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Introducing the Dwights

A miserable family to watch

By BROOKE HOLGERSON | July 11, 2007

1.5 Stars

VIDEO: Watch the trailer for Introducing the Dwights.

Introducing the Dwights: mom (Brenda Blethyn) is a has-been comedian whose act was probably never that funny; dad is a sad-sack singer who moonlights as a security guard; and youngest son Tim (Khan Chittenden) is a socially stunted 20-year-old who’s inappropriately close to his demanding mother. Want to know them better? Well, into this mess wanders Jill (Emma Booth), cute and self-assured, so you know she’s in for it. She sticks it out with Tim in spite of his almost pathological shyness and inexperience. His reticence is more than made up for by Blethyn’s shrill performance — director Cherie Nowlan seems to have told his gifted actress that louder is better, but that’s no way to create sympathy for a character who’s mean and insensitive to begin with. The sad fact is, these Dwights are miserable, and by the time the movie is over, you will be too.

Topics: Reviews , Brenda Blethyn

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