Dysfunctional is the Dwights' name

Tim (Khan Chittenden), a 21-year-old lost in the blissful throes of first love, has a secret about his parents that he's been keeping from his girlfriend Jill (Emma Booth). Lying in bed after a romantic interlude, he finally blurts it out, in tones of doom: "They're entertainers."

What could be worse for a regular guy who's just trying to live a regular life? In Cherie Nowlan's brash but likable Australian comedy "Introducing the Dwights" (formerly titled "Clubland"), written by Keith Thompson, Tim is the island of stability in his whacked-out family. His mother Jean (Brenda Blethyn) is a semi-successful comedian, working the clubs with her brassy aren't-men-weird act and letting herself imagine stardom. Likewise, Tim's father John (Frankie J. Holden) is a dreamer, warbling the songs of Conway Twitty on self-produced CDs. Long estranged from her ex-husband, Jean lives with Tim and her younger son Mark (Richard Wilson), a developmentally disabled teen.

The trio have found a way of living together that works: Tim drives Jean to gigs (while Mark, who's learned how to stay in the house by himself, waits at home) in between his own job as a mover. Jean cooks at a canteen while finding time to make animal balloons in the workshop that employs Mark; and all share meals and hugs at home. But the arrival of sweetly insecure Jill changes everything, and Jean — who faces life with the same hard-edged workmanship she employs on stage — must cope with the possibility of her family's breaking up.

Blethyn, who's developing something of a specialty in over-the-top moms ("Secrets & Lies," "Pride & Prejudice," "Beyond the Sea"), seizes control of the movie, as well she should: Jean has a big voice and a big presence, and she can be a bit of a nightmare when things don't go her way, twisting her voice as if doing injury with it. Jill soon becomes the target of Jean's biting and often cruel wit, and Tim is trapped in between.

"Introducing the Dwights" at times overstays its welcome; there's perhaps one too many scenes of Jean braying at her family, while Jill's character gets short shrift. (You wonder, at times, why she isn't running the other way.) But its final scenes are quite touching, and Blethyn, Chittenden and Wilson (whose portrayal of his disabled character is unusually realistic and thoughtful) create a believable and ultimately endearing family; a trio of dreamers, big and small.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com