Introducing the Dwights is a peculiar title for a film that never properly introduces its characters, opening with the unnerving sense of being somewhere in act two. Its working title, Clubland, would also be a fairly significant case of false advertising. What this film is about, if it's about anything, is a nasty shrew (Brenda Blethyn) who doesn't want her son (Khan Chittenden) to date a pretty young girl. Why she doesn't is never explored. That she's a washed-up lounge act fearing old age, and that she has a developmentally disabled son, must relate to it, but otherwise, this girl doesn't pose the least threat. Numerous broad comedies have been centered around a mother warring with a girlfriend for her son's affections, but the setup seems particularly ill-suited to a small Australian slice-of-life, broad only in the sense that Blethyn's character is ridiculous to the point of indecency. A gifted actress, Blethyn has never shied away from appearing undignified. In most other cases, however, there's been a point to it, not to mention an underlying sympathy to her character. But her Jean Dwight is just a collection of mind games, backhanded compliments, overt insults, drunkenness, a tendency to hurl objects, and general inappropriateness. None of her dutiful family members -- including her likable ex-husband -- does a thing to instigate such behavior. And why the level-headed girlfriend (Emma Booth) would want to get entangled in any of this, especially given the limpness of her boyfriend, is perhaps the greatest mystery. Though Introducing the Dwights was marketed as a quirky import in the Full Monty mold, the total absence of humor puts an end to any comparison. In fact, Cherie Nowlan's film is really just a dysfunctional drama without any plots points motivating the dysfunction. And who wants to watch that?
