Clubland (2007)

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

I've seen quite a few indie films in my times. This one, "Introducing the Dwights" is a remarkable piece of work. Here you have a woman who's divorced, raising two sons: One is painfully shy around girls, the other who has special needs. The shy one named Tim, drives a moving van in Austrailia meets two lovely ladies: Kelly and Jill. Jill(Emma Booth) takes notice of Tim(Khan Chittenden) who clumsily approaches her. The sexual advances are making him awkward, and he later realizes he needs to put his past experience behind him. His mother works for a canteen during the day, but at night, she's a big hit at a local comedy club. She happens to be in a slump, because she's stuck in the day, and in serious need of reinventing herself. Both of her son have a certain someone. Tim's brother knows about Jill, and he's happy for him. Jill and Tim intimacy grows deeper and deeper by the minute. Looks like he's got him a soul-mate he can feel good about. A very good movie, great cast, and a great assortment of soundtracks to make it worthwhile. Don't care what the title is, I just love it!4 out of 5 stars!

This film is about a middle aged woman, who goes through life changes in her career and her family structure."Clubland" can hardly be described as a comedy. I did not find it a tiny bit funny. Not even the deliberate and contrived plot of Jeannie being a comedian could save it. It's simply not fun to watch Jeannie making everyone's lives miserable. The ending is rather bad, as Jeannie makes a complete change of heart for no apparent reason.I must say Brenda Blethyn is good, and Emma Booth is really beautiful. However, these strengths are not enough to save "Clubland" from being a complete bore.

CLUBLAND to me is a very poor film: it asks audiences to accept a truly irritating leading character, played by Brit stalwart Brenda Blethyn yet again playing her overbearing mother role. Released in Oz with great hope only drawn from a big US sale and not from the realities of this weak and annoying film, CLUBLAND left cinemas for good almost immediately. It grossed less than $1.5m when overexcited local industry execs misread the tone of the film and the annoyed audience... so who actually likes this film? Some crits keen to associate with an overseas sale and 'friends of the production'..NOT the general public who vote with their bottoms in another chair (at home). Friends of the cast crew and local distributor might rake through these negative comments and seek to have them removed (my previous on was) but the reality for CLUBLAND is simple: it is boring and it is dull... suburban drone characters are always just that, and sadly nice leading male, the young Khan Chittenden also seen in the equally tedious suburban drivel WEST just released in Sydney will see two performances erased by a yawning public who will not leave their homes to pay $16 a ticket for this very ordinary stuff. Producer Rosemary Blight is a talented humorous professional whose previous gem was FRESH AIR - her charming little film that is genuinely good and interesting and yes, suburban.

This film meanders around for too long. It isn't funny enough or moving enough to overcome it's clichéd nature. It's a standard coming of age affair with some romance thrown in. There are a few laughs, but not enough to keep the film afloat. The leads are all reasonable, but in the end the banal material and predictable climax overcomes the qualities of the actors. Surely the Australian Film Finance Corporation can do better than this? Perhaps it looked better on paper. On the plus side Richard Wilson does a stand out job as a retarded young man. The two young romantic leads are both very attractive and have a few good moments together, but again, not enough to bring the mediocre script to life.