Clubland (2007)

In Australia, Jeannie Dwight (Brenda Blethyn) is a cafeteria worker by day and a struggling comedian by night. Her quiet son Tim Maitland (Khan Chittenden) tries to keep everything together. They have his mildy mentally handicap brother Mark. Then he meets Jill (Emma Booth) on one of his moving jobs.Jill and Tim has a charming awkward romance despite the unreal insecurities of the supermodel. If anything, I want more Blethyn. She's the big name and holds the potential to blow up this movie. The family dysfunction isn't that well prepared and the pretty couple manufactures some fake conflicts. Blethyn isn't really a standup comedian. Nevertheless, this has its moments and the characters have their charms.

I've seen quite a few indie films in my times. This one, "Introducing the Dwights" is a remarkable piece of work. Here you have a woman who's divorced, raising two sons: One is painfully shy around girls, the other who has special needs. The shy one named Tim, drives a moving van in Austrailia meets two lovely ladies: Kelly and Jill. Jill(Emma Booth) takes notice of Tim(Khan Chittenden) who clumsily approaches her. The sexual advances are making him awkward, and he later realizes he needs to put his past experience behind him. His mother works for a canteen during the day, but at night, she's a big hit at a local comedy club. She happens to be in a slump, because she's stuck in the day, and in serious need of reinventing herself. Both of her son have a certain someone. Tim's brother knows about Jill, and he's happy for him. Jill and Tim intimacy grows deeper and deeper by the minute. Looks like he's got him a soul-mate he can feel good about. A very good movie, great cast, and a great assortment of soundtracks to make it worthwhile. Don't care what the title is, I just love it!4 out of 5 stars!

This film is about a middle aged woman, who goes through life changes in her career and her family structure."Clubland" can hardly be described as a comedy. I did not find it a tiny bit funny. Not even the deliberate and contrived plot of Jeannie being a comedian could save it. It's simply not fun to watch Jeannie making everyone's lives miserable. The ending is rather bad, as Jeannie makes a complete change of heart for no apparent reason.I must say Brenda Blethyn is good, and Emma Booth is really beautiful. However, these strengths are not enough to save "Clubland" from being a complete bore.

This snuck into London this week virtually unheralded and playing at only one cinema. By chance I stumbled on a paragraph that mentioned the star was Brenda Blethyn so on that basis I checked it out. It's yet another of those 'indie' productions that is fine to see once but probably won't stand repeat viewings. Blethyn plays a stand-up comedian who apparently made a minor name for herself in seventies Britain prior to emigrating and is now trying to reestablish herself in Sydney. For good measure she is divorced - from a Country singer who moonlights as a Security Guard, just as Blethyn moonlights as a canteen worker - and struggling to retain control of her two sons, one of whom is brain-damaged and the other a virgin. One of the problems is that the film can't decide whether to concentrate on Blethyn's attempts to make a living on the club scene, though the material that we actually hear - incredibly and unbelievably credited to Jo Brand - makes this highly unlikely, or the burgeoning love affair between the non brain-damaged son and a new girlfriend, played well by Emma Booth. Basically this one has 'feelgood' written all over it and it that's what you like then you'll like Clubland aka Introducing The Dwights.