LIFE’S A MESSY BUSINESS.
Two sisters (Amy Adams, Emily Blunt) in New Mexico start a business as crime-scene cleaners even though they have no idea what the job entails. The filmmakers based their story on an NPR report on an actual cleaning service in Seattle. That part of the film is amusing, but the real focus naturally lies on the relationship between the sisters, the sad history they share and their current life together with their equally entrepreneurial dad and Adams’s young son. There’s also time for a stab at a romance between Blunt and Mary Lynn Rajskub. A bit slight but very entertaining, and anchored by strong performances from the two leads.
2009-U.S. 91 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Jeb Brody, Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub, Glenn Williamson. Directed by Christine Jeffs. Screenplay: Megan Holley. Cast: Amy Adams (Rose Lorkowski), Emily Blunt (Norah Lorkowski), Alan Arkin (Joe Lorkowski), Jason Spevack, Steve Zahn, Mary Lynn Rajskub.
Last word: “When we were in Albuquerque we found there were two real crime scene cleaning businesses there so we contacted the main one and a guy called Enrique came in and he was an amazing resource to us. We all sat around and asked him a lot of questions but also, in particular our production designer Joe Garrity spent quite a bit of time with him going through his files and then he was also a consultant on set to make sure things were realistic.” (Jeffs, Digital Spy)
