50
Metascore
23 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 70VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyWarm and entertaining enough, with Brenda Blethyn doing a variation on her "Little Voice" vulgarian amid appealing support perfs.
- 70Los Angeles TimesCarina ChocanoLos Angeles TimesCarina ChocanoThe movie belongs to Blethyn, who takes a difficult, easily misunderstood role and gracefully cracks it open to reveal what's inside.
- 63New York PostKyle SmithNew York PostKyle SmithNo matter how good Blethyn is at playing up the sweet hurt of a woman who is well on the decline but never made it in the first place, your admiration for her shrieking-and-drinking breakdown scenes is likely to be tested after about the fifth go-round.
- 50The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe film suffers for her (Brenda Blethyn) egocentrism.
- 50New York Daily NewsJack MathewsNew York Daily NewsJack MathewsIf you find a movie with a more annoying central performance than the one given by Brenda Blethyn in Cherie Nowlan's Introducing the Dwights, keep it to yourself.
- 50The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottA funny-sad, icky-sweet comedy of family dysfunction.
- 50Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneThe movie successfully balances the sentimental and bittersweet only about half the time. The performances are intelligent and well-crafted, and Blethyn is unmistakably a star performer, attracting attention like a vortex. But she's somewhat miscast here.
- 50Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonAmusing only for its performances, including those of Chittenden and Wilson. The cast cannot hide the movie's derivative shortcomings, which only remind us that we've seen better and funnier elsewhere.
- 40Wall Street JournalWall Street JournalJean's material is so flat-out awful it's amazing she gets hired at all, let alone that she once supposedly had headliner potential. It's a discrepancy that Introducing the Dwights never addresses.
- 30Village VoiceVillage VoiceWith its broad, toothless humor and ham-fisted fits of melodrama, this sitcom-grade embarrassment aims to dethrone "Muriel's Wedding" as the quirky Aussie feel-gooder of all time, except it hurts too much to watch.