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I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

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

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This movie is fast disappearing from cinemas, which is a pity, as it is an authentic Australian drama of some substance. Show biz personalities are notoriously lacking in self-confidence, unsuccessful ones even more so. Yet like the lead player here, they still tenaciously cherish the dream of making the big time against all the indications. Jean (Brenda Blethyn) is a British comedienne of the "nudge nudge, wink wink" variety who once appeared with the likes of Benny Hill, but who gave up her career to marry John (Frankie J Holden) an Australian crooner of country music. The marriage produces the brain damaged Mark (Richard Wilson) and shy younger son Tim (Khan Chittenden). John, reduced to being a security guard at a supermarket, moves out and Jean puts in long days at a works canteen to support her family while still trying to resuscitate her stage career with the aid of her sleazy manager Shane. These distractions do not prevent her from being very possessive of her babies and when 20 year old Tim becomes involved with the uninhibited Jill (Emma Booth) Jean's hackles rise.Perhaps if Jean displayed some real talent as a comedienne it would make up for the fact that she is actually not a very nice person. As it is, it's hard to feel sorry for her. Brenda Blethyn plays her all stops out, which is what the part requires, but it does verge on caricature. The rest of the cast are OK, with Emma Booth very appealing as the free-spirited Jill, but rather overshadowed by Brenda's Queen Lear (or perhaps it should be Queen Leer) act.The western suburbs of Sydney setting is well realised and one can almost smell those smoky leagues clubs where clapped-out British entertainers go to die. One reviewer has perceptively remarked that the movie is about letting go – of your impossible dreams, of your children now they no longer depend on you. In Jean's case her personality and circumstances have combined to make this exceptionally difficult, and it is this that provides the drama. Keith Thompson is a veteran TV writer with a good ear for the Aussie vernacular and he draws his characters from life. The romance between the shy Tim and bold Jill is a pleasant contrast to Jean's fulminations, but Khan Chittenden under-acts a bit. Rebecca Gibney, usually a glamour-puss, is amusing as one of Jean's permanently sloshed friends.If this was a made for TV piece, the critics would praise it to the skies, but as it is, it's just a decent drama. Watching it I wondered how Julie Walters or Anne Reid would have gone as Jean. Brenda Blethyn is a fine actress, but on this occasion the volume was turned up too loud.

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 is a very annoying film. It could have been excellent but instead it is just adequate. There's a lot to like about it, the major plus being Brenda Blethyn's performance. Always a joy to watch as the woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown, she steals the show once again with her quivering bottom lip and comic timing, but we have seen a very similar performance from her in Secrets & Lies, albeit with less variation. Be careful Brenda! You're at risk of getting typecast. The biggest problems with the film relate to the script (underdeveloped, meandering, loose ends) and the two young leads whose performances are uneven, and that's being especially kind to Khan Chittenden who is no leading man. The other problem is this is formulaic in the Sundance way - family drama, quirky characters, conflict, joy, sadness and humor - not traits that are in themselves bad at all, but in this cinematic combination they come together and make it seem contrived, overly constructed and quite predictable. Is it still a decent film? Yes, if you can get past the first half hour which is very unpromising, but it's a wasted opportunity too.

Well, Blethyn delivers an reliably entertaining performance, if a little derivative of both her "Secrets and Lies" and "Little Voice" characters. Khan Chittenden's boy is endearing with his very real, but barely articulate tenderness for both family and new girlfriend - very Australian male. I thought Emma Booth's character quite unsympathetically written, and some gratuitously drooling shots of her arse in panties added to the general feel of soap-teen-bitch for her. For me, she exhibited very little natural charm with which to overcome these disadvantages.But for me the most enjoyable aspect of this film was watching Rebecca Gibney, the real "lady" of Australian television, playing a sozzled best-friend tramp... She did it REALLY well, deglamourising herself in the way the Liz Taylor and Bette Davis did mid-way through their careers, and I wish someone would give her a juicy film role...Overall, this was more a character study than a narrative film, but the characterisations and interactions were not always plausible. See it for Gibney's slumming and Blethyn's rendition of Nutbush City Limits at the end...