There is a lot of engineered quirkiness in Introducing the Dwights – the movie details the relationship between an aging stand-up comedian and the twentysomething son who reluctantly lives with her – but director Cherie Nowlan has an invaluable trump card: Brenda Blethyn as Jean, the mom. Jean isn’t really funny – she relies on a lot of bawdy, anti-men material that has more hate than humor – but that’s besides the point. This is a portrait of a woman who gave up her career to have a family, and is now going to make them pay for it. Blethyn somehow manages to keep Jean from being either a cartoonish harridan or a sympathetic heroine. This is a real, lived-in performance that could only come from a show-business veteran herself.
