Introducing the Dwights is funny and poignant, with a tour-de-force performance by British actress Brenda Blethyn.
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09/01/07
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Introducing The Dwights (2007)
58
%
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Reviews Counted:26
Fresh:15
Rotten:11
Average Rating:5.6/10
Consensus: Despite the strength of its earnest portrayal of family dysfunction, Introducing the Dwights is predictable and tries too hard to be quirky.
Theatrical Release:Jul 4, 2007 Limited
Box Office: $263,040
Synopsis: This Australian coming-of-age comedy/drama features SECRETS AND LIES star Brenda Blethyn as Jeannie, a semi-monstrous mom who gave up a promising career as a British comic to move Down Under and... [More]
Starring: Brenda Blethyn, Richard Wilson, Khan Chittenden, Frankie J. Holden
Director: Cherie Nowlan
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Reviews for Introducing The Dwights
Top CriticOne of those quirky Australian comedies that’s almost as charming and sharp as it thinks it is.
07/31/07
Top CriticThere's nothing lovely, however, about the movie's bombastic ending, but there are enough small moments until then to make this mixed-up experience vaguely worthwhile.
07/26/07
Top CriticSometimes 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.
07/25/07
Top CriticSome offbeat humor shines through the clouds of this glum domestic drama, especially when fun friends shift the focus from Jean's grating histrionics. But it never lasts long.
07/20/07
Top Critic[Director] Nowlan has no problem pouring on the syrup.
07/19/07
Top CriticThis film avoids the predictable. Director Cherie Nowlan shows a deft hand, taking us right into the anger and pain of a single mother confronting disappointment and loss even as she's delivering her zingers.
07/13/07
Top CriticUltimately this wondrous film is about letting go -- of old wardrobes, bad jokes, unrealistic dreams and of children and parental ties. You leave glad to have met the Dwights and applauding their adaptability, if not Mom's jokes.
07/13/07
Top CriticIt gives us a few interesting characters and allows us to follow them through a critical phase of change and growth. It does what all good coming of age movies do, and that makes it a worthy and welcome entry into the genre.
07/13/07
Top CriticKeith Thompson's screenplay is clever and ensures that every character is well-rounded and recognizably human.
07/13/07
Top CriticA throw-your-hands-up, head-shaking disappointment.
07/13/07
Top Critic[The film] likes these people and these kooky scenarios too much to detach itself enough to simply observe them. And it doesn't understand them well enough to convince us they make sense.
07/13/07
Top CriticBlethyn creates sympathy for a manipulative, prickly character who's struggling to redefine her roles onstage and off. Director Cherie Nowlan steers the comedy to a feel-good ending.
07/13/07
Top CriticThe 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.
07/13/07
Top CriticThe supporting players are amiable, and while the family's multiple dysfunctions verge on cartoonishness, the actors keep their characters relatively realistic.
07/12/07
Top CriticThe psychology here borders on the ugly, while the comedy stays light, a contrast that doesn't work a lot of the time.
07/12/07
Top CriticThe cast cannot hide the movie's derivative shortcomings, which only remind us that we've seen better and funnier elsewhere.
07/12/07
Top CriticThe movie belongs to Blethyn, who takes a difficult, easily misunderstood role and gracefully cracks it open to reveal what's inside.
07/07/07
Top Critic...has the sweet-and-sour honesty of a memoir.
07/06/07
Top Critic[An] awkwardly fused comedy-drama.
07/05/07
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