Clubland (2007) Movie Information:
| Clubland (2007) Directed by: |
 Cherie Nowlan |
| Clubland (2007) Written by: |
| Keith Thompson |
| Clubland (2007) Cast: |
| Brenda Blethyn, Khan Chittenden, Richard Wilson, Emma Booth, Katie Wall, Russell Dykstra, Frankie J Holden, Rebecca Gibney, Philip Quast, Tracie Sammut, Justin Martin, David Webb |
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| Clubland (2007) U.S. Distributor: |
| Not available at this time |
| Clubland (2007) U.K. Distributor: |
| Warner Bros. Pictures |
|
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Clubland (2007) Synopsis:
Jean Dwight (Blethyn) is an English comic who gave it all up to move to Sydney with her husband (Holden) and raise two boys. Now grown, the feisty, mentally disabled Mark (Wilson) works on an assembly line, while the younger Tim (Chittenden) drives a moving van. But their real full-time job is taking care of their self-absorbed control freak mum. Over the years she has driven away her husband and any girl who gets close to her sons. Now Tim has a new girlfriend (Booth), and it's starting to feel like all-out war.
Clubland (2007) Movie Review:
As lively as a slap in the face, this film struggles to connect with us due to an extremely unsympathetic central figure, but still wins us over with strong acting and a sweet romance.
Jean Dwight (Blethyn) is an English comic who gave it all up to move to Sydney with her husband (Holden) and raise two boys. Now grown, the feisty, mentally disabled Mark (Wilson) works on an assembly line, while the younger Tim (Chittenden) drives a moving van. But their real full-time job is taking care of their self-absorbed control freak mum. Over the years she has driven away her husband and any girl who gets close to her sons. Now Tim has a new girlfriend (Booth), and it's starting to feel like all-out war.
What could be a full-on diva-fest is saved by a generous dose of dry Aussie humour and the fact that the story focuses on Tim rather than his colourful mum. Blethyn goes for broke, as usual, chomping on the scenery with gusto to create a fearsome woman who uses flamboyant intimidation to cover her deep insecurities. This includes blackmailing her sons into living with her, sabotaging their relationships, and bullying her loyal agent (Dykstra) and gentle ex-husband. She's pretty impossible to like, and Blethyn deserves credit for boldly taking her so far over the top.
Much more accessible is Tim's story, as he tentatively tries to escape his mother's control to become his own man. Despite Jean's bawdy stand-up routine, Tim has been shielded from the real world, and Chittenden somehow makes this believable with a gentle, hesitant performance that's intriguingly balanced by Booth's layered turn as Jill, a woman who's both more confident and more riddled with self-doubt than Tim is.
This fragile little love story is what grabs hold of us, and it's somewhat annoying that the drama queen Blethyn keeps storming onto the screen to interrupt it with her outrageously attention-seeking antics. In the end, she shows us just enough of Jean's inner tenderness that we don't hate her quite so much. It's not a complete redemption, but it's close enough.
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Clubland (2007) review written by: Rich Cline
