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Rate this movie

Oof, that was Rotten.

Meh, it passed the time.

It’s good – I’d recommend it.

Awesome!

So Fresh: Absolute Must See!

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Cleaner Photos

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Movie Info

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:

crime, mystery and thriller, 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):

May 14, 2012
Runtime:

1h 32m
Production Co:

Millennium Films
Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Cast & Crew

Samuel L. Jackson
Tom Cutler

Ed Harris
Eddie Lorenzo

Eva Mendes
Ann Norcut

Luis Guzmán
Detective Jim Vargas

Keke Palmer
Rose Cutler

Robert Forster
Arlo

Show all Cast & Crew

News & Interviews for Cleaner

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

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Critic Reviews for Cleaner

All Critics (12) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (2) | Rotten (10)

Low-energy and grindingly mediocre, it adds a whole new dimension to Harlin's wildly uneven oeuvre: tedium.

May 28, 2008 | Rating: C | Full Review…

Nathan Rabin
AV Club
I did like the dynamic between Samuel L. Jackson and Keke Palmer. I'd like to see them play father and daughter in the better film.

May 27, 2008

Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
A neatly contained crime whodunit with a nifty setup and an expert lead performance from Samuel L. Jackson.

September 18, 2007

Michael Rechtshaffen
Hollywood Reporter
Cleaner suffers from a distracting case of visual jitters and takes a CSI approach to fetishizing the messy nature of the human body.

September 14, 2007 | Full Review…

Eddie Cockrell
Variety
the longest 90 minutes of my life

August 10, 2008 | Rating: 1/5 | Full Review…

Brian Chen
Filmcritic.com
Quote not available.

May 27, 2008 | Rating: 5/10 | Full Review…

Mike Barnard
Future Movies UK
It's not that Cleaner is a terrible film, it just doesn't rear back and sock the viewer in the jaw like a great thriller should. It's mild sauce from the first frame to the last.

May 20, 2008 | Rating: C- | Full Review…

Brian Orndorf
BrianOrndorf.com
It's a clever premise

May 15, 2008 | Full Review…

Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
...a substantial improvement over some of filmmaker Renny Harlin's more recent efforts...

September 25, 2007 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…

David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
The "cleaning" thing was done and done better in Curdled and in terms of a crime drama, Cleaner just doesn't measure up.

September 15, 2007

Jon Popick
Planet S Magazine
Cleaner is a watchable film, but one which feels like a missed opportunity.

September 14, 2007 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…

Filip Vukcevic
IGN Movies
Beyond the contributions from Samuel L. Jackson and Ed Harris, however, there's very little worth talking.

September 13, 2007 | Rating: 2.5/5 | Full Review…

Scott Weinberg
Cinematical

View All Critic Reviews (12)

Audience Reviews for Cleaner

Aug 19, 2016

Mediocre, mildly entertaining thriller that does not make the most of its somewhat interesting premise. You can smell the few surprises miles away and the showdown is not particularly exciting, even if the editing tries to make you think so. Unbelievable what huge and entertaining films director Harlin created in the 90s. Amazing that he got such a good cast for this rather tame product.

Jens S Super Reviewer
Jun 14, 2016

What starts with the initial promise of outstanding camera work, promising acting and and interesting conflict is beset soon thereafter by a lazily sagging middle-act and a straight-up dumb plot with an obvious nothing-twist.

Gimly M Super Reviewer
Jan 31, 2013

Great cast. A crime scene cleaner gets intertwined in a cover up.

Candy R Super Reviewer
May 25, 2012

Sam Jackson and Keke Palmer's performances are the best reasons to watch the film. They have a great on screen chemistry together. The film was so so. It was also predictable. I would have rather seen a film about the father daughter story than the predictable murder mystery.

Sol C Super Reviewer