alec, tell everybody wherethey can find us when we're not on
Mats.
Well, happy to, but even whereyou can find us, we're always sure
(35:26):
that'll live it.
So best place to get incontact, connect with us, is on Patreon.
Like JJ said, we started kindof our actor and actress phase, where
we're gonna be doing theentire months devoted to one single
actor or actress.
Those votes are going up onPatreon, completely free to vote
like JJ said.
So this is week three of AmyAdams August, and we just kind of
(35:49):
started off bubbly and happyand just went straight fucking downhill
from there.
So next week's gonna be even better.
Next month, I think we gotBrad Pitt loaded up.
Is that right, jj?
So Brad Pitt's loaded up.
We're still getting our votesin for those specific movies.
So hurry up, go vote realquick before we have to watch Matson's
(36:10):
picks.
Because as I've said before,this is very important to us whose
movies get picked.
And as JJ And I learned thismonth, sometimes it's not.
It's not the greatest idea topick movies solely to mess with your
third co host that decides togo off and sell his house and move
into a new one.
(36:31):
Bastard.
So these picks mean a lot.
You can go to Patreon atwhat's our verdict?
Reviews vote there if you wantto toss us a little bit extra money.
There's about, what, 550 extralittle content episodes that range
from little outtakes andbloopers to shitting on each other
and all the way up to fulllength episodes of movies that nobody
(36:54):
should watch, but we did.
And so there's hours and hoursand hours of extra content.
If for whatever reason, aweekly episode isn't enough for you
with that, I will kick it backto the King of Crash, the Colossus
of clout.
A J.J. that's right.
Hey, yeah, that's how we.
That's how we ended up with.
With Alec, some of you, what'sour verdict?
(37:16):
DJ man, we appreciate you.
And maybe you end up on thepodcast at some point and then you.
Get to torture them in personevery week.
That's fair.
That is fair.
They're stuck with you forever.
It's good stuff.
All right, friends, weappreciate you tuning in, as always.
We'll catch you on the next one.
(37:39):
Cinematica.
Like that first time they'recleaning that one house in the mattress
and she like knocks, makes itfall onto it.
Like they start and she'strying to apologize but she can't
stop laughing.
Like it'll wash off.
That's not the point.
Yeah.
Oh, it's so good.
(00:25):
Welcome to the what's Everyday podcast.
We fashion ourselves cinematicjudge and jury.
My name is JJ Carter.
I'm here with my co host Alec Burgess.
Get it.
We appreciate you tuning in.
Go ahead, hit that.
Follow, subscribe like bellnotification buttons.
Tell a friend about us.
Tell a family member about us.
Tell a crime scene cleanerabout us.
Maybe.
I mean, yeah, we could use the referral.
(00:49):
I'm sure after we talk aboutthe next movie, people will be like,
we got a guy for you.
But for this one, yeah, I meanit's some interesting stuff.
But on top of that, if youwant to continue to help grow the
podcast, go check us out onPatreon where you can vote for movies
topics, all the fun things,plus see a bunch of extra content.
It is free to vote.
(01:10):
We do have a little paywallfor getting involved in watching
some of the behind the scenesstuff, but again, it's, it's not
cheap to run a podcast so weappreciate any support that you have.
Plus we try to load you upwith as much content as possible.
But in any case, if you wantto get involved in what's there that
is free.
So go check us out.
What's our burger at Patreon?
So appreciate that.
(01:31):
But let's, you know, dive intoweek three here of Amy Adams August.
And now we're getting weird.
As if we weren't a littleweird to begin with.
But the, the back end of thisgets real weird.
Really weird.
And, and keep in mind youwatch and listening.
You know we're missing Matsonfor the month of August.
(01:51):
The guy went and bought a newhouse and sold his guys gotta move.
And both of us really set himup because we picked our M.O.
well, I mean, I think I liketo pick these movies because they're
interesting to talk about.
But two, there was some behindthe scenes ideas to.
Yeah, I knew 100 he would hate it.
(02:13):
So.
But now we get to haveconversation that doesn't involve
irrational disgust and hate.
Maybe there'll still be somedisgusting hate, but it won't be
irrational.
We'll have good points tofollow up, why we do that.
But let's jump right in.
Week three, sunshine cleaning.
It was released April 17, 2009.
(02:35):
It was an independent film, soit actually Came out a little earlier
in 2008, but that's theofficial release date.
It was written by Megan Holly.
Extracted by Christine Jeffs.
