Clubland

Thematically Clubland may resonate with plenty of 50-somethings who feel keenly their wasted ambitions. Jean is not the only “oldie” trying to resurrect a career; husband John was a one-hit-wonder country and western star and he too hopes to escape from his security guard job back into the limelight. The film could also speak to those younger people desperate to crawl out from beneath their overly-protective parent’s wings, experience their first real love affair, and strike out on their own. Yet somehow I’m not totally sure who this film is aimed at. As an older person I found the character of Tim a little unbelievable – young people I observe seldom seem as incredibly awkward around each other as he is around Jill.

Similarly younger viewers will possibly find Jean overbearing and embarrassing. In fact your enjoyment of this film may well depend upon whether you like or dislike Brenda Blethyn. This acclaimed English actor for my taste is always too histrionic and here is no exception. No doubt she is well cast as this brash, overbearing woman who fancies her brand of caustic tawdry humour as funny, but there’s an almost anachronistic style to her performance that bothers me. Towards the end, as Jean begins to realise she really doesn’t have the talent she believes, there are moments of poignancy and only then did I find myself softening towards her character. Another interesting anomaly for me is the character of Mark – whatever his disability is supposed to be, he has an exceptional facility with words and says some fabulously witty and pertinent things but his emotional reactions to situations seem totally out of kilter with his seeming level of linguistic maturity. Emma Booth, in her first major film role, really is the stand-out actor for me in terms of believability, and simply in her powerful screen presence, but as a character, what this intelligent, spunky young thing sees in the dorky, awkward Tim is beyond me!

There’s a lot of good music in the film and it’s great to see Frankie J Holden strut his stuff. It’s also enjoyable to see a film about the  traumatic lives of stand-up comics (Matthew Saville’s Roy Hollsdotter Live, being a worthy contender) but there are no real revelations here. However, as the ante is upped in the hostilities between Jill and Jean and as Tim learns to stand up for himself, the film chooses to move to an overly-simplistic denouement that smacked of too much cheesiness and neat tying-off of ends. Director Nowlan was responsible for the so-so romantic comedy Thank God He Met Lizzie many years ago, a film that garnered several AFI nominations. If this gets similarly acknowledged I think the vote will only be from the can't-get-enough-feel-good department.

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