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The first half of this Australian film is often poignant and funny, but the movie, like its characters, outstays its welcome. Blethyn plays Jean, an English entertainer with an absent singer husband and two grown-up children, one brain-damaged but able to do most things for himself.
Jean divides her life between cooking at a fast-food joint, and doing stand-up comedy at clubs and teaching singing to kids. 'You're an Irish tenor from Shanghai,' she tells her latest pupil. 'You don't find many of those.'
© David Quinlan and Alan Frank