It stars Amy Adams, EmilyBlunt, Alan Arkin, Jason Spivak,
Steve Zahn, Marilyn Rashkub,Clifton Collins and Eric Christian
(02:56):
Olsen.
It's about a woman.
In order to raise the tuitionto send her young son to private
school, a mom starts anunusual business, a biohazard removal
crime scene cleanup servicewith her unreliable sister.
It's a very vague, but it works.
I mean, it's not wrong.
Fix the bill.
Yeah, I think it focuses onthe wrong things, but that's okay.
(03:21):
This one's mine and I.
Tell us why.
Jj yeah.
One was to with Matson.
Two I actually.
So this is one of Casey'sprobably favorite movies because
she likes weird that had like,especially things that are like,
have these like, quote unquotelife lessons, if you will, or, you
(03:44):
know, some deep contentsurrounded by just random ass weird.
And that's like the epitome ofthis film.
And.
And she loves both Emily Bluntand Amy Adams.
So it was one of those thingswhere all the pieces fell together
for her.
And look, I.
She likes some weird thingsand she likes dark and creepy and
(04:06):
strange and heartbreakingmovies, and that fits all these bills
as well.
And I.
Look, I don't love this movie.
Like, it's not like I'm like,yeah, sunshine cleaning.
But objectively, it's interesting.
There.
There's some interestingstorytelling and really good acting.
(04:27):
So knowing Matson, I was like,he's gonna hate this.
And then I was like, aleccould go either way on this, but
I think there's some quirkythat he'll really like and there's
some good conversation to behad outside of messing with Matson.
So that's why I picked it.
And I also did with all myfilms that I picked to vote on on
this one.
Tried to pick ones that wereAmy Adams centric.
(04:47):
Right.
Like, I. I was.
I didn't want to pick ones.
Like, there were a couple onour list of votes that I was like,
this isn't an 80Amy Adams film.
She's just in it and barely at that.
Right.
These two movies that Ipicked, and I think the two that
you picked.
Even are not American Industrials.
Yeah, it could be.
She has less screen time.
That's probably the leastamount of screen time she has in
(05:09):
a film.
But it's still enough that I was.
Okay.
Like, that was the main character.
Yeah.
Like, what was the one?
The other two were man of Steel.
And well, she has like a cameo.
Yeah.
And there was something elsethat she was in for like five seconds.
And I'm like, that's not AmyAdams film.
(05:30):
But anyway, I digress.
This, yeah.
Was one of the ones that Iimmediately thought of because it's.
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 andCasey can't hear me right now, but
(05:52):
it's another one of thosefilms that she loves that I'm like,
I really don't enjoy this film.
Not because it's a bad film,but because I just don't want to
watch it a hundred times.
And that's the difference isshe can just re.
Watch the.
Out of anything she enjoys.
But I thought it'd be a funconversation for the, for the group
and it would piss Matson off.
So it was a double dinger.
So is this first time you'deven heard of this film?
(06:14):
Yeah, but it was weird.
I don't know if there's a, Ameme somewhere that's been made out
of this movie, but like thefirst 10 minutes I was sitting there
going, I've seen this movie before.
Yeah.
And then about 20 minutes andI was like, nope, never mind.
But I think it was her.
Pink polo.
Amy Adams, pink polo.
The sunshine cleaning one.
Yeah.
(06:35):
I was like, I think I've seenthat in a meme somewhere.
And so I was like, wait, oh, she.
Is this something you made me watch?
Because.
Oh, she's kind of in the samevein as Casey is sometimes really
weird.
Yeah.
She's like, no.
And I was like, okay.
And so I was sitting there andprobably for the first 30 minutes
of the movie, I was sittingthere going, I think I seen.
No, I haven't seen this.
What?
(06:55):
And so it was, it was thefirst time that I've seen it.
And this is not a movie thatI'll watch 100 plus times.
But what I did like about itwas it, you know, it probably is
testament to being an Indianfilm, but it did not feel like it
was a, you know, Hollywoodtype movie.
(07:16):
Like this felt like thescreenwriter actually lived through
this exact scenario and wroteit down.
Yeah.
Like with all the weird quirksor even the, you know, the ending.
There's no romance in therewith Winston or anything like that.
It just, you know, the, the.
The Shining White horse isjust her dad selling the house to.
(07:37):
Yeah.
Pay off the debt trailer.
And so I was, I.
That's what I appreciate aboutI was like, okay, this.
This feels like, you know, thescreenwriter was like, I've lived
a life.
Or someone told them, like,hey, you should write that story
down and sell it.
(07:59):
Because that's.
