Introducing the Dwights

Brenda Blethyn is Jeannie Dwight, the worst stand-up comic in the history of show business, playing tawdry clubs with an even tawdrier act. Jeannie’s only slightly better as a mother, with one son (Richard Wilson) physically disabled and the other (Khan Chittenden) so emotionally stunted that he’s a virtual nitwit. Blethyn is almost always worth watching, and she does her best here, but the movie presumes our affection; nobody could make this gorgon likeable. The characters in Keith Thompson’s script are all either unpleasant or unsympathetic (or both); watching them bray and screech at each other is nerve-wracking. Meanwhile, Cherie Nowlan’s broad-brush direction does nothing to make them or their story more enjoyable. The sticky-sweet happy ending feels tacked-on and rings absolutely false.