Really enjoyed it. The story drew me in. Not even the worst performance of a disabled person by Richard Wilson, whose symptoms and intellectual ability vary throughout the film. Well worth a look and a laugh.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Loved all of it. Maybe reviewers get jaded by all the movies they see.

This is no art film, aiming directly at the popular, commercial end of the market in the tradition of Muriels' Wedding and Priscilla etc. Hence I guess the cartoonish figures of Jean Dwight (Brenda Blethyn) and her ex-husband (Frankie J.Holden).

Jean is an over the top, fading club entertainer with the comedic material of a year 7 boy at a sleepover, trying desperately to control her two sons. If you don't like Brenda's usual garrelous, barmaidish characters (Secrets and lies etc)Then you'll hate this one. It's hard to feel any empathy for this central character. By the end I just felt exhausted with her and wondered why we even needed her at all...

Perhaps the more interesting part of the film is the fumbling romance between Jean's son Tim (Khan Chittenden) and Jill (Emma Booth).I say more interesting because that would not be hard. These two actors look more like stunned models half the time and these roles may have faired better with more experienced actors-not just actors who look good without clothes on!

For me, however the most futile, embarrasing and offensive part of the film was the character of Mark (Richard Wilson). We presume he was meant to be intellectually disabled from his body movements and his job at the sheltered workshop but what the hell-he talks like an English graduate! The script once again is badly written here. Wilson has fared O.K. in other roles but I fear this one was way under researched. Why not get a real disabled actor to play the role-there is a few out there.

For the first time in my life I badly wanted to leave the cinema early, cursing lame Australian cinema as I went and the scary thing is perhaps some will never see an Australian film again after this.

How did this ever get released to the cinema. I had no sympathy for anyone but Emma Booth's character because she acted with restraint and subtlety. The rest of the cast were clearly under directed, or simply were not given the material to shine. Brenda Blethyn's portayal was broad brushed characature and just boring.

The overuse of comedy, particularly laconic humour when this clearly has the potential to be a moving drama indicates we as Australians still can't take ourselves seriously. When shall we grow up?

Surely at some point in the creative process, someone should have had the decency to halt production of this lame effort. There is a complete absence of entertainment value, and - dare I say - even artistic merit. Is it simply because the taxpayer is largely footing the bill that resources can be squandered in this manner ? The flaws are too many to enumerate completely, however, chief among them is Ms Blevin's grating performance, the ludicrous interpretation of a handicapped man and the corny ending. I hope the clubs where this was made put life-bans on everyone associated with it.

I found this film quite engaging but ultimately very sad. The up ending didn't convince... I hope the bride realises that there's a lot more tantrum to come from the monster-in-law.

It was a portrait of a self-obsessed, narcissistic, would-be club performer. Brenda Blethyn was great and quite convincing and the actress who played the girlfriend was very appealing and believable as a diametrically opposed personality to the mother. I don't know about all those anti-male jokes going down well in an RSL... I would have thought that the men would have walked out... they'd be more used to jokes that ridicule women.

It said a lot about the narcissism of people in show business, probably a necessary attribute for success, or at least, for having a thick enough hide to continue.

Brenda Blethyn is fabulous in this film but that's where anything good ends. The story is weak and the script is lacking. It seems like with 20 minutes to go the people behind the film realised there was no substance to it and tried to manufacture some emotion/storyline/tension/plot. Hence the forced 'feel good' ending. I am flushing just thinking about it. Also I've never been so embarrassed for an actor than I was for the young man who attempted to play a mentally handicapped teenager. Woeful. And full of holes. Just a bad, bad movie. Though Frankie J Holden was OK. And the young girl - the ex - supermodel - is absolutely magical. She has a huge future and is the stand-out in this film. Avoid if possible.

"Clubland" presented a somewhat flawed but unique and engaging story, portrayed western suburbs suburbia with insightful accuracy and Brenda Blethyn and most of the supporting actors, particularly Emma Booth were excellent.

However, the film was let down big time by the actors playing the two sons, Richard Wilson and Khan Chittendon. Richard Wilson appeared to be misdirected and Khan Chittendon's performance was probably the most self conscious I think I have ever seen on film. Wilson did not ruin the film for me, but Chittendon did. By about half way through I could barely even look at him when he was on camera because I felt so embarrassed for him – and it had nothing to do with the shy and self conscious character he was supposed to be playing.

Much of the script and his interactions with Blethyn and Booth did not work because he simply had no idea how to deliver the lines. He’s great eye candy, but honestly, it’s hard to imagine what the director was thinking when she cast him? I’ve seen better acting on Home and Away, speaking of which the ending of the film certainly reminded me of many an episode.

I saw this movie with my wife and adult daughter after we had seen the seriously depressing "The Dead Girl". We laughed and both the women teared up in the right places - no, of course I didn't tear up!

Without giving the history of the movie, I'll say that if you have lived with a relative that is a spotlight hogger or drama queen or control freak, then the lead in the movie will hit all the right buttons with you. Apart from the guy who really didn't come to grips with playing an intellectually handicapped person, the rest of the cast were spot on. Yes, some overacted, but that was the part they were to play and gave charm to the movie.

Here's a tip - the young fella who played the romantic lead is at least as good looking at the same age as Mel Gibson. His work in this piece was good, without being brilliant, but if he can improve and keep improving - move over Mel - his is a face that can only improve with age.

For those reviewers saying that because this movie is typically Australian in that it is introspective - well so bloody what! It's a story, and a good one and takes place in Oz. You can't watch Bruce Willis 24 hours a day - thankfully!

