Russell Dykstra

Two girls swap schools and experience some unexpected ups and downs in this coming-of-age comedy from Australia. Thirteen-year-old Esther Blueburger (Danielle Catanzariti) is a geeky misfit attending an upscale private school for girls, where she blends with the rest of the students like oil and water. Esther's parents Grace (Essie Davis) and Osmond (Russell Dykstra) have little concern for or understanding of her problems, and they're far more interested in her twin brother Jacob (Christian Byers). After being humiliated at her bat mitzvah, Esther wanders off and meets Sunni (Keisha Castle-Hughes), a seventeen-year-old high school student with a spunky attitude and little concern about what others think of her, an outlook encouraged by her mother Mary (Toni Collette), who makes a living as an exotic dancer. Esther and Sunni discover neither is happy at school, so they decide to switch places, with Esther pretending to be an exchange student at Sunni's public school. The switch goes over just fine at first, and Esther is welcomed warmly by her new classmates, but she discovers hanging out with an older crowd forces her to face some important new decisions, and she attracts the attentions of a boy who wants a more mature relationship than Esther can handle. Hey Hey, It's Esther Blueburger was the first feature film from writer and director Cathy Randall. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

An already-unstable household becomes a virtual battle zone when the son of a risqué comedienne and a has-been singer finds mom meddling in his love life in director Cherie Nowlan's dysfunctional romantic comedy. Twenty-one-year-old Tim Dwight (Khan Chittenden) comes from a peculiar family; his mother, Jean (Brenda Blethyn), is a bawdy stage comic renowned for her scatological sense of humor and his father, John (Frankie J. Holden), is a faded country-music star who now works as a low-rent security guard. While dad is busy trying to revive his flat-lined career, mom spends most of her time doting on Tim and his developmentally disabled brother, Mark (Richard Wilson). Upon meeting the beautiful Jill (Emma Booth), Tim believes his may have finally found the woman of his dreams. Unfortunately in Jean's eyes there is only room for one woman in Tim's life, and that woman is his mother. As Tim's relationship with Jill grows increasingly serious, the stage is set for a battle royal between the woman who once gave him life and the prospective mother of his future children. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide