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2007, Mystery & thriller/Crime, 1h 32m

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Cleaner   photos.

Retired policeman Tom Cutler (Samuel L. Jackson) works as a crime-scene cleaner to support his young daughter. Cutler's quiet life is thrown into turmoil when woman-in-peril Ann Norcut (Eva Mendes) contacts him in the wake of a routine job. When Norcut reveals that her husband has disappeared -- and that his agency has sterilized an apparent crime scene in her home without her permission -- Cutler turns to his hardened former partner, police Detective Eddie Lorenzo (Ed Harris), for answers.

Rating: R (Language|Bloody Images|Some Violence)

Genre: Mystery & thriller, Crime, Drama

Original Language: English

Director: Renny Harlin

Producer: Avi Lerner , Samuel L. Jackson , Steve Golin , Alix Madigan , Michael P. Flannigan , Lati Grobman

Writer: Matthew Aldrich

Release Date (Streaming): Apr 25, 2011

Runtime: 1h 32m

Production Co: Millennium Films

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

Cast & Crew

Samuel L. Jackson

Eddie Lorenzo

Luis Guzmán

Detective Jim Vargas

Keke Palmer

Rose Cutler

Robert Forster

Maggie Lawson

Jose Pablo Cantillo

Renny Harlin

Matthew Aldrich

Steve Golin

Alix Madigan

Michael P. Flannigan

Lati Grobman

Executive Producer

Danny Dimbort

Trevor Short

Scott Kevan

Cinematographer

Brian Berdan

Film Editing

Richard Gibbs

Original Music

Richard Berg

Production Design

Susanna Puisto

Costume Design

News & Interviews for Cleaner

UK Critics Consensus: Writers Warm to Madagascar 2 ; UK Critics Liked Lakeview Terrace

Critic Reviews for Cleaner

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There are no featured reviews for Cleaner because the movie has not released yet ().

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There's a tough little noir about buried transgressions coming out of the past in Renny Harlin's lackluster thriller "Cleaner."

By Eddie Cockrell

Eddie Cockrell

• Sydney Film Review: ‘Hearts and Bones’ 5 years ago
• Sydney Film Review: ‘Emu Runner’ 5 years ago
• Sydney Film Review: ‘Palm Beach’ 5 years ago

Scrub away a needlessly fussy visual style, trendy narrative tweaks and a climax both morally repugnant and logically absurd, and there’s a tough little noir about buried transgressions coming out of the past in Renny Harlin’s lackluster thriller “Cleaner.” Too mainstream to attract genre interest, and too tangled in its character motivations to sit well with the multiplex crowd, this is a minor stain that should fade quickly and leave only faint traces in ancillary.

Former Trenton cop Tom Cutler (Samuel L. Jackson) now runs his own tidy little business, Steri-Clean, which specializes in “biomedical and biohazard abatement services.” That is, whenever someone dies, Tom’s hired to clean up the mess after the body’s been taken away. When he’s not mopping up bodily fluids, Tom’s got his hands full raising young teenage daughter Rose (Keke Palmer) in the wake of his wife’s murder.

Called to a crime scene in an upscale neighborhood, Tom does a typically efficient job of eradicating all traces of what looks to be a messy shooting. When he forgets to leave the key and returns to drop it off, he’s startled to learn the lady of the house, Ann Norcut (Eva Mendes), has no idea what he’s talking about. But her husband’s gone missing …

Thus begins a fitfully absorbing mystery that grows to involve Tom’s ex-partner Eddie Lorenzo (Ed Harris), hostile force detective Jim Vargas (Luis Guzman) and shadowy figures within the city government who remember a time when Tom wasn’t as honest or diligent as he is now.

Pic’s father-daughter dynamic feels inflated, as does a brief religious thread. Ill-conceived climax swiftly undoes whatever genre traction had been gained to that point. Nevertheless, writer Matthew Aldrich displays a clear affinity for vintage Hollywood pictures, as evidenced by the noirish linkages of past sins and the screwball comedies Rose likes to watch on latenight TV.

Vet action helmer Harlin has made some terrifically brawny action pictures, including “Die Hard 2: Die Harder,” “Cliffhanger” and “Deep Blue Sea.” He’s also been watching too much television, as “Cleaner” suffers from a distracting case of visual jitters and takes a “CSI” approach to fetishizing the messy nature of the human body.

Jackson’s in a lower gear than usual, Harris brings his usual intensity to a role both complex and obvious, and Guzman gives the furtive turf wars in the cop sequences a welcome verisimilitude. Mendes makes a fine femme fatale, while Robert Forster is underutilized as a genial coroner.

Production values are high, led by Scott Kevan’s clean widescreen lensing. As there’s precious little sense of place throughout, Shreveport, La., fills in adequately for New Jersey.

• Production: A Sony Pictures Entertainment release (in U.S.) of a Nu Image, Anonymous Content production. (International sales: Nu Image, Los Angeles.) Produced by Avi Lerner, Samuel L. Jackson, Steve Golin, Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Michael P. Flannigan, Lati Grobman. Executive producers, Eli Selden, Paul Green, Julie Yorn, Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, Joe Gatta. Directed by Renny Harlin. Screenplay, Matthew Aldrich.
• Crew: Camera (color, widescreen), Scott Kevan; editor, Brian Berdan; music, Richard Gibbs; production designer, Richard Berg; costume designer, Susanna Puisto; sound (Dolby Digital), Jonathan Miller. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Gala Presentations), Sept. 10, 2007. (Also in San Sebastian Film Festival.) Running time: 92 MIN.
• With: With: Samuel L. Jackson, Ed Harris, Eva Mendes, Luis Guzman, Keke Palmer, Robert Forster.

