Introducing the Dwights

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Among the many strengths of the sweetly touching Introducing the Dwights, a small gem from Australia unearthed at the Sundance Film Festival, is that Jean never becomes Godzilla.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Funny and appalling, doting and possessive, petty and selfless, raunchy and righteous, Jeannie is the pivot of the charming, garish, somewhat overwritten Australian comedy Introducing the Dwights.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Director Cherie Nowlan creates vivid personalities for the entire family and exposes the raw nerves of the biting humor.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It does what all good coming of age movies do, and that makes it a worthy and welcome entry into the genre.

Variety Dennis Harvey

Warm and entertaining enough, with Brenda Blethyn doing a variation on her "Little Voice" vulgarian amid appealing support perfs.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

The movie belongs to Blethyn, who takes a difficult, easily misunderstood role and gracefully cracks it open to reveal what's inside.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Blethyn's performance belongs in another movie, not this bipolar comedy-drama.

Miami Herald Peter Debruge

The dynamic between mother and son is fascinating, with Blethyn creating a character who is more antagonist than villain.

New York Post Kyle Smith

No matter how good Blethyn is at playing up the sweet hurt of a woman who is well on the decline but never made it in the first place, your admiration for her shrieking-and-drinking breakdown scenes is likely to be tested after about the fifth go-round.

USA Today Claudia Puig

For those seeking an alternative to giant robots and flying wizards, there's an amusing Australian comedy that might be just the right panacea for blockbuster overload.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The script's attempt to splice together a fumbling love story with a portrait of toxic personality disorder feels incongruous, like a serving of porridge flambé au whisky.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Director Cherie Nowlan steers the comedy to a feel-good ending.

Chicago Tribune Sid Smith

The movie successfully balances the sentimental and bittersweet only about half the time. The performances are intelligent and well-crafted, and Blethyn is unmistakably a star performer, attracting attention like a vortex. But she's somewhat miscast here.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Amusing only for its performances, including those of Chittenden and Wilson. The cast cannot hide the movie's derivative shortcomings, which only remind us that we've seen better and funnier elsewhere.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

A funny-sad, icky-sweet comedy of family dysfunction.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

The film suffers for her (Brenda Blethyn) egocentrism.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

If you find a movie with a more annoying central performance than the one given by Brenda Blethyn in Cherie Nowlan's Introducing the Dwights, keep it to yourself.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Sometimes Brenda Blethyn is content merely to nibble the scenery. In Introducing the Dwights, a drippy Australian family comedy caper, she chomps it to a pulp until we long for her straightforward monstrosity as a mother in "Little Voice."

Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman

Jean's material is so flat-out awful it's amazing she gets hired at all, let alone that she once supposedly had headliner potential. It's a discrepancy that Introducing the Dwights never addresses.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Nothing about this movie works, not the title (it used to be called "Clubland "), not Blethyn's attempt to inject comedy into her rickety stereotype of a character.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Quirkiness is as essential to a small indie film as beef stock to French onion soup. But if you don't have enough of any other ingredient, you end up with a watery, barely edible broth.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

As Tim – a character rich in contradictions and psychological possibilities – Chittenden may as well be a cardboard cutout for all the emotional complexity he’s able to muster.

Village Voice Aaron Hillis

With its broad, toothless humor and ham-fisted fits of melodrama, this sitcom-grade embarrassment aims to dethrone "Muriel's Wedding" as the quirky Aussie feel-gooder of all time, except it hurts too much to watch.