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Introducing the Dwights
Warner Independent Pictures


4.6

based on 23 reviews
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based on 3 votes
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MPAA RATING: R for sexual content and language

Starring Brenda Blethyn, Khan Chittenden, Emma Booth, Richard Wilson, Frankie J. Holden, Rebecca Gibney, Philip Quast, and Katie Wall

Introducing the Dwights is a comedy about a mother who tries to come between her son and his coming of age. Tim's mom, Jean, is a bawdy and risqué comedienne still hoping to make it big. His brother Mark helps their mother rehearse for shows. Together, they inhabit a non-traditional household where chaos is the norm, the music is always on, and Jean's larger-than-life personality takes center stage. When Tim meets and falls for Jill, his home becomes a combat zone as his mother fears this new girl, whose name she refuses to remember, will "break up" the unique family unit she's tried so hard to keep together. In this quirky and oftentimes touching tale, Tim must learn to manage the emotions of the women of his life without losing himself in the process. (Warner Independent Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Keith Thompson
DIRECTED BY:	Cherie Nowlan
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: February 12, 2008 Theatrical: July 4, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	105 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Australia

Alternative title: Clubland

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

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.

The average user rating for this movie is 4.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jim G gave it a5:
Disappointing. Brenda Blethyn has been typecast in another emotionally overwrought role that she already played in Secrets and Lies, a much more effective use of her talent.

John C. gave it a9:
A beautiful indie about seriously flawed people - who make choices and change - just like real folks. Tight script. Terrific acting all around. Interesting characters you care about. The oh-so-clever clever Mr. A.O. Scott says this is a dysfunctional family. No. It is a functional family of people with handicaps who manage to pull together and pull through. They could implode and fail - or implode and survive. Write your own script. And what happened to Joe Morgenstern while I wasn't paying attention? Has he been replaced by someone who's idea of a review is to give away the story and then make nasty comments? Are all her reviews this insipid? Normally I avoid reviews in the yellow - there are so many good films I don't have time to see. But this time I would have missed a good film that lovers of small films should see. I'm making the WSJ's Joanne Kaufman a "negative indicator". Let the reader beware.

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Introducing the Dwights Warner Independent Pictures

Introducing the Dwights
Warner Independent Pictures