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2007 Directed by Renny Harlin

Solving a crime can be dirty work

Single father and former cop Tom Cutler has an unusual occupation: he cleans up death scenes. But when he's called in to sterilize a wealthy suburban residence after a brutal shooting, Cutler is shocked to learn he may have unknowingly erased crucial evidence, entangling himself in a dirty criminal cover-up.

Samuel L. Jackson Ed Harris Eva Mendes Luis Guzmán Keke Palmer Maggie Lawson Jose Pablo Cantillo Robert Forster Terry Milam Marc Macaulay Edrick Browne Ritchie Montgomery Patrick Kirton Peyton Wetzel Linda Leonard Yuriana Kim Sarah Ann Schultz Peter Franzén Christa Campbell Jada K. Cox Sara Jane Henriques Jackson Hurst Rosalind Rubin Mike Guy Richard Folmer James Barnes Angelina Rivera Ron Jacobsohn Lili Asvar Show All… John T. Billingsley Heather Bloom Kip Cummings Jon Dainty Brad Dison Rex Dukes Tammy Eaton Ron Fagan Ted Ferguson Rosemary Garris Chuck Halley Michael J. Hebert Rodney Hill Jr. Walt Hollis Josh Madden Mike Martindale Amy McGee-Harrell Wayne Douglas Morgan Desi Page Mark Robin Price Bill Stinchcomb

Director Director

Renny Harlin

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Mary Ellen Woods Lynn Wegenka

Producers Producers

Steve Golin Samuel L. Jackson Avi Lerner Michael P. Flannigan Lati Grobman Alix Madigan

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Trevor Short Danny Dimbort Julie Yorn Eli Selden Paul Green Joe Gatta

Writer Writer

Matthew Aldrich

Original Writer Original Writer

Casting casting.

Monika Mikkelsen

Editor Editor

Brian Berdan

Cinematography Cinematography

Scott Kevan

Camera Operators Camera Operators

Eric Leach Taj J. Teffaha

Lighting Lighting

Jay W. Yowler

Art Direction Art Direction

Set decoration set decoration.

Hannah Beachler

Stunts Stunts

Mickey Giacomazzi Kiante Elam

Composer Composer

Richard Gibbs

Sound Sound

Richard Kitting Stuart Provine Steve C. Aaron Zach Michaelis Vicki Vandegrift Jason Gaya Randy Babajtis Jonathan Miller Dhyana Carlton-Tims Joshua Adeniji Judah Getz

Makeup Makeup

Klexius Kolby Allan A. Apone

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Camille Friend

Nu Image Anonymous Content Millennium Media Hygenic Productions MWP Productions

Releases by Date

11 sep 2007, 27 sep 2007, 20 nov 2007, 18 jan 2008, 04 apr 2008, 17 apr 2008, 02 may 2008, 14 may 2008, 12 jun 2009, 10 sep 2009, 25 jan 2022, 27 may 2008, 28 may 2008, 23 jul 2008, 04 dec 2008, 19 mar 2009, 29 feb 2012, 04 jun 2011, releases by country.

• Physical MA15+
• Premiere 18A Toronto International Film Festival
• Theatrical R
• Physical DVD
• Physical Blu-Ray
• Digital 12 Prime Video
• Theatrical 16

Netherlands

• Physical 16 DVD
• TV 16 RTL 5
• Physical 16 Blu ray
• Theatrical 15
• Theatrical M/12
• Premiere San Sebastián Film Festival
• Theatrical 12
• Premiere Stockholm Film Festival
• Physical R DVD

88 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by RileyKells ★★★ 8

At about the 51 minute mark there is a location under a highway with graffiti that says Helsinki which is the capital of Finland. I found this a bit perplexing because it looked American otherwise so I checked the IMDB page after the movie ended and it’s credited as only filming in two American cities. But as I’m looking up Helsinki (my geography isn’t so strong and I wanted to check where that was) I accidentally type in Helinski which is a registered last name on Ancestory.ca which makes me think I misread the graffiti. It makes more sense if it’s a name than some foreign capital. Just to be sure I scrub through the whole movie using the slider…

Review by Kacey Bange ★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Love a dramatic vasectomy reveal!

Review by Lebedev (Cusack) ★★½ 2

Uggh, really unfortunate this turned out the way it did. The first half is interesting but it slowly becomes dull as the movie goes on. The story feels rather convoluted and maybe I’m just not very bright but I found it confusing and all over the place.  There’s a lot of generic dialogue, the characters are pretty well done but under-utilised, and the conclusion is confusing and sort of anticlimactic. This has a stacked cast so seeing it struggle is unfortunate.

Review by {Todd} ★★½

"We don't clean up blood, we clean up anger...grief...heartache" -Tom,

- Renny Harlin's Masterpieces Ranked: boxd.it/1v4qa - Scavenger Hunt #46: boxd.it/2hKQA Clue 23. something with A CRIME SCENE and PEOPLE COME CLEAN IT (might be CSI forensics, might be someone like Winston Wolf in Pulp Fiction. Use this if you're stuck) (14/31 completed)

At least four full minutes of this film is Samuel Jackson cleaning his hands... but it totally works.

In the Cleaner, Samuel Jackson plays a retired cop who now runs a company in the crime and biomedical waste cleanup industry. One day after cleaning a homicide scene he realizes that the police and family of the deceased didn't even know about the homicide. Who hired him? Who…

Review by jaywill ★★

I like to think Sam Jackson was inspired to make this movie after seeing The Wolf’s iconic clean-up first hand in Pulp Fiction .