That's what it plays out to be.
Every kind of, like, you know,obstacle or hiccup that, you know,
Amy Adams and Emily Blunt runinto him.
Like, that's a.
That's a real obstacle thatpeople who don't know what they're
doing would run into.
That's not something that, youknow, some writer who's written for
movies and TVs is ever goingto throw in that movie.
(08:21):
Yeah, completely agree.
I think, yeah, you make a good point.
And I will say, part of thereason that I don't love watching
movies like this is becauseit's so grounded that I'm like, if
I wanted to live life, I'lljust go live life.
I don't want to watch a moviethat's so familiar feeling.
(08:41):
Even though, like, I've nevercleaned the crime scene.
Like, I'm lucky to clean myown house.
Like, it's, you know, it'slike one of those.
But there's enough realism inthis film to where, like, I can relate
to.
Like, for example, she goesand does the first one as, like,
I need money, and she's gotthis affair going on with her high
school boyfriend who's a copthat can set her up with it.
(09:04):
So she goes and does it and isdoing it completely illegally.
Meaning there's regulationsaround biohazard and things like
that that you have to followto the table.
And she's not.
She's cleaning it.
Like, she's still working forthe happy cleaners that are cleaning
her.
You know, the after the party thing.
And so it's like watching thatgoing, I could relate to that.
Like, I was like, here's anopportunity to make some money.
(09:25):
I'm gonna do it my way andjust make this money.
And yet then you walk insomeone, you're like, oh, that's
how I'm supposed to do that.
Okay, well, I could do thattoo, right?
Like, and then I can chargemore and I can do, you know, so it's
like the realistic nature of this.
Got into this to make moneyand then had to learn it as you go
and get better at it.
(09:46):
Like, that's so grassroots to me.
I'm like, I get that.
Like, I can relate completelyto that.
Then you flip it over to thekid and I'm, look, I'm not a parent,
but I'm an uncle.
And I've seen heard stories oflike other kids and my nieces and
nephew getting in trouble for silly.
And it's like this weird kidthat's like, probably is addicted
to at the very least, maybe alittle bit on the spectrum, licking
(10:12):
walls, having weirdconversations with kids.
And I'm like, so kids do, right?
But then gets suspended.
And I love that.
The mom was like, it, we'regonna take you out of this school.
They can't handle it.
And then you got this quirkygrandpa that's like, Alan Arkin's
like the greatest thing everin this film.
Because it's like he's justleaning into this really smart, intelligent
(10:33):
kid.
It's just a little weird.
And so it's just for me, I'mlike, I can see.
I start to point out, I waslike, I can relate to this because
of this group of people.
And I can relate to thisbecause of something that I've done
that.
And so I. Yeah, to your point,like, it is so grounded in what feels
reality that to me, I don'twatch movies to find reality.
(10:53):
Like, I watch movies most ofthe time.
My goal is to escape realityto a certain degree.
So movies like this, I'm like,it's really good and it's made really
well and it's really dialogueheavy that I like and really relatable.
But I don't want to do that.
I'll just live life.
If I want to feel like I'mliving life, I don't want to watch
movies that make me go, oh,yeah, at least not a lot.
And Casey watches those a lot.
So.
(11:13):
But that's where.
Yeah, it's so to your point,like, it's so relatable.
Even though the actual contentmay not be like the act, the.
The overarching themes andlike, how these people are feeling,
what they're dealing with isso relatable that it's so well done
in the dialogue and the conversations.
And I love the back and forth.
(11:33):
And I think you pick when youthink about it, like, Amy Adams has
never been one that, like, Ilay on and go, she's one of the greatest
actresses we have in the rightnow, but she's really good at carrying
a scene.
And Emily Blunt, I put on the.
One of the better actresses wehave right now.
So watching the two of them,especially before they were super
famous and had hit big on somemovies, they interact so well together.
(11:57):
And I really, really like that.
So they're two of my.
It's my favorite parts whenthey're together and arguing.
And like that first timethey're cleaning that one house in
the mattress, and she, like,knocks, makes it fall onto it.
Like, they start and she'strying to apologize, but she can't
stop laughing.
Like it'll wash off.
(12:17):
That's not the point.
Yeah, it's just, oh, it's so good.
It's.
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.
Like, so good.
So good.
The two of them just kill it together.
That's.
That, That's a good pointbecause I. I don't like them when
(12:39):
they're on their own very muchin this movie.
It's, you know, like, AmyAdams character is a little whiny.
Yeah.