Australian cinema has a very distinct flavour: blue collar. It's like we are permanently stuck in the Western Suburbs of Sydney. Oh, sure there's the occasional foray into Aboriginal drama, always with a tragic undertone and we are always atoning. Even though most white people didn't arrive in this country well after the miscarriages of justice were inflicted on the indigenous populations. So we are atoning in lieu.

"Clubland" is an exception. Working collar, Western suburbs. And the story line, dialogue, acting et al belong on TV. But we sit and endure it because to not buy tickets and endure would not be supporting our local talent and we will never have a cinema industry. But is it such a bad thing ?

It's like every nation on the planet needs to have an airline like it's some badge of sovereignty, even though some countries should be allowed near an airline.

And we must need have a cinema presence because to not have one would mean that we are what? Less cultured. Less talented. It's like we are forever trying to prove to the rest of the world that we can do cinema just as well as them.

Except we don't have the talent pool, budgets and population to float our own boat let alone play on the world stage. Oh sure, we have had our moments in the limelight. But more so in the artistic genre a la Indies.

And, oh yes, we had that idiot Croc Brumbie or whatever he was entertaining the Americans and making them believe that we are all chasing around hunting crocs. What a croc?

So we keep on making movies. But they are not really movies, but attempts at movies, and they are more entertaining for us because they are about us. They are much too personal, not insular to be of any use to the worldwide stage.

And maybe that's all we will ever have. But is that so bad. I like it and I don't give two beans if we never make it on the worldwide stage.

Seen from that perspective I enjoyed "Clubland", but in so many ways I saw my early life flash before me. And I am almost certain that to a lot of movie going audiences it will the same album of reminiscences. Enjoyed that way it's like having the family over for Christmas. All the joy, horror, embarrassment and delight of it.

This movie is fairly predictable but it is warmly entertaining. The story is a familiar one of family dysfunction and a mother's terror of losing her son to his girlfriend who suddenly comes onto the scene and takes all of his attention.

The neurotically entertaining mother, Jean, is an over the hill stand up comedian/singer who has a fast mouth and tightly controls her two adult boys. Problems come fast as her son Tim falls for a girl who starts to take his attention away from his mother. The tension between mother and girlfriend forces Tim to make a choice between them, and the mother starts to lash out. Fuelled by alcohol and a failed audition the mother loses the plot completely and starts to trash the house. When she comes to her senses the next day she accepts the inevitability of the situation and calms down. Some of the dialogue reminds me of "The Castle" and "Muriel's Wedding." At times the language is rough but nothing worse than what we hear every day. It's how ordinary Aussies speak to each other and gives a reality to the movie. Frankie J Holden plays the estranged father and should have had a bigger role in this movie. His advice to Tim about understanding women was accompanied by much acknowledgement from men in the audience. In conclusion, "Clubland" is a quality Australian movie and somehow reminds me of "Kenny" where Aussie battlers overcome adversity and live happily ever after. Definitely worth seeing.

I really liked this film, the acting was convincing and the characters were well developed with some solid performances. There were some funny moments but it was nicely balanced with family feuds and a realistic plot.

The disabled son was well depicted and it is good to see a film tackling these issues. The ending was a little cheesy - but it is an honest drama and for the admission price it was time and money well spent.

"Clubland" is a great film, as it works so well as a drama and a comedy. The script was full of wit and most scenes were hilarious, when in reality, they would be serious.

Great performances drive this forward, although Wilson's portrayal of a disabled doesn't work that well, but i found this to be one of the funnier elements of the film.

Booth and Blethyn were both amazing and you have to give credit to Khan Chittenden for his interesting portrayal of a virgin teenage male.

One of the more interesting notes of this film is Rebecca Gibney's transformation as Lana.

This is a terrific film which has only a minor flaw in the script, being the unnecessary moments at the beginning of the film, although the end is a treat. It reminded me of my primary school discos.

Also watch out for Frankie J Holden as the father who is brilliantly cast and his brief scenes are powerful yet terribly funny.

This reviewer obviously hasn't seen Clubland with an audience. A fantastic response and excellent movie!

Finally! An Australian film that tells an honest story about real people, without the embarassing yobbo overtones of "The Castle" or "Muriel's Wedding" that make a caricature of the Australian way of life. This is the real deal! Clubland is a coming of age story, not just for its characters, but for the Australian film industry at large.

The incomparable Brenda Blethyn stars as a brash, overprotective mother, Jean, once a famous comedy performer in England. Now in Sydney’s Western suburbs, divorced from her one-hit-wonder husband, played by the lovable Frankie J Holden, she's trying to revive her old act on the Sydney Club circuit by night, while earning a 'real' living cooking in a canteen by day. Desperately clinging to her past glory, she smothers her two sons, one the mentally challenged Mark (a tour-de-force performance by Richard Wilson) and his 20-year old brother Tim (Khan Chittenden). It's the growing relationship with beautiful and assertive Jill (Emma Booth) that threatens to drive a wedge between Tim and his mother, who is desperately afraid of growing old and being alone. Tim’s journey from sexual awkwardness evolves into his own journey of independence.

This is an outstanding piece of film-making. A beautifully sensitive script, interpreted expertly by Director Cherie Nowlan (watch out for her on the international scene) with stellar performances all 'round. This film will almost certainly be a leg-up for the young actors Emma Booth, Richard Wilson and Khan Chittenden. And watch out for Ms. Blethyn during the award season!