Review by Jess ★★★★ 1

I'm genuinely confused by the low ratings. I enjoyed it for all the predictability. It was engaging- I liked the characters. I liked the cleaning. The daughter definitely needs therapy but yeah. Would watch again.

Review by IronWatcher ★★

Watched on Amazon Prime

Cleaner is a film whose premise is very noir-ish, but the staging, which is very much oriented to the trends of films from the mid-2000s (overexposure and countercuts), doesn't really create a nice feeling.

Samuel L. Jackson as Tom Cutler, a former policeman and now crime scene cleaner, is good and the relationship to his movie daughter is quite successful due to a tragic past, which both of them are still preoccupied with up to the present.

Unfortunately, the actual crime plot is so uninspired and predictable that I already knew the ending after the introduction of all characters. The development of the case and especially the ending also happen in 1000 other movies, which leads…

Review by brendanrr ★½

this had me in the first half I ain’t gon’ lie. 

second half was meh.

Review by theironcupcake ★★★ 4

"Death is tragic. But it's also big business. Some people deal with it spiritually. Others deal with it legally. But what most people don't know is that when someone dies in your house, it's up to you to clean up the mess. Well, sure, the city will come and take the body away. But what they leave behind is your own personal little souvenir. Now, most people don't have the stomach for that. That's where I come in..."

Every year, my favorite part of the Oscar nominations announcement is always learning who will receive the annual awards for lifetime achievement. In 2022, Danny Glover will be given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, while the annual Honorary Awards are going to…

Review by ty ★★★

Keke Palmer CLEARED

Review by quinni ✨ ★★½

you’re telling me that this movie isn’t about the life and legend of Billy Mays?? Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t even use a single scoopful of oxi clean detergent. and he’s not even bald. the disrespect smh

Review by Robin MK ULTRA ★★★

This was not as good as I thought it would be. Considering the line-up of cast, i was hoping this would have been better. Somewhat of a letdown.

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Samuel L. Jackson (Tom Cutler) Ed Harris (Eddie Lorenzo) Eva Mendes (Ann Norcut) Luis Guzmán (Det. Jim Vargas) Keke Palmer (Rose Cutler) Maggie Lawson (Cherie) Jose Pablo Cantillo (Miguel) Robert Forster (Arlo Grange) Edrick Browne (Det. Darrin Harris) Marc Macaulay (Vic) Rosalind Rubin (Crying Woman) Mike Guy (Priest #1) Richard Folmer (Priest #2) James Barnes (Lawyer) Linda Leonard (Francine Mason) Ritchie Montgomery (George Walton) Patrick Kirton (Jeff Lang) Peyton Wetzel (Hotel Manager)

Renny Harlin

A former cop who now earns a wage as a crime scene cleaner unknowingly participates in a cover-up at his latest job.

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TORONTO -- After spending much of the past decade in B-movie purgatory, director Renny Harlin returns to form with this neatly contained crime whodunit with a nifty setup and an expert lead performance from Samuel L. Jackson.

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Toronto International Film Festival TORONTO — Welcome back, Renny Harlin.

After spending much of the past decade in B-movie purgatory (“The Covenant,” “Mindhunters”), the “Die Hard 2” director returns to form with “Cleaner,” a neatly contained crime whodunit with a nifty setup and an expert lead performance from Samuel L. Jackson.

The Bottom Line Empty

Premiering as a Gala presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Sony Pictures release could make a tidy showing at the boxoffice, though a release date has not yet been established.

In a noir-tinted role that fits Jackson like a weather-worn glove, he plays Tom Cutler, a retired New Jersey police detective who now makes a living coming in after the cops are done at crime scenes and mopping up the left behind with his own HazMat cleaning business.

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The mean streets of Trenton are filled with plenty of job opportunities for Cutler, who goes about his days methodically wiping away all the blood and other nasty-looking fluids with a special blend of disinfectants that also includes a little hit of Listerine (original flavor, only). The widower spends his evenings at home with his smart, sensitive teenage daughter, Rose (Keke Palmer).

But one of Cutler’s routine calls unlocks a door to the past he thought he had left behind, bringing him back into contact with his old partner, Eddie (Ed Harris), and introducing him to the enigmatic Ann Norcut (Eva Mendes), whose husband has been officially reported missing despite the fact that Cutler had been called to her posh home the day before to deal with a particularly bloody mess.

Although Matthew Aldrich’s script eventually settles into a more formulaic groove despite hinting at something fresher and edgier in those terrific first 15 minutes, the film is nevertheless a satisfying ride as Harlin piles on the viscera with evident delight.

His cast, meanwhile, plays their respective parts with equal relish.

While Jackson and Harris are well-matched verbal sparring partners, Mendes makes for an ideal contemporary femme fatale, and young Palmer makes good on the promise she showed in “Akeelah and the Bee.”

There’s also a pulpy playfulness in director of photography Scott Kevan’s constantly probing extreme close-ups and editor Brian Berdan’s smoothly executed transitions.