And then, you know, EmilyBlunt's character almost just feels
like that's the one part,like, that does feel almost Hollywood.
Right.
The.
The angsty, rebellious youngersister type of a, you know, character.
(13:05):
But together, they're phenomenal.
Yeah.
And so I, I do wish that therewas more screen time of their machine,
the screen.
Because it's.
It's not.
It's almost treated likethey're two separate stories.
Yeah.
You know, it's.
It's Nora's story and it'swhatever bucket Amy Adams story.
But you have this going, youknow, it's like they're trying to
(13:29):
tell two stories when the beststory is when they're together.
And I don't need the, youknow, the payoff sort of with the
Emily Blunt's character.
Yeah.
Like, I don't.
I don't need the closure withthis type of movie that you would
kind of get with a more bigbudget film.
Yeah, it's.
(13:50):
It's.
It's fun when they're onscreen together and they're doing
a great job.
I don't need to.
We don't need to separate themso they can come to their own realizations
about, you know, this traumathat they experienced when they were.
They were younger.
Yeah.
And so, yeah, I, I would havejust kept them together on screen
as much as possible.
Same.
I feel like a movie of twoduos would have been better.
(14:12):
Like, because that's why youget bored with the movie with the
Emily Blunt and the daughterof the first cleaning house.
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.
Like, she's trying to dealwith the fact that she's created
this fantasy in her head abouther mom, and she's got to deal with
the fact that her mom actuallytook her own life and that, you know,
(14:35):
it was understanding thatabandonment and the abandonment issues
that she has and that shewon't let herself get close to anybody.
And then.
So she puts herself in thisterrible position of stalking this
woman and then make building arelationship out of a lie.
So it's just.
It's.
It's interesting, but itdoesn't fit the movie to me.
Like, that's where in thatwhole storyline, every time it's
(14:56):
on, I'm like, ah, it just doesn't.
Doesn't work for me because it.
I can't relate it back towhat's going on when they're having
this goofy sister relationship.
Right?
And there's only the onemoment near the end when the two
of them are having, like, thisserious conversation after the fire.
And, like, she's like, I'm leaving.
I'm not gonna.
Whatever.
(15:16):
Like, there is a little bit ofa payoff there between their relationship,
but I think you could havegotten there without that side story.
And it.
You could have gotten therethrough more time with the two of
them on screen together, whichmakes a lot more interesting film
watching.
And even the.
The parts with, like, SteveZahn's character.
(15:36):
Like, I love Steve Zahn, butI'm like, there's too much into this.
Like, I don't care about their affair.
Like, I get why it'shappening, and I get early on in
it.
But as it continues to go onand, like, there's this whole.
And she's all busted up aboutit, I'm just like, eh, I don't need
this.
Like, just let that end.
Let's get back to you and yoursister, you and your dad, you and
(15:59):
your son.
Like, those are theinteresting relationships.
Are you and, you know, thecleaning guy that's got one.
I mean, all of thoserelationships are more interesting
to me than the setup relationships.
We could have moved past thosereally quickly or never even had
them with the one daughter lady.
Right?
Like, understanding, I thinkEmily Blunt's character understanding
(16:20):
that this woman that they'recleaning her house and died alone.
Having a daughter that doesn'tknow she's dead is enough to trigger
the trauma response.
Right?
That we need to get throughthat part and then let her work it
out with her family, not withsome random woman that she ends up
anyway.
That's.
I agree with you completely.
Like, there's some storylinesthat I'm like, ah, you did A little
(16:42):
too much here when you havegold that you could work with on
the other side of it.
Yeah.
Instead you went straight toEmily Blunt as a crazy cat lady.
Yeah.
Just skip right into that.
True.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I will say you.
You mentioned it earlier,like, grandpa.
Oh, grandpa is amazing, dude.
(17:03):
And this like side hustle kindof mentality.
I got the.
I got the next big thing.
Yeah.
And it's always fancy, right?
Fancy corn and fancy shrimp.
And I was just cackling.
I was.
I. I have spent zero time inNew Mexico except to drive through
it.
Sure.
(17:23):
But I was like this, thisfeels like something from New Mexico.
Just.
Oh yeah.
Especially old guy.
Just.
We'll slap fancy on it andgood to go.
Yeah.
I love it.
Dude.
The.
The fancy corn comp.
Like the whole scene with thekid when he.
After he gets suspended orexpelled and like he tells the little
(17:43):
girl, have you ever heard offancy corn?
Do you know if they sell it?
Like, he just completely baitsthis little girl.
Ev.
