Wow, this film opens with gusto –definitely, the best first act I’ve seen on the screen in a long time. The characters are juicy and quirky and funny! And the film introduces them with flare, fire, and the understanding that the audience can be trusted to put together the back story later. During that first act, I was thinking, “Why can’t all movies be this good?”

Ah, but a film generally speaking, requires three acts. And after all that playful setup, this film goes on the road. And generally speaking, road pictures can be a bit tedious. Thankfully, “Sunshine” is strong enough to thwart that. However, it does roll into a sequence of rather contrived events/complications which seem somehow cheap in comparison to its rich characters. But because the dialogue, acting, editing, direction are all such high quality – I think audiences will easily overlook this. That said, I couldn’t overlook the convenient coincidence in the convenient store with Steve Carell’s character’s ex-lover.

And as long as I’m nitpicking a really good film here, there were two other imperfections that held back the A+ earned in the first act. 1) The picture missed a great chance to get serious, sincere, and cement it’s audiences with profound depth. I’m speaking about the hospital sequence. 2) While I had great fun with the ending, I think it went needlessly over a certain edge that it didn’t even need to go over. Sorry to be vague, but I don’t want to spoil it.

That said, it’s still a very good film, quite recommendable, enjoyable, fresh and funny. Alan Arkin is absolutely hilarious. Though, really, everyone is marvelous, what a rich cast of talent here – and smartly assembled as well.

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