CLEANER Sony Pictures Nu Image/Anonymous Content Credits: Director: Renny Harlin Screenwriter: Matthew Aldrich Producers: Avi Lerner, Samuel L. Jackson, Steve Golin, Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Michael P. Flannigan, Lati Grobman Executive producers: Eli Selden, Paul Green, Julie Yorn, Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, Joe Gatta Director of photography: Scott Kevan Production designer: Richard Berg Music: Richard Gibbs Costume designer: Susanna Puisto Editor: Brian Berdan Cast: Tom Cutler: Samuel L. Jackson Eddie Lorenzo: Ed Harris Ann Norcut: Eva Mendes Rose Cutler: Keke Palmer Wallace: Luis Guzman Arlo: Robert Forster Running time — 92 minutes MPAA rating: R

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Cleaner Ending, Explained: Who Is the Killer?

‘Cleaner’ is a 2007 thriller movie that revolves around Tom Cutler, a former police officer who inadvertently becomes a part of a homicide cover-up. Directed by Renny Harlin (‘ The Misfits ‘), the movie follows a whodunnit narrative while questioning the extremes of morality. As the narrative progresses, Tom races against time to find the real killer and save himself from being framed for a murder he did not commit.

However, in the process, he finds those close to him plunged into danger. In the end, Tom’s morality is questioned as he must make some hard choices. Therefore, viewers must be curious to find out how Tom navigates the complicated situation. In that case, here is everything you need to know about the ending of ‘Cleaner.’ SPOILERS AHEAD!

Cleaner Plot Synopsis

‘Cleaner’ opens with Tom Cutler ( Samuel L. Jackson ), a former police officer, explaining his occupation as a crime scene cleaner. After retiring from the Trenton Police Department, he now operates his own crime scene clean-up service while living as a single dad and looking after his daughter, Rose. One day, he receives an assignment to clean up a luxurious home. After arriving on the scene, Tom learns that the house is empty and the door is locked. The case file instructs Tom to enter the home with the help of a key left under a plant. Tom cleans up the house and goes back, only to realize that he did not return the key.

The following day, Tom returns to the house to hand over the key and meets the owner, Ann Norcut ( Eva Mendes ). However, she is unaware of Tom’s services being rendered. As a result, Tom grows suspicious of the situation. After some research, Tom learns that the police did not assign the clean-up. Hence, it becomes evident to Tom that he has become a part of a crime, and his services have been used to clean up a murder. From his police friend, Eddie Lorenzo ( Ed Harris ), Tom learns that Ann’s husband, John Norcut, is missing.

John is a key witness in a corruption case against former police commissioner Robert Vaughn. John disappeared just a day before testifying in front of the grand jury, thereby hinting at foul play. Hence, Tom becomes convinced that he was framed to be a part of John’s murder. Moreover, Ann reveals to Tom that John possessed a ledger with the badge numbers of the corrupt police officers on his payroll. Surprisingly, Tom’s badge number is also on the ledger.

After Tom reveals the situation to Eddie, he suggests that Tom burn the ledger as it indicates a motive for Tom to murder John. Meanwhile, Ann identifies John’s remains at a morgue. Thus, Tom is left with no choice but to find the real killer before being implicated in John’s murder. However, Tom’s investigation leads him into a more personal conspiracy than he initially imagined. How Tom untangles the complex web of crime and misguided motivations forms the rest of the plot.

Cleaner Ending: Who Is the Killer?

As the narrative progresses, viewers learn that Ann suffered a miscarriage. However, at the morgue, Tom discovers that John had a vasectomy years before Ann’s pregnancy. Therefore, Tom deduces that the child could not have been John’s and suspects Ann was having an affair. While discussing the case with Eddie, Tom realizes that Ann and Eddie share a connection through Eddie’s work with a student outreach program. Thus, Tom is convinced that Eddie is Ann’s boyfriend. Furthermore, after examining the situation and all the clues, Tom concludes that Eddie killed John.

Tom works with Detective Vargas, who is investigating the case of John’s murder, to catch Eddie. However, Eddie lures Tom into his home by threatening Tom’s daughter, Rose. The two have a heated debate as Eddie tries to reason with Tom. Eddie reveals that John forced Ann to have an abortion, and she did not have a miscarriage. Feeling robbed of his chance to start a family, Eddie murdered John and then used Tom’s services to cover up the crime.

Tom tries to convince Eddie to surrender, but Eddie holds Tom at gunpoint. Eddie pleads that anything is fair when one is trying to protect their family. He tries to use Tom’s past against him and justifies his actions. However, Tom stalls until the police arrive. After realizing that he will be caught, Eddie decides to shoot Tom. However, before he can pull the trigger, Eddie is shot dead by Rose (with Tom’s gun). In the end, Tom hands over the ledger to Vargas, who promises to burn it. Vargas allows Tom to walk free and covers up the crime.

Ultimately, the film’s climax hinges on the main characters’ moralities as they fight to distinguish between right and wrong. Eddie believes that his murder of John is justified. He compares his crime to Tom’s past when Tom did a dirty job for Vaughn. While Tom walked the wrong side of the law, he did so to protect his daughter. On the other hand, Eddie murdered John, driven by remorse and revenge. Therefore, his actions are morally unjust, and he deserves to be punished.

In the end, Rose’s timely intervention saves her father from certain death, and she kills Eddie. However, Tom exchanges the ledger for his and Rose’s freedom, thereby committing another morally grey act. Thus, the ending serves as a reminder of the complexities of a person’s moral conscience and leaves the audience to empathize with Tom and Eddie despite their questionable actions.

What Happened to Tom’s Wife?

Early in the film, viewers learn of the tragedy that has shaped the life of Tom and his daughter. It is established that Tom’s wife has passed away, but we do not learn the details of her demise until much later. Tom prefers not to speak about his deceased wife, especially in front of Rose. While Tom’s actions are understandable as he is trying to save Rose from difficult emotions stemming from her mother’s death, the actual circumstances of the tragedy are much more deeply connected to Rose.