That's my favorite part ofthis movie.
Bar none.
No questions asked.
And when he walks out and the grandpa.
Alan Arkin's like, geniusmove, my boy.
Way to sell it.
Like, I just was like everysingle time I could watch the two
of them on screen, the wholeweird creepy ass binocular and the
(18:08):
dude just trying to sell anything.
Like you said, throw slappingfancy on the front of it.
Dude.
It's amazing.
It's gold.
Pure writing gold.
Love it.
Can't even stop watching it.
That was cackling.
Especially like, you know, thewhole kind of meeting the driver.
Right.
Just.
Just the whole process.
(18:29):
Like, because, you know AmyAdams, she's dropping her son off
with her dad.
Yeah.
Right.
So the, the logical thing is.
Oh, like they'll just stay athome or they'll drive around.
They'll go to the movies orgrab something to eat or whatever
it is.
Now this dude's just going tomeet us at gas stations in the middle
of nowhere to pick up some shrimp.
Or he's.
He's peddling his corn at thelocal mom and pop store.
(18:52):
It's great.
It's just like that.
That's the kind of educationthat, you know, this.
Yes.
Kid responds to clearly.
But it's the, it's those extralittle moments, right.
Where it's, it's the lifeexperience that's getting stacked
up.
That kid's gonna remembersitting out there for the shrimp.
You know, it's like, yeah, Imight have it bad, but it was never
(19:13):
this bad.
Yeah.
You know, the business acumenRemember that.
Write that down.
It's just so good.
And I. I would have justalmost preferred, you know, little
snippets of the cleaning, butjust focus on grandpa and grandkid.
Oh, dude, that.
That would have been incredible.
(19:34):
Just.
I just want to spin off ofthose two.
Yeah, yeah.
Because it was.
It was.
That was the most enjoyablefor me.
Yeah, agreed.
I think, too, one of thethings that I've always thought about
this movie is where they missthe boat.
Like, I love the storytelling.
I think it's interesting.
But I.
Where they missed the boat, tome, is the more.
And I.
They hit on it a little bit.
(19:54):
But the fact that this kidobviously doesn't have an easy life,
right?
But, oh, no, the one thingthat he doesn't have is a fear of
abandonment.
Like, his mom's there, hisaunt's there, his grandpa's there,
and they focus on him.
Like, they take care of him.
Now, granted, she has to leavehim with a cleaning guy one time.
Like, poor, you know, but evenhe takes him and, like, starts showing
(20:17):
him the model stuff.
And, like, he gets these lifelessons, to your point, from these
people that care about him.
And so it's there.
It's.
You want to talk about a movieabout breaking the cycle, right?
Like, a lot of times, and it'strue in life, someone goes through
a trauma, and then they un.
They naturally, because of theway that it works, flow into creating
(20:38):
that trauma in their own livesor, you know, passing it on to their
kids or, you know, their lovedones and things like that.
But you see an obvioussituation here where through all
the problems and the issuesand the struggles they're having.
Amy Adams character is workingto make sure that her son doesn't
have to deal with the samelevel of trauma and difficulty in
(20:59):
the same ways that she did andher sister did.
Right?
And so she's surrounded withpeople that.
He's surrounded with peoplethat care about him and take care
of him and do their best forhim in most cases.
And so I really appreciate that.
And that's why I think theyshould have centered that around
the story.
And to your point, like, thecleaning's great, the grandpa doing
weird shit's great, the auntfiguring her out is great.
(21:21):
But let's do it with the scope of.
It's to make sure that thiskid never has to feel the way that
they do or they have.
And so to me, that center thatwould center this story better then
the two adult sisters tryingto figure out their trauma bonding
situation and how they'redealing with, you know, what happened
(21:43):
with their mother, you know,20, 30 years ago, whatever it was,
to me, that would havecentered this story a little bit
better.
We wouldn't have had thedisparate storylines that made it
feel a little janky or allover the place.
We could have just brought itback to, he's the center of the world
and everybody's there to tryto figure out how to take care of
him by selling shrimp out of atrunk of a car or cleaning crime
(22:07):
scenes and going into reallydisgusting, smelly houses.
And so, yeah, anyway, that'skind of where I, I think, to your
point, if they had focusedmore on that one and we would have
got more Alan Arkin and thiskid time, because it was just amazing.
Yeah.
There's one scene where itfelt like they were doing that, and
it's the one where she opensthe door and just gets hit with that
(22:30):
rotting shrimp smell.
And she makes him sit on theporch because her immediate thought
goes to, oh, great.
