CAPTIVITY
This film was not screened in time for our reviewers. A review will appear next week. (Countywide)
INTRODUCING THE DWIGHTS
Brenda Blethyn's trademark histrionics—maternal blubbering and drama-queen shrillness—worked smashingly for her intentionally trying role in Secrets & Lies, but her central performance in Introducing the Dwights sees these traits amped to a rather squirmy 11. Misleadingly (if more interestingly) titled Clubland when it screened at this year's Sundance, director Cherie Nowlan's patchy Australian dramedy stars Blethyn as divorcĂ©e Jean, a once-famous bawdy comedienne who can't accept that she's past her prime. Oblivious to how her egomaniacal control issues are cock-blocking both of her sons, Jean is primarily stressing out strapping, 20-year-old mama's boy Tim (Khan Chittenden), whose fear of losing his virginity to insecure but totally horny Jill (Emma Booth) takes an unintentionally Oedipal bent whenever he runs home to support his mother's Benny Hill-esque act instead. Other son Mark (Richard Wilson) is slightly brain-damaged and dubiously written as the idiot-savant butt of many a gentle joke, which might have worked had the actor been more convincing (Aaron Hillis) (Edwards Westpark, Irvine; Regency South Coast Village, Santa Ana)