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There's no question, Brenda Blethyn is a terrific actress. But, frankly, if I never have to watch her play another coarse, braying broad again, it'll be too soon. After her magnificent, Oscar-nominated turn in Secrets and Lies, Blethyn's been offered that same basic role over and over again (Little Voice, Sonny and Beyond the Sea, to name a few). It's like she's fallen into her niche and she can't get out. The thing is she's so damn good playing these brash women it would seem almost egregious not to cast her. However, her latest such part in the middling Introducing the Dwights proves, as strong as she is, she's gone to the well one too many times.
There are a number of things to like about the film, but they're fatally overwhelmed by Blethyn's strident, pathologically selfish Jane Dwight, an over-the-hill comedienne desperately trying to hold on to her adult son, Tim (an excellent Khan Chittenden). Jane's a Brit who was transplanted to Australia years ago by her singer ex-husband, John (Frankie J. Holden), a one-hit wonder now working security in a supermarket. Jane also has a dreary "straight" job cooking in a canteen, but livens things up by performing her bawdy routine (think: Roseanne Barr meets Ethel Merman) in second-rate venues around town. Though her act is crass and creaky, Jane still believes her ship's gonna come in and enlists the help of her supportive manager Shane (Russell Dykstra) as well as B-list local entertainer Ronnie Stubbs (Phillip Quast) to keep her in the spotlight.
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