During a conversation with Ann, Tom reveals his wife and Rose were alone at home one night. A burglar invaded their house and threatened Tom’s wife and Rose. Tom’s wife tried to resist and was shot twice in the chest. A six-year-old Rose witnessed her mother’s death. However, in the present, Rose does not seem to remember much about the incident. Therefore, it is clear that Tom does not speak about his wife as it could revoke traumatic memories for Rose. The film’s ending serves as a callback to the tragedy as Rose faces a similar situation. This time her father is being held at gunpoint. Nonetheless, Rose acts bravely and shoots Eddie, averting the same outcome as before.

Read More: Best Samuel L. Jackson Movies

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Cleaner Review

By Brian Chen

Facts and Figures

Year : 2007

Run time : 88 mins

In Theaters : Friday 18th January 2008

Distributed by : Screen Gems

Production compaines : Millenium Films, Nu Image Films

Contactmusic.com : 1 / 5

Rotten Tomatoes : 17% Fresh: 2 Rotten: 10

IMDB : 6.1 / 10

Cast & Crew

Director : Renny Harlin

Producer : Michael Flannigan , Steve Golin , Lati Grobman , Samuel L. Jackson , Avi Lerner , Alex Madigan

Screenwriter : Matthew Aldrich

Starring : Samuel L. Jackson as Tom Cutler, Ed Harris as Eddie Lorenzo, Eva Mendes as Ann Norcut, Luis Guzmán as Det. Jim Vargas, Keke Palmer as Rose Cutler, Maggie Lawson as Cherie, Jose Pablo Cantillo as Miguel, Robert Forster as Arlo Grange, Desi Page as Jump Roper, Terry Milam as Victim's Neighbor

Also starring : Samuel L Jackson , Luis Guzman , Steve Golin , Avi Lerner

• Cleaner Movie Site
• Rotten Tomatoes

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“ Clean ” accomplishes more when it tries to do less: when it follows Adrien Brody ’s tormented character around as he quietly goes about the daily business of atoning for his sins. Brody conveys so much emotion and regret simply through his screen presence, though his haunted eyes and steady gait. But then the narration kicks in, needlessly explaining what he’s thinking all the time.

This small film was clearly a labor of love for the Oscar winner, who also serves as producer, co-writer, and composer. Why he would lend his considerable clout to this clichéd story told in overwrought fashion remains a mystery, but his ability is never in doubt. Reteaming with director and co-writer Paul Solet (“Bullet Head”), Brody stars as the ironically named Clean. He’s a garbage collector who spends his nights picking up trash from the industrial, snowy streets of Utica, New York, and laying down his worldview in repetitive, heavy-handed tones.

“I’m still lookin’ for answers,” he explains in a raspy, opening voiceover. “I just don’t know the questions anymore.” He also complains about the “endless onslaught of ugliness” he sees all around him, which is more than a little reminiscent of Travis Bickle’s screeds against the decay of society. “No matter how hard I try, I can’t wash away the past,” he says eventually, just in case we weren’t clear as to the story “Clean” aims to tell.

But watching him try to do just that is far more compelling than hearing him talk about it. Clean is good with his hands, and we see him go through the methodical process of gathering salvageable items, fixing them in his spartan apartment, and selling them to the local pawn shop, where RZA brings a welcome feeling of warmth amid the bleakness as its proprietor. Mykelti Williamson also has a few nice moments as a barber who serves as Clean’s sponsor. (His recovery from drug addiction gives the film’s title yet another meaning.) Clean seems to know everyone in the neighborhood and secretly does good deeds for them, like painting over graffiti or fixing the exterior of a dilapidated house.

There’s a much more intriguing story here in the simple series of kindnesses that pave the road toward his salvation, but Solet and Brody are more inclined toward the exploitative shock of gory, B-movie thrills. Among the people he looks out for is Dianda ( Chandler DuPont ), a sweet teenager living with her grandmother. She clearly reminds him of the young daughter he lost, a tragedy “Clean” alludes to in brisk, overly stylized flashbacks. (We finally learn what happened toward her at the end, but it seems so ridiculously impossible, it drains the event of its intended dramatic punch.) When he savagely protects Dianda from being gang raped by a group of local toughs, one of the kids he beats up with his trusty wrench happens to be the son of the city’s drug kingpin ( Glenn Fleshler ). Bashing in the face of the young ex-con, Mikey ( Richie Merritt ), stirs the vengeful ire of this volatile crime boss, who uses an unassuming fish market as the front for his operation but will beat a guy to a pulp on the sidewalk in broad daylight for shorting him.

And so these two wildly violent men find themselves on a collision course with each other, with a massive body count piling up in their wake. But there’s nothing especially inspired about the choreography or execution of these action sequences. They’re quick and dirty, albeit with squirm-inducingly vivid sound design. Clean takes on a John Wick-like quality in his ability to plow through countless goons with a simple pickaxe or whatever else he finds lying around, and that whole good-with-his hands business comes into play once again as he crafts his own makeshift arsenal.

Again, merely watching Brody engaging in such painstaking work is interesting; the generic bloodbath that ensues, less so.

Now playing in theaters and available on digital platforms.

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Clean (2022)

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The cleaner, common sense media reviewers.

Earnest indie drama has some violence, heavy themes.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Movie explores themes of enduring in the face of s

While the characters are fully developed, they are

Movie centers on characters living in an RV park i

A dead body in a diner. Woman hits man in the face

Flirtation and dancing in a bar.

