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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: Introducing the Dwights

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#1 of 1 Posted 6/28/07 10:48 PM

From Harveycritic Posts 1637 Last Jan-30
To All [Msg # 22501.1 ]

INTRODUCING THE DWIGHTS

Reviewed for CompuServe by Harvey S. Karten
Warner Independent Features
Grade: B
Directed by:    Cherie Nowlan
Written By: Keith Thompson
Cast:   Brenda Blethyn, Khan Chittenden, Emma Booth, Frankie J. Holden, Rebecca Gibney, Philip
Quast, Russell Dykstra, Katie Wall
Screened at: Regal Union Square, NYC, 6/28/07
Opens: July 4, 2007

When a family is labeled “dysfunctional,” sociologists usually mean one in which there are constant arguments or one with kids who are bouncing off the walls because their parents are divorced or one which includes a wacky but adorable grandparent or a fussy gay uncle. In “Introducing the Dwights,” Cherie Nowlan who directs, and Keith Thompson who wrote the screenplay, consider the Dwight family dysfunctional not only because it includes a divorced mother and a spastic teenager, but because the matriarch, who does borscht-belt style, raunchy stand-up comedy in some of the less sophisticated clubs near Sydney, Australia, does her best to prevent her handsome, normal, son from coming of age. So eager is she to keep him under her roof that she tries her best to alienate the one girlfriend he brings home who looks like a future wife. By her overprotection, she has rendered the young man less than articulate in the presence of women his age, virginal in his approach (giving a woman the impression that he’s just not interested in sex or in her), and clinging to his cell phone ready to bolt from the girl’s quarters when paged by his mom.

What’s especially appealing in this dramedy, plotted as a straight, TV-style narrative by a director with considerable TV experience, is the presence of Brenda Blethyn (“Secrets and Lies,” Pride and Prejudice”) in the lead role as the dominating mom. Moviegoers not generally accustomed to attending indie pics will likely be drawn to this one primarily to watch Ms. Blethyn in action, providing an entertaining little comedy with a sentimental ending that conventionally ties up all the loose ends.

Ms. Blethyn performs in the role of Jean, a middle-aged, overweight woman who once had a hit show in England but was persuaded by her husband, a country singer, John (Frankie J. Holden) to emigrate to Australia. Their careers went downhill from there with John’s having to earn a living as a security guard and Jean’s pushing plates as a cook in a cafeteria. She is burdened with a teenage son, Mark (Richard Wilson), who was brain-damaged at birth but appears to have quite a sense of humor, and needs 20-year-old Tim (Khan Chittenden) at home to help take care of the lad.

Tim’s shyness fails to impress the sexually assertive Jill (Emma Booth), who feels less than pretty when Tim rushes out of her bedroom to go home at his mother’s beck and call. One wonders just why Jill, an attractive, sexually liberated young woman, would be free of boyfriends and willing to have patience with the skittish Tim, particularly as Tim’s mother gets more demanding as an audition with a major nightclub is about to take place.

“Introducing the Dwights” is a pleasant-enough Australian tale well played (no surprise) by Brenda Blethyn, and featuring a young couple who are at first on different wave lengths but who come around to make a terrific pair. Blethyn delights with her singing as much as she ought to bomb with her comedy act, the sort of nightclub act that in the 1950's would be called “risque” but which no-one these days should be able to get away with.

Not Rated.    109 minutes   © 2007 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online

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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: Introducing the Dwights

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