At first, Jill can't comprehend her boyfriend's embarrassment. She rather fancies the idea of dating the son of a semi-celebrity -- that is, until she finally meets Jeanie Dwight (Brenda Blethyn), and then it all makes sense. Jeanie's the sort of lady Brits politely call "brassy" when what they really mean is "abrasive," a bawdy Benny Hill-like comedian who headlines as "Clubland's raunchiest homemaker" telling sex jokes to senior citizens.

Introducing the Dwights isn't exactly Jeanie's story, but don't tell her that. She can't stand to be elbowed out of the limelight, least of all by her two sons. But at 21, Tim's finally old enough to create a personality of his own, while his brain-damaged younger brother Mark (Richard Wilson) will always rely on Jeanie to some degree.

Coming of age makes for common enough material in movies these days that Tim's sexual awakening, however tenderly observed by director Cherie Nowlan, hardly justifies the price of admission. But the dynamic between mother and son is fascinating, with Blethyn creating a character who is more antagonist than villain. Introducing the Dwights suggests what the movie Running With Scissors might have been, with both stories sharing the detail of a mother too self-absorbed to consider what's best for her son.

Early on, Blethyn wins us over by revealing Jeanie in her most vulnerable moments — anxiously awaiting her turn onstage, fretting over a sick neighbor and so on — but as the story progresses, her shrill attention-mongering takes over and quickly grows taxing. How honest is it to portray Jeanie as being this nervous to face her audience? After all, she's been telling the same jokes night after night her whole life, and she still gets the jitters?

The broader characterizations may be off, but Nowlan observes other small details with sensitive precision. Watch the characters' eyes, for instance: the way Tim sheepishly demurs Jill's advances or the looks she gives that betray her excitement and insecurity. There's a casual tenderness in the way Jeanie treats her children that suggests she's a better mother than she realizes, if the character would only embrace her true calling.

[as featured in The Miami Herald]