Occasional profanity, including "f--k" used a few

Michelob signage on the hanging lamps in a diner.

Cigarette smoking. Marijuana smoking, dealing. Bee

Parents need to know that The Cleaner is an indie drama in which a man who cleans houses for a living struggles to make ends meet and is hired to find the estranged son of a new customer. There's a dead body in a diner. Gunshots. Characters found killed after an attempted robbery. The mother of the lead…

Positive Messages

Movie explores themes of enduring in the face of suffering.

Positive Role Models

While the characters are fully developed, they are flawed and make mistakes, sometimes rooted in desperation. For instance, the lead character tries to steal a pack of batteries from a pharmacy when the price of his mother's medication goes up.

Diverse Representations

Movie centers on characters living in an RV park in California from lower middle-class backgrounds who are struggling to stay afloat. Characters struggle with making ends meet, sickness, domestic abuse, terminal illness.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

A dead body in a diner. Woman hits man in the face with her walker, chipping his tooth. The man's girlfriend was shown earlier with a fat lip because he was physically abusing her. Character talks about how his stepdad would beat him up, and his mother did nothing to stop it. Gunshots, dead bodies after an attempted robbery of a diner.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Occasional profanity, including "f--k" used a few times. Also: "bulls--t," "s--t,"sugart-ts," " piss," "son of a bitch," "damn."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Drinking, drugs & smoking.

Cigarette smoking. Marijuana smoking, dealing. Beer drinking. Talk of shot-gunning beers behind a convenience store. Character shown hungover. Character drinks beer despite warning not to as it doesn't mix with the pills they're taking for arthritis.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Cleaner is an indie drama in which a man who cleans houses for a living struggles to make ends meet and is hired to find the estranged son of a new customer. There's a dead body in a diner. Gunshots. Characters found killed after an attempted robbery. The mother of the lead character hits a neighbor in the face with her walker, chipping his tooth; in an earlier scene the man's girlfriend is shown with a busted lip due to his abuse. Character talks about how, when he was a boy, his stepfather would beat him up while his mother did nothing to stop it. Cigarette smoking, marijuana smoking (and dealing), beer drinking. Occasional profanity, including "f--k." The movie's slower pace, understated subtlety, and heavier themes of economic, physical, and emotional suffering make this best for mature teens and up. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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What's the Story?

In THE CLEANER, Buck (King Orba) is a middle-aged house cleaner in Southern California struggling to make ends meet. He lives in an RV camp next to his ailing mother Sharon ( Shelley Long ), who suffers from arthritis. As his financial situation grows increasingly dire, he loses one of his oldest customers ( Luke Wilson ), who tries to make up for it by telling Buck about a neighbor who may be looking for someone to hire. Buck meets with the neighbor, Carlene ( Lynda Carter ), a former torch singer who wants Buck not for cleaning her house, but to track down her estranged son. Carlene offers him a hefty sum of much-needed money, and so Buck begins the search for Andrew. As the search takes him far outside his comfort zone, Buck gets help from his cop brother Craig, as well as his weed-dealing neighbor James. As Buck learns the real reason why Carlene wants to reunite with her son, he continues his efforts, and a violent altercation with tragic consequences reveals the fragile bonds of family and relationships in the face of past mistakes, shortcomings, and the struggles that so many face in day-to-day life.

Is It Any Good?

This is a powerful and subtle indie-drama on enduring in the midst of economic, physical, and emotional suffering. The Cleaner has all the hallmarks of a successful low-budget indie: understated action, strong character development, relatable characters, strong acting and story that more than make up for limited resources. Through the acting and the action of the story, it doesn't take long to see that most of these characters have seen better days (assuming they even had better days, in some cases), and the setting where most of the action takes place, an RV camp somewhere on the outskirts of Los Angeles, reveals so much about struggling in a reality where the middle class is disappearing fast.

As Buck, the struggling housecleaner given a job he can't refuse, King Orba imbues him with the right level of weariness. The ensemble cast has a ridiculous amount of cameo appearances, and these characters heighten this sense of trying to not only endure in this world, but also to maintain a sense of hope and even dreams for a better life ahead. Like many indie-dramas, this might not be for those looking for lots of action, but The Cleaner reveals once again that solid acting, relatable characters, and a good story can do so much more on a limited budget than a blockbuster movie with a weak story and cliched characters.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about indie-dramas like The Cleaner . How is this similar to and different from other indie-dramas -- heavy on story if light on budget?

How do the struggles and challenges that the characters face connect to the deeper themes of the story?

How is violence presented in this movie? Is it excessive? Necessary to the story?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : October 12, 2021
• Cast : King Orba , Shelley Long , Lynda Carter
• Director : Erin Elders
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : 1091 Pictures
• Genre : Drama
• Run time : 93 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : June 20, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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• DVD & Streaming

Code Name: The Cleaner

• Action/Adventure , Comedy , Drama

Content Caution

In Theaters

• Cedric the Entertainer as Jake Rodgers; Lucy Liu as Gina; Nicollette Sheridan as Diane

Home Release Date

• Les Mayfield

Distributor

• New Line Cinema

Movie Review

What would you do if you woke up in a hotel room next to a dead FBI agent, a briefcase filled with $250,000 … and you couldn’t remember who you were? That’s the dilemma facing Jake Rodgers in this oddball actioner that adds urban style to a comedic mash-up of The Bourne Supremacy and M:i:III . Is he a janitor at a video game company? Or is he a top-secret agent? Cue the super-cool spy music … but don’t hold your breath.

