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Introducing the Dwights is infused, like the boomer generation it so well reflects, with that (late) middle-aged desire to never give up, never stop having fun, never admit to growing old.
This movie is funny, but delivers a serious blow to anyone who might be entertaining thoughts of joining a 50-plus pick-up band, or sprucing up her old act and taking it on the road.
"Ladies and genitalia..." Jean Dwight, hair pouffed and cinched into her tight-waisted party dress, is a raunchy, brassy stand-up comic out of the late music hall era in Great Britain.
When she was a young performer she married singer John Maitland and followed him home to Sydney, Australia, where she’s kept her act alive performing in places like the suburban Get it On Casino, dishing out her dirty jokes to a middle-aged crowd. The big time may have eluded Jean, but she still derives pleasure from her off-colour act. All she looks for is "a little sunshine, a bit of hope," she tells her son in her down-to-Earth British accent.
Now, Jean and John have longsince divorced. John has proved to be a one-hit wonder and works as a shopping centre security guard. But he’s still a good father to his sons, Tim and Mark — who is developmentally handicapped. In familiar fashion, the boys have replaced the husband in Jean’s life.
At work — a factory canteen — or at home, Jean is always centre stage and in control. In every situation she’s the boss: "We’re not going to have Sea World Episode all over again," she will say, should Mark take it into his head to do something on his own. Jean has barely noticed that Tim, who is starting a moving business, is now a grownup. Mark’s disability is an advantage for a secretly lonely mother who needs to keep her boys dependent on her.
Disaster strikes in the form of Jill, an attractive, intelligent and experienced blond who wins Tim’s heart and removes his virginity. Mum soon cottons on to this unwelcome turn of events.
"She’s dragged it out of me," Mark says, apologizing to his older brother for spilling the beans.
The ensuing conflict is like a locomotive barrelling down the tracks, as Jean, on the verge of what she believes is her big commercial break, confronts the undeniable fact that her son has outgrown their motherson relationship.
Her ex-husband John, planning a comeback himself in the form of an album called Conway Twitty’s Songs of Love shows an enduring form of love in recognizing the family crisis.
Keith Thompson wrote this script with Brenda Blethyn in mind and she might have carried the film single-handedly, but gets strong support from Khan Chittenden as Tim, veteran Australian rocker and actor Frankie J. Holden as John, Emma Booth as Jill and Robert Wilson as Mark.
A classic rock hit-parade, from Bo Diddley’s '’m A Man' to Janis Joplin’s 'Piece of My Heart' keeps us in Jean’s point of view.
Australians, not known for their family building skills, do seem to get it right when it comes to making movies about families. Like Muriel’s Wedding, The Year My Voice Broke, Shine, or The Last Days of Chez Nous, this 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.
© Toronto Star
