Jeannie Dwight (Blethyn) is a middle aged UK comedienne, who migrated to Australia, started a family, and kissed goodbye to her hopes of a major career. Abandoned by her country musician husband, Jeannie has had to do it tough, working three jobs: cooking in a workers cafeteria, tutoring child stars, and playing the workers club circuit. To compound matters son Mark (Richard Wilson) has a serious developmental disability which has cramped Jeannies style, but not her strong sense of maternal duty. Jeannie's daily life echoes the faded glory of the clubs she performs in: 1960's Las Vegas glamour, gone to seed like her family home. To escape her depressing routine she performs gutsy female comedy and achieves far more success as an entertainer than her ex-husband.This film dives into her family's lives at the point where her young adult sons rebel against their mother's management to experience romantic interests and friendships of their own. Son Tim (Chittenden) experiences the full on power struggle between his mum and his new girlfriend Jill (Booth), who fancies teaching him the romantic ropes, so to speak. This is a feel good comedy about mother and son relationships, and learning how to release the aprons strings. It's well put together, with a strong supporting cast, and Jeannie is far less dippy than that other well known Sydney suburban mum with two troublesome sons: the late Maggie Beare. '

Ryan Gosling seems to have a charmed life at the moment. Hes a great actor (if you can't quite place the face, he was the utterly charming male lead in The Notebook, as well as being the only really memorable character in the flaccid Sandra Bullock thriller Murder by Numbers). He already has an Academy Award nomination to his name (for this movie), and he is currently in a relationship with Rachel McAdams. (Lucky bastard!)In Half Nelson, he plays Dan Dunne, a young inspirational high school teacher. However, this is no Dead Poet's Society or (thank God!) Dangerous Minds - Dunne has a few issues with his life, including being a crack addict. When one of his students, Drey (Epps) finds out his secret, they form a bond that is surprisingly beneficial to both of them.

The film shrugs normal movie clich((eacute))s to present a real story, but what carries it most are the two central performances, particularly Gosling's. Amongst the current crop of good twenty-something actors (which in my mind includes Heath Ledger, Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Keira Knightly and Michelle Williams), Gosling is starting to stand out from the crowd, so make sure you catch him in Half Nelson.'