All in the family at the cinema

They say you should never mix business with pleasure, but maybe it should be you should never mix business with family. But that mix of blood and business leads to some inherent drama, which is why filmmakers have mined this fertile territory for years, including these recent releases.

SUNSHINE CLEANING

From the commercials to the packaging to the actors, SUNSHINE CLEANING (R, ***) had all the makings of yet another quirky comedy with unrealistic characters living in some bizarro world.

But in actuality, the film is a nuanced portrait of disappointment and hope all under the unlikely guise of crime scene clean-up.

The perpetually perky Amy Adams stars as Rose, a former high school cheerleader muddling her way through a dead-end job, dealing with a troublemaking son, and the fighting the distinct feeling that life has passed her by.

But when her old high school beau (Steve Zahn) suggests she use her maid skills at crime scenes, Rose begins to see a brighter outlook in what is a very dark situation. She gets help from her ne’er-do-well sister Nora (Emily Blunt), and pretty soon Sunshine Cleaning is off and running, despite the duo’s naivete in running such a business.

Rose and Nora have their own demons to deal with, and working together gives them an opportunity to be as close as they have been for years.

What I enjoyed about this movie is that it’s quiet. There are no big, showy scenes – just a straightforward presentation of the material. There’s a character played by Clifton Collins who has a disability. In a lesser movie, there’d be some tale about how he got that way, but here, it’s never really addressed.

There are some flaws: Alan Arkin’s wacky dad is a little too close to the wacky dad he played in “Little Miss Sunshine,” and a subplot featuring Mary Lynn Rajskub doesn’t pan out.

Adams and Blunt are gifted actresses, and I’m sure they were drawn to the material because it was both written and directed by women – a rarity in Hollywood. They are given the opportunity to shine, and both have their strong moments, although this film belongs to the radiant Adams.

ADVENTURELAND

The husband-and-wife team who own the titular theme park in ADVENTURELAND (R, **) are funny, slightly off-kilter and intriguing in a strange way.

Unfortunately, they aren’t the focus of the film, shuttled off to the side for wet-blanket college students who ultimately wind up dragging down what could have been a promising film.

It’s too bad because I was primed to like this film, given my own circumstances as an amusement park worker during my college years. But this is one of those comedies without many laughs, save for Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig as the aforementioned owners of the rickety park.

Jesse Eisenberg stars as James, a recent college graduate who sees his carefully cultivated plans of grad school go up in smoke when his father loses his job. Without many marketable skills, he turns to the only place he can get a quick summer job – working in the games department at Adventureland.

Putting aside the drudgery of the job, James begins to have a little fun, especially when he meets Em (Kristen Stewart), a feisty, free-spirited co-worker he begins to like.

But Em is having an affair with Connell (Ryan Reynolds), the married maintenance worker at the park, so she is hesitant to go all in with James, even though they are a perfect match.

Director Greg Mottola had a mega-hit with “Superbad” a couple of years ago, but that film was an anomaly considering his previous work. This is more in the vein of his droll character studies.

Part of my problem is that I don’t think either Eisenberg or Stewart brings much to the table besides apathy. Why any of the other characters would be drawn to these two is beyond me.

I guess I wanted more amusement park, less young love.

RUDO Y CURSI

For bickering brothers RUDO Y CURSI (R, **1/2), their business may be soccer, but it certainly isn’t all fun and games.

When a talent scout for a pro team gets trapped in their little village, soccer prodigies Beto (Diego Luna) and Tato (Gael Garcia Bernal) are discovered and become the newest stars of two different Mexico City squads.

Beto garners the nickname Rudo (“tough”) because of his tempestuous playing style, while Tato becomes Cursi (“corny”), because, well, he is. The brothers are used to small-town life, and when they become soccer stars, they are suddenly thrust into a world where temptation is around every corner.

Rudo may be a devoted family man, but when he stumbles into the world of high-stakes poker, that outlook begins to change. Cursi’s dreams lie not in soccer but in music, for which he is ill-suited. But his hilarious attempts at becoming a pop star are some of the film’s lightest moments.

This marks the reunion of Luna and Bernal with director Carlos Cuaron, who co-wrote their prior hit, “Y Tu Mama Tambien.” Here, the trio plays things strictly for laughs – it’s a buddy pic featuring brothers, and these bumpkins certainly do the rise-fall-redemption arc that’s perfect for these kinds of films.

This is not a sports film – in fact, there’s very little soccer to be seen until the final game, which, of course, pits the brothers against each other in a winner-takes-all showdown.

Luna and Bernal seem to be having a great time playing these characters – so much so, in fact, that their joy carries the film past its inherent flaws. It’s been a heady time for Mexican cinema, and these two actors are at the forefront of the movement.