While fleeing the hotel, Jake runs into Diane, a voluptuous woman who helps him evade police. On their way (home?) to a huge mansion, Diane complains that she can’t believe Jake doesn’t remember her. After all, she is his wife . Jake doesn’t recall much (except for occasional flashbacks involving combat scenes—and his passion for Skittles), but he’s not about to let that stop him from enjoying the good life. “I’m rich, I have a big house and I’m married to a white woman,” he tells himself. “Am I Lionel Richie?” See what I mean about not holding your breath?

Dreams of the good life are, of course, shattered when he overhears Diane’s nefarious plans for him and must make a hasty retreat. When Jake renews his quest to uncover his lost identity and the reason someone apparently wants him dead , clues lead him to video game company DART. While pondering his conundrum at a diner, he discovers that one of the waitresses, Gina, claims to be his girlfriend.

Gina informs him that he is, in fact, a lowly janitor at DART. Or is he? And is she …? Ongoing war-time flashbacks make it impossible to know for sure, as do cryptic phone messages from a programmer (friend?) named Riley. What is apparent is that for some reason, Jake has hidden a secret microchip (if only he could remember where it is!) that Diane and DART CEO Eric Hauk will stop at nothing to retrieve.

Positive Elements

As the tangled plot of Code Name: The Cleaner unfolds, Jake and Gina alternately come to one another’s rescue. Protecting America from espionage proves to be a driving motivator for at least two of the characters.

Sexual Content

A doctor suggests that one way to help jog Jake’s memory is to arouse him. Accordingly, Diane dons extremely skimpy lingerie and proceeds to sway seductively in front of and on top of him in a long, risqué scene full of lingering camera shots. (An outtake at the end includes more such footage.) Other scenes picture Diane in revealing outfits exposing a lot of cleavage.

That pretty much sums up the approach this film takes to sex. We see several of Jake’s sleazy fantasies, one of which involves Gina and Diane, lingerie and lots of soap suds. And we endure handfuls of visual and verbal innuendoes, double entendres (hinting at oral sex, among other things), lustful stares, randy come-ons, etc.

When Jake wakes at the beginning of the film, he assumes the person he’s in bed with is a woman—and the filmmakers go crazy with the “big joke.” Similarly, a mix-up has Jake meeting a homosexual man who was hoping to rendezvous with someone he met in an online chat room. The man discloses his vulgar user name and the one of the man he was planning to meet. And he’s disappointed when Jake isn’t interested in him. Elsewhere, another comedic sequence repeatedly conflates a man’s request to be shot with a gun (don’t ask) with a request for gay sex.

A backside-slapping gag involves Jake and an elderly woman—who smiles approvingly. Jake also slaps Diane’s posterior a couple of times. And he “reads” Jet ; moviegoers see a centerfold image of a woman in a bikini.

Violent Content

The hefty amount of violence in Code Name: The Cleaner is “sanitized” and almost completely bloodless. Several scenes show Hauk’s men pursuing Jake and Gina, two of whom she shoots. (One falls down and the other rolls off the top of her moving car.) Still another henchman flies off the top of Gina’s Saab when she brakes, and he hits and cracks the windshield of another vehicle.

A flashback scene shows the man Jake wakes up with being shot; a small amount of blood is visible on his shirt and face. Jake also dispatches pursuers with a floor-cleaning machine, a “Wet Floor” placard and a mop. (We see their unconscious bodies on the floor.) Several people get kicked or hit in the crotch. One flies through a glass partition (which shatters). Jake gets hit on the head with a lamp (which breaks), walks on broken glass and falls about 20 feet onto a pickup truck topper (which collapses).

More intense than any of those scenes are several martial arts-style battles in the finale. Hauk has a tough fight with several FBI agents, and takes on Gina as well. Then Gina and Diane duel it out, hitting and kicking one another viciously.

War “footage” of Jake and his comrades shows them firing automatic weapons (though we never witness them hitting anyone) amid explosions and burning buildings.

Crude or Profane Language

Jake uses the f-word once and abuses Jesus’ name. Characters employ the s-word about a dozen times, “d–n” and “a–” 20-plus times each, “h—” about 10 times and “b–ch” twice.

Drug and Alcohol Content

Sodium Pentothal, speed, reefer and mai-tais are all mentioned. (The truth serum is injected, causing Jake to writhe on the ground.) In a conversation with a female co-worker it’s suggested that Jake got drunk and perhaps touched her inappropriately at a party. Jake describes himself as “James Bond on Red Bull.”

Other Negative Elements

A janitor raps about his life, rhyming various phrases related to cleaning toilets—he calls himself “the dirty clean rapper.” To escape from Diane’s house, Jake steals one of her cars.

Cedric the Entertainer as an action star? If you think such a suggestion strains credulity, well, you’re right. Even with the supposedly comedic elements of this farcical, faux-spy story tossed in to help us suspend disbelief, it’s a lot to swallow. Dull one-liners are supposed to amp up the humor factor but they don’t connect. The wink-wink, nudge-nudge action clichés Cedric and Co. ape don’t seem satirical or smart, just tired. In a sentence, virtually every aspect of this tale has been told somewhere else—and better.

But if uninspired plot and execution aren’t enough to warn you away, several content issues should be. Characters spew almost 75 profanities, while Nicolette Sheridan’s lingerie-clad shimmying and her sudsy “battle” with Lucy Liu in the final fight offer yet another illustration of how the strip club-meets-Victoria’s Secret mentality has all but taken over the comedy genre.

