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Brenda Blethyn gives an amazing performance in Introducing the Dwights. As an aging stand-up comic whose brief moment of glory was nearly a lifetime ago, she's a heartbreaking anomaly, a woman out of touch with her times, her family, even herself. Blethyn's Jean Dwight is by turns funny and furious, desperate to recapture the limelight, even though she knows it'll never happen.
Unfortunately, Blethyn's performance belongs in another movie, not this bipolar comedy-drama. At times, it's a mawkish drama about a mother-son relationship that's uncomfortable to watch and too melodramatic to be believed. Then, it's a sprightly comedy about an innocent boy who hits the adolescent jackpot - meeting a beautiful girl who's hot for him. Just when you start to accept that disconnect, the film morphs into a study in familial relationships, where the characters go out of their way to not get along.
© The Baltimore Sun