And that's kind of wherethey're leading you.
Like, great, I'm gonna.
I'm doing this again.
Yeah, right.
Phones off the hook and you can.
And it's like, oh, no, it'sjust a.
The shrimp went bad and youand grandpa's in there and he's upset,
(22:50):
he's frustrated.
Right.
Because this was his, youknow, this is how he's gonna take
his kid, the grandkid atDisney Land.
Yep.
Right.
This is the goal.
This was gonna work.
It didn't work.
And so you can see thefrustration boil over there.
And then they.
They talk a little bit aboutthe fact that.
Or it's the only time theyreally mentioned, like, he raised
his two girls on his ownafter, you know, mom off herself.
(23:13):
And so he throws it kind ofback at her like, oh, you think one
kid is hard?
Try it with two and try itwith being thrown into it just one
day.
It's like, great.
Now you're a single parentwith two kids.
Yeah.
And so that was.
That's my favorite scenebecause it's.
(23:34):
It's like, you know, the onetime where this almost facade is
cracked and you can see thatthey are all very stressed and they're.
They're putting on their best face.
But, you know, when.
When you kind of have thatfight or flight adrenaline pumping
situation, like, everything.
The cracks happen and, youknow, the kids not around there to
(23:56):
see us.
I would even like it if it wasa little bit more from his point
of view.
So you can almost see, youknow, or you know, switch between
point of view so you can seewhat he's seen versus what is actually
happening or what they'reallowing him to see to, you know,
prevent this almostgenerational trauma from, you know,
repeating the cycle.
(24:18):
That's a good call out.
I. I would have liked to like,he see that conversation from like,
set the camera lower, have itshow him sneaking up till eavesdrop.
Because that would have been ahim thing to do.
You could even have himwatching it through a crack in the
door or something through hisbinoculars or through the window.
Right.
Like, that would have workedpretty good.
And let him actually hear howmuch he's cared for, which I don't
(24:41):
think he questions.
Right.
That's not something that youget from this kid is that he, he
knows how much he's cared about.
But like him hearing thedifficult side of it versus everyone
just pumping him up and, youknow, being like, we're gonna get
away from these school.
They don't understand you.
Blah, blah, blah, blah.
Yeah, that's a good call out.
I like that.
There we go, Solutioning films again.
That's what we do.
(25:03):
That's what we do.
I need to hire us for this.
I'm telling you.
I know.
Yeah.
But I. I think to get one ofthe things, regardless of, you know,
some of these story beats thatI think they could have done a little
bit better on and focused on.
I will say that the acting inthis film across the board, like,
this is one.
And again, I can't admit thisout loud because Casey has been like,
(25:26):
off.
But like, because I talk abouther with her.
Like, I'm like, oh God, we'rewatching Sunshine cleaning.
But the acting is across theboard phenomenal.
Like everybody.
There's not a character inthis film that I can think of and
I'm Maybe I'm missing one or two.
But like, that are just evenlike I. I go to.
(25:48):
And this is where.
So at the very beginning whenshe's cleaning and the girl, like,
she's trying to talk to thatone girl.
Real rager, huh?
And the girl just kind oflooks at her.
Like even that moment, I'mlike, that's some good acting.
Because that's what wouldhappen, like if some young person
was having a party and thecleaning lady's like, real rager.
You'd be like, the.
Are you talking about.
Like, yeah, go away, weirdo.
Like, so it's just like.
(26:08):
But the acting across theboard in this film is amazing.
Right down to the kid likeAlan Arkin.
We know because he's beenaround for 100 years.
You know what I mean?
So it's like.
But yeah, I, and I love, andI've talked about this a million
times on this podcast, but Ilove a well acted film.
Like if you can give me, evenif the story could be better or,
(26:30):
you know, things like that, ifit's well acted and it's believable
from an acting perspective,you got me more than most movies.
And this one is killer goodfrom that perspective.
Yeah.
Because like you said, eventhe side characters, like the actors
and actions, they got to playthose side characters are real rocks.
Yeah.
When it comes to acting, likeSteve's on phenomenal.
(26:53):
He doesn't really, he neverreally leads anything, but he makes
every movie better becausehe's a great actor.
And even the girl they got toplay, the one lady that helps Nora
solve all her problems, Idon't remember her name, but she
is consistently in stuff verybriefly and does a good job.
(27:14):
Like the one thing that comesto mind that I've seen there and
recently or relativelyrecently was Tomorrow War.
And she does a great job.
She has like four minutes ofscreen time.
Yeah.