Other sexual material suggests anonymous homosexual encounters and octogenarian S&M shenanigans. The tagline to the film touts, “In a dirty world, he’s our only hope.” It should read instead, “In a dirty world, he’s no help.” Nothing qualifies as fresh or sanitary in Code Name: The Cleaner —the one irony I suspect the film’s creators didn’t intend.

Adam R. Holz

After serving as an associate editor at NavPress’ Discipleship Journal and consulting editor for Current Thoughts and Trends, Adam now oversees the editing and publishing of Plugged In’s reviews as the site’s director. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children. In their free time, the Holzes enjoy playing games, a variety of musical instruments, swimming and … watching movies.

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With Perfect Days, Wim Wenders crafts a moving portrait of a solitary Tokyo toilet cleaner

You know how it goes: One moment you're scrubbing the filthy innards of a toilet bowl, the next you're gazing in beatific wonder at the leaves rustling against the afternoon sky, at one with the cosmos and all its infinite mystery.

Such is life, at least according to Wim Wenders's Oscar-nominated Perfect Days, a modest but moving portrait of a solitary Tokyo toilet cleaner who takes pleasure in his daily routine — even as it involves tending to the city's bodily waste. (As Oscar Wilde famously said, we're all in the urinal gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.)

In the wrong hands, Perfect Days might be insufferable. A celebrated art-house boomer travelling abroad to make a film about a public toilet cleaner? It's a potential recipe for the worst kind of blue-collar tourism.

But Wenders — best known for the 80s classics Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire — has long had an affinity with the outsiders who drift around society's fringes, not to mention a genuine curiosity for exploring culture beyond his native Germany. (He spent a period in Tokyo filming the 1985 documentary Tokyo-Ga , and returned there for part of his 1991 future-opus Until the End of the World .)

Working closely with his Tokyo-based co-screenwriter Takuma Takasaki and a largely Japanese crew, the 78-year-old director has crafted a lovely piece of late-career poetry that's equal parts meditative and melancholy.

In a performance of gentle, unforced humility, veteran Japanese actor Kōji Yakusho (Shall We Dance? Cure) plays Hirayama, a 60-something cleaner who lives alone in a modest one-bedroom house on the outskirts of Tokyo.

Each morning he rises before dawn, rolls up his shikibuton and lovingly spritzes his pot plants, before stepping out to greet the incoming day with a look of gratitude (and the collection of classic rock cassettes he keeps in his mini-van).

Looking more like a painter than a cleaner (the towel atop his coveralls resembles a natty scarf), Hirayama goes about his cleaning rounds with the precision and finesse of a fine artist, unfazed by the intrusion of tourists and drunken salarymen who stumble oblivious into his canvas. The movie might have been called Perfect Bidets.

(If the rest rooms themselves seem to belong in an issue of Architectural Digest, it's not by chance — Wenders was originally commissioned by the toilets' designers to film a documentary on them.)

On lunch break he snaps a single photograph of the trees on his point-and-shoot camera. Abstract dreams — rendered in impressionistic black-and-white video by Wenders's artist wife, Donata — flicker across the night.

For a stretch, Perfect Days looks like it might turn Hirayama into a kind of noble, saintly wanderer who works small miracles despite the indifference of those around him — returning lost kids to ungrateful parents, rescuing saplings from the park, or forming an unspoken bond with an eccentric hobo (played by the great dancer, Min Tanaka).

It's a testament to Wenders's sincerity, and his subtle sense of underplaying, that he manages to keep the film from slipping into such trite sentimentality. There's also his seasoned craft: It takes a confident filmmaker to cut a sequence to Lou Reed's Perfect Day — one of cinema's most shopworn needle drops — and make it feel as though it was custom-made for their movie.

And then there's Yakusho, who won the best actor prize at Cannes for his performance, and whose presence graces the film with such soul and humanity. Despite having only a handful of lines — he doesn't speak until 30 minutes in, and then only sparingly — the actor conveys a lifetime of emotion in the contours of his face, in a smile that betrays an apparent well of sadness.

He and Wenders distil not just the pleasures of routine, but its necessity in processing unspoken trauma.

In that sense, Perfect Days shares a kinship with Jim Jarmusch's Paterson , in which Adam Driver's poetry-writing bus driver immersed himself in the healing nature of the everyday. And, like that film, there's the suggestion that something darker is lurking below the meditative surface.

It's also a requiem for a passing age, one that's less a bitter lament than an act of remembrance.

"Why can't things just stay the same?" sighs an aging bar owner (Yumi Asō), before launching into a Japanese version of House of the Rising Sun that captures the movie's heart — channelling all those lives fading away on the margins, lost to time.

While it's easy to see filmmakers of a certain hipster vintage, like Jarmusch and Aki Kaurismäki ( Fallen Leaves ), as hermetic curators of bygone worlds, Wenders's approach here feels inclusive. Nostalgia can be deadly, but it can also be tender.

Sure, there are the dad-rock cassettes that border on analogue fetish. But there's also a sense of intergenerational exchange, as when Hirayama bonds with a curious zoomer (Aoi Yamada) over their shared love for Patti Smith's Horses.

These little moments are the essence of Perfect Days, a movie whose quiet wisdom derives from savouring the details, however fleeting they may be.

Little wonder it includes a post-credits reference to the Japanese concept of komorebi: the shimmering of light through the trees. If only they had a word for scooping soggy toilet paper off the washroom floor.

Perfect Days is in cinemas from March 28.

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