Tom Cutler (Samuel L Jackson) is a retired cop who now makes his living as a Cleaner - a small segment of his work involves cleaning up crimes scenes. Cutler takes a job on cleaning up a crime scene at the home of rich widow Ann Norcut (Eva Mendes). After cleaning the crime scene, Cutler unwittingly realises that someone is trying to frame him for the crime when he learns that the 'job' itself has not come through to him via the proper channels. Cutler now finds himself trying to prove his innocence whilst also trying to discover the identity of the person that framed him.I got the impression that in different hands that this film could actually have been quite good (it has a twisty-turny whodunnit aspect that should make it a relatively easy sell). The problem here is that scriptwriter Matthew Aldrich gives the picture no sense of urgency and serves up a script that is largely uninvolving. The dialogue is dull and the characters are also not particularly compelling. Renny Marlin's direction is nothing to write home about and pretty much matches the lacklustre writing. Jackson lacks some of the fire and charisma that he usually brings to the screen - normally I would blame the filmmakers but as one of the producers of this film then I can only presume that Jackson chose to play his role this way which puzzles me even more. Jackson is always watchable, but this is probably one of his least memorable performances. Ed Harris is also good, but again this is far from his best work.Cleaner currently has a respectable rating of 6.1 on IMDb and I can't help but feel that many people are giving it a higher score than it deserves based on the impressive cast rather than the narrative content. However, if you strip the whole film apart you're left with a routine, mundane and rather forgettable crime thriller.

So strange that flicks with blockbuster names are already for sale for only 1 Euro, new I mean. Look at Cleaner, Ed Harris, Samuel L. Jackson and Eva Mendes to name a few. The flick itself isn't that bad at all but it lacks suspense and for a thriller that is of course the most important thing, isn't it?The story is a bit tame too and you have seen it all before and some things are really predictable but it's the performances that safe this flick.There's a lot of red stuff to spot and the flick starts off rather well with some black humour attached to it. Somehow you keep watching it and you want to know the what and who's but the red herring doesn't work out the way it should be. You know what the filmmakers want you to believe isn't what is happening. If you're coming home from a hard days work then this is exactly the kind of flick you want to see but if you want to use your brains to solve the case then it isn't.Gore 0,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

I think everybody in this was great. Very convincing acting all around. Especially the girl playing Samuel L. Jackson's daughter. She was almost scarily convincing when she finally breaks down over her mother's death and her fears...all understandable, plot-wise.Anyhow, I don't like the rational of the killing at the end, but at least it was the end and did not spoil the rest of this thriller. This was a surprisingly good watch.I did not see it when it came out, but it is a good option for a thriller/mystery.Watch it for the acting and the genre.

**SPOILERS** Making a very good living running a business involved in cleaning up crime scenes messes retired cop Tom Cutler is called over to the swanky section of town to clean up the mess left by John Norcut. Norcut had his brains, and everything else in his head, splattered over the living room furniture in what seems to be a mob hit-job.With no one answering the doorbell and in Tom finding the house-key under the doormat he makes himself at home cleaning up he place of all the blood and brain matter left by the killer who offed the unfortunate and very unlucky Mr. Norcut. It's the very next day when Tom came over to the Norcut residence to get paid for his services that he finds out from a surprised Mrs. Ann Norut that he was never called to the place and in fact the address he got, which is the same place that he's in now, is totally different from the one the Norcuts reside it!Getting in touch that evening with his good friend in the police department and former partner Det. Eddie Leronzo for a couple of drinks Tom finds out that this Mr. Norcut was in fact the bag-man for indited Police Commissioner Robert Vaughn who's to testify against Vaughn's at his upcoming corruption trial. With Norcut later reported missing by his wife Ann it becomes very evident to Tom, who realizes that he was murdered, that he was used by whoever murdered John Norcut to unwittingly clean up the evidence that would connect him to Norcut's murder! And at the same time framing Tom by being at the crime scene, and cleaning it up, for it! ***SPOILERS*** Tom soon learns, after Norcut's body was found and identified, from Ann that her husband had a secret list of every dirty and underhanded deal made by Commissioner Vaughn and the badge numbers of all the cops who were involved in committing them! Which included non other then Tom himself! Tom was on Vaughn's payroll and was involved in having the man who murdered his wife murdered in prison in retaliation! This has Tom's 14 year old daughter Rose, Keke Palmer, in finding out about her mom's killer being killed in prison feel that her dad, in being responsible for it and keeping it from her all these years, was no better then the criminals that he dealt with while a policeman!It soon comes out that all this slimy and criminal involvement with former Commissioner Vaughn by John Norcut as really a cover for the real reason behind his brutal murder! John Norcut's killer had a much deeper and personal reason for offing Norcut that had to do with his wife Ann whom he was having an affair with! And the most shocking revelation about it wasn't the affair with Norcut's wife Ann, or him finding out about it, that made John Norcut's soon to be killer go wacko! But what resulted from it!