But it's a really good four minutes.
And so it's the, a great, youknow, kind of like star studded cast
before they were stars.
Yeah.
But then the people that theyget surrounded with in this are,
(27:37):
you know, there's no scrubs,no slouches.
Yeah, they're, they're good, solid.
And so you have this great,well acted movie, but you're also
not blowing through yourbudget on the talent part of it.
Oh yeah.
What is that, man?
(27:57):
I don't remember.
I don't remember her name.
But she's in, she's, she's inquite a bit.
And it's always, it seemsanyway that it's not very much your
screen time.
Mary Lynn Rascoop.
Just looked her up.
Mary Lynn Rascue.
Cool.
I didn't, I didn't know her name.
(28:18):
I know her face.
I know exactly who you'retalking about.
But I couldn't.
Yeah.
And she, she.
So she's in a lot, but it'svery little screen time.
Yeah.
And it's always a solid performance.
Oh, yeah.
And so it's, it's everybodythey went after or thought of or
casted in this.
It kind of fits that bill.
I mean, you even found a childactor that was pretty good.
(28:40):
Oh yeah.
Oh, yeah.
And you know, that's the,that's gold right there.
Well, and even down to like the.
So the Little girl that hedupes into buying the corn.
That actress is Amber Mid Thunder.
And she's gone on.
She did that.
(29:01):
I think we reviewed it too.
The Predator movie.
The Predator.
It was on straight to, like,Hulu or whatever.
It was Prey called Prey.
That's.
That's her.
And her mom is the mom in it too.
So, like, even down to the bitparts, this was a kickoff for Amber
Mid Thunder.
Because, like.
Yeah, yeah.
(29:22):
And I was like.
Because I've always recognized it.
But then until we did this andI was looking at the cast prior,
I was like, oh, that's AmberMid Thunder.
That's amazing.
Anyway, yeah, amazing acting.
Interesting story.
I like it.
Should we rate it?
Let's do it.
All right.
My movie.
I'll kick it off.
I'm gonna give it a three anda half Look, I think it gets it Die
(29:43):
tonight.
I know.
I know.
She ever sees this, I'm fin in trouble.
Good thing is she neverwatches or listens.
So she might ask and I mightfib about what I scored it.
Look, I'm giving it a threeand a half.
And I'll tell you why.
I think I almost give it a 4.
Because the acting almostcarries it to that level for me.
(30:04):
I think to your point, andwhat we've talked about is, like,
there's some story beats thatmake it feel like it drags on.
It's not even a long movie.
It's under two hours.
And.
But it gets a little in itsown way in a couple times.
And I.
It.
To me, it, like, it stops tolose interest when I go to certain
(30:24):
story points.
And if I start losinginterest, if I have parts in a movie
that I'm like, okay, I can goget some soda or a snack right now,
and I'm not gonna miss anything.
That's where I start tostruggle giving it too high of a
score.
And there's at least three orfour parts where I'm like, I got
five minutes to go grab this.
Because there's a scene herethat doesn't add any value to me,
(30:44):
and I don't enjoy it.
And I.
From an acting pointperspective, that's the only thing
that's there.
But to your point, like theside story with Nora and the.
The girl, the mom, thedaughter of the one woman that dies,
that they clean up the onehouse every time they go off on their
own.
I don't care.
And it's tough because it'swell acted, to your point.
(31:06):
Two very good actors there.
But it doesn't add value tothe story for me.
So that whole thing draws meout and can't.
I can't get fully behind the film.
But what is good is phenomenal.
The, the, the.
When we've talked about all of it.
Amy Adams and.
And what's her face together like.
Good God, they're great, the sisters.
(31:27):
Grandpa Alan Arkin and the kidare great.
Alan Arkin and both of hisdaughters interacting.
Like the opening scene whereshe's in bed and she's like, you
gotta go to work.
And she's like, I'm sleeping, dad.
That's great.
Yeah, but there's just so manythings to me that pull away from
the greatness of the story inthe film because it's like they were
just doing too much and tryingtoo hard in certain areas.
(31:49):
But.
Yeah, but other than that,like, really well acted, really good.
I love the cast.
I love the story from grounded perspective.
I just think there are littlethings that could have been edited
differently or just left out entirely.
So three and a half for me.
I know I'll watch this movie,but not by choice.
(32:09):
So there you go.
All right, I'm gonna be similar.
I'm gonna give it a three forkind of a similar reasoning.
This.
This is a really hard one forme to walk up to someone and be like,
hey, we should watch thismovie, or, hey, you should watch
this movie.
