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After viewing other offerings such as Muriel’s Wedding and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, I wonder at the Australian filmmakers’ knack for making the most depressing comedies on earth.

Before that gets misinterpreted, it’s a compliment.  It takes a lot of skill and quite a bit of bravado to pepper a comedic script with moments so painful, it almost hurts physically.  But, in my opinion, it tends to add a wonderfully truthful humanity to the story that you don’t often see in mainstream Hollywood releases.

That much said, Introducing the Dwights stars Brenda Blethyn (SECRETS & LIES, SAVING GRACE) as Jeannie Dwight, a divorced middle-aged woman who once gave up a successful career as a comedienne in Great Britain to marry John Maitland, a one-hit wonder pop singer, move to Australia and start a family.

Years later, we find Jean working in a cafeteria kitchen, but still performing her comedy act at local nightclubs, usually sandwiched between bird calling and yodeling acts.  Billed as “Clubland’s Raunchiest Homemaker,” her somewhat dated but saucy routine is enough of a hit to spark Jeannie’s hunger for a taste of the stardom she left behind.

While the story is based in the world of stand-up comedy, there’s serious drama brewing underneath.

As a performer, Jean’s breezy and charming, but off-stage, she’s self-centered, manipulative and incredibly controlling, especially where her two sons, Mark and Tim, are concerned.  Mark, born with cerebral palsy, is kept hidden at home, while Tim is essentially a work horse for his mother. 

When Tim falls for Jill, a beautiful auto shop worker, Jean is incapable of letting him go and goes to great lengths to sabotage the budding relationship, even metaphorically castrating him in a particularly cruel act in her stage routine.

Eventually, Tim must choose which of these women he wants in his life.

As Jeannie, Blethyn is quite powerful.  We are always aware of the longing and fear of abandonment lurking under the bubbly facade as well as the incredibly sad woman behind the tempestuous bully.  A character like this would be very easy to loathe, yet Blethyn does such a seemingly effortless job of playing the many facets of this deeply complicated woman that even when she was at her most despicable, my heart still went out to the wounded soul underneath.

The rest of the cast, unfamiliar to me, were all quite spectacular as well.  Khan Chittenden brings a charming naivety to the painfully shy Tim, and Emma Booth as Jill has a smoldering yet quiet sensuality coupled with a surprising insecurity about her, making them quite a fascinating screen couple.

There’s also some surprising nudity and bizarrely awkward sex scenes that are genuinely unusual, such as Tim losing his virginity to Jill while politely debating various car safety features. (?!?)

While not for everyone, I genuinely enjoyed Introducing the Dwights, and while I wouldn’t recommend it as a date movie, it would make for fine viewing for anyone in the mood for a rich, moving character study...with dick jokes.

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