It's.
It's good, but it's notsomething that I'm gonna say, hey,
(32:32):
you should watch this.
You should go spend two hoursand watch it.
It's just not that type of movie.
It's a very different.
Like, I would have to knowsomebody really, really well and
have spent lots and lots oftimes watching movies that they've
recommended to me in order forme to then reciprocate and send this
back to them type of thing.
(32:54):
Like, I don't have anybodythat has that kind of movie love
or love of, you know, watchingthese kind of off the wall, intriguing,
but like, it.
You got to be special now towatch a movie like this.
Right.
There's been too muchsaturation of the market with cheap
(33:14):
action flicks or romanticcomedy or something along those lines,
and this isn't it.
Yeah, like you even have theopportunity for a little romance
subplot and they leave it out.
And so it's.
It's like, it's hard to thenpitch this to somebody else and say,
oh, hey, you should watch this.
It's got.
Well, what does it have?
(33:35):
You know, it's got greatacting, it's got this or that's.
Got Alan Arkin.
And you say Alan Arkin.
People like who?
And you have to be like, well,gee, think Hispanic Michael Caine
or something along those lines.
Yeah.
And so you have to.
It's got those off the wallkind of.
How do you recommend this tosomeone else to go watch?
(33:56):
Yeah.
And so from that point, it's.
It's tricky for me, but I'llgive it a three.
I won't watch it again.
At least not necessarily lookto go.
Go watch it again.
But if someone.
If someone wanted to say, hey,let's watch Sunshine Cleaning, I'd
be.
I'd be down with it.
Yeah.
Because at that point, I knowthat they're on the same wavelength
or understanding as me.
(34:17):
That makes any sense?
Yeah.
Three, four.
Nice.
There it is.
One.
Matson.
We missed out on.
Matson missing out.
Yes.
Stupid.
They hated this movie.
I've never been so mad.
I know I can.
We can do his rating as a manof the people.
(34:39):
Yeah, you know, I'm.
I do this for you guys.
Alec and JJ are stupid.
They don't know what they'retalking about.
This is the worst movie.
Don't watch this movie.
Don't waste your time theymade fun of before.
Go watch man of Steel.
That's a much better moviewith Amy Adams in it.
Watch.
Watch.
Anything with Amy Adams in itversus watching this movie.
(35:04):
It's pretty spot on, man.
Pretty spot on.
Better red than dead.
Love you, Mats.
It's good that he'll neverlisten to this either.
Exactly.
Oh, all right.
Alec, tell everybody wherethey can find us when we're not on
Mats.
Well, happy to, but even whereyou can find us, we're always sure
(35:26):
that'll live it.
So best place to get incontact, connect with us, is on Patreon.
Like JJ said, we started kindof our actor and actress phase, where
we're gonna be doing theentire months devoted to one single
actor or actress.
Those votes are going up onPatreon, completely free to vote
like JJ said.
So this is week three of AmyAdams August, and we just kind of
(35:49):
started off bubbly and happyand just went straight fucking downhill
from there.
So next week's gonna be even better.
Next month, I think we gotBrad Pitt loaded up.
Is that right, jj?
So Brad Pitt's loaded up.
We're still getting our votesin for those specific movies.
So hurry up, go vote realquick before we have to watch Matson's
(36:10):
picks.
Because as I've said before,this is very important to us whose
movies get picked.
And as JJ And I learned thismonth, sometimes it's not.
It's not the greatest idea topick movies solely to mess with your
third co host that decides togo off and sell his house and move
into a new one.
(36:31):
Bastard.
So these picks mean a lot.
You can go to Patreon atwhat's our verdict?
Reviews vote there if you wantto toss us a little bit extra money.
There's about, what, 550 extralittle content episodes that range
from little outtakes andbloopers to shitting on each other
and all the way up to fulllength episodes of movies that nobody
(36:54):
should watch, but we did.
And so there's hours and hoursand hours of extra content.
If for whatever reason, aweekly episode isn't enough for you
with that, I will kick it backto the King of Crash, the Colossus
of clout.
A J.J. that's right.
Hey, yeah, that's how we.
That's how we ended up with.
With Alec, some of you, what'sour verdict?
(37:16):
DJ man, we appreciate you.
And maybe you end up on thepodcast at some point and then you.
Get to torture them in personevery week.
That's fair.
That is fair.
They're stuck with you forever.
It's good stuff.
All right, friends, weappreciate you tuning in, as always.
We'll catch you on the next one.
(37:39):
Cinematica.
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