Rating: 
Summary: Slight but well-acted.
Review: PIECES OF APRIL is not the type of movie to take your breath away. It is predictable in many ways, yet it's also surprising enough of the time to make it well worth watching. I call it a slight movie because it has relaxed pacing, a short running time and a low budget. None of these are criticisms, per se...just trying to give you the idea that this movie FEELS like an independant film. The movie is shot on digital video (...). This is good, because a movie like this probably wouldn't get made at all if real film stock were used. And I'm glad it WAS made...if only to enjoy some standout performances.It tells the story of one family's trip to visit their "troubled" daughter (and sister) who now lives in New York City and has been more or less estranged (except for calls asking for money) for quite some time. This is intercut with the drama of April trying to get the Thanksgiving dinner together for her family. She obviously seldom cooks at all, because she discovers that her oven doesn't work. Clearly, she's never TRIED to use it before. So she is forced to go from neighbor to neighbor asking for help with cooking her turkey. We meet the neighbors in some amusing (though a bit unbelievable) vignettes. Katie Holmes plays April, and it's a good departure for her. In the past, she's either been kinda "sweet and innocent" as in Dawson's Creek or trying to shock us with nudity. In this film, she has rough edges, but there's no gratuitous flesh. However, it's also hard to buy April as a REBEL. She dresses the part, but never seems in the least bit threatening. What, exactly, does she really have against her family. The family, meanwhile, is just dealing with the stress of making the trip. Patricia Clarkson is the mother, and she's clearly near the end stages of breast cancer. Unspoken is the fact that everyone knows this will be her last Thanksgiving, and perhaps her last chance to "make amends" with April. Oliver Platt is the long-suffering husband. There are two teenage kids as well, along with grandma, whom they pick up from her retirement home. Their little car is crowded with bickering, and sometimes, it gets to be a bit much. However, there are some great moments too. Clarkson gives a brave performance in the best written part. She's not just the sympathetic victim. She can be QUITE unpleasant, not afraid to snap at her family for imagined slights. We see how the stress of her affliction has amplified her weaknesses of personality. Love comes through too, sometimes, but we see she's really turned inwards in many ways and isn't too anxious to make accomodations for the feelings of others. It feels believable, and Clarkson (a great actor) is superb. And Oliver Platt has his moments too...particularly one brief scene where they've just reached the city. He looks over to the passenger seat and sees his sick wife asleep. Or IS she?? His momentary conviction that she has died stabs us through the heart. It turns out she isn't, but his fear and then his queesy relief are TOTALLY convincing. It might be the best 15 seconds committed to an independant film in quite awhile. Anyway, will they all get together? How will it go? This is somewhat predictable, but these scenes are presented with imagination enough to make us forgive some cliches. The movie also features a nice performance by African-American actor Derek Luke. I only mention the race, because as April's new boyfriend, we just KNOW that when the family meets him, there will be raised eyebrows at best. We get to know him, and realise that HE is the reason April seems to be motivated to get her act together. He has brought love and happiness and a desire to build a relationship to her life. He has also encouraged her to restore her fractured relationships. It's a noble act he has performed, and Luke's warmth towards Holmes is touching. So, we anticipate the family's first meeting with him. The movie has a little harsh language, and Luke and Holmes have a bedroom "tussle" early on, so I don't recommend the movie for kids. But it IS gentle and ultimately very affirmative. Don't buy the DVD though. It's not the type of movie you'll watch over and over (and it's only 81 minutes long) and the extras are SKIMPY at best.
Rating: 
Summary: Sweetness and pain
Review: I've seen largely glowing reviews, but a few highly critical ones of this movie. I suspect part of the problem is with the brain-dead who are responsible for packaging feature movies and write the blurbs on the back. When good movies come along that are complex, it's hard to write a catchy synopsis in 120 words, so you leave with what you think is a Katie Holmes snack and come home with a complex Thanksgiving feast. What the back of the box should say is: "Pay attention. This is life. It's funny, it's sad, and it will break your heart. And make you laugh. For fluff see two boxes over." There's a lot going on here in a very short space of time and comparatively little dialogue - as much is said with what goes unsaid. This is two stories that are threaded together - one half is the journey of the skeptical family bearing their terminally ill mother - once merely over-critical but now positively acidic since terminal cancer has freed her of any concerns about how her comments are received. The other is the troubled, distanced daughter - the "first pancake" (the one you throw out) - who is trying to prepare a last gesture of a Thanksgiving meal at the behest of the men in her life, without any of the basic tools for the undertaking. It is the last minute discovery that her oven doesn't work that drives her into the arms of strangers in her apartment building who may or may not spare her space in their oven, and, metaphorically, in their own stories. I feel it's important to say when something in a movie rings particularly true, and in this case, the author wrote this while his mother was dying of cancer. He does not blanche from the illness of Clarkson's character in this movie, and it is the source of much of the emotional immediacy as well as of the black humor. Those who have survived this degree of illness, or who have shepherded family through it will recognize that peculiar black sense of humor that comes from being set apart in the way that systemic life-threatening illness does. If you're "part of the club", this movie will leave you alternately laughing out loud and crying in your seat. Most features spend 2 hours without getting this much out there. Kudos to the writer/director, and to the cast for their exceptional grace in this film!
Rating:
Summary: I loved this movie!!!!!
Review: The title says it all! Katie Holmes is excellent in this 'small' film of about the redeeming aspects of human nature. The film is honest without being heavy handed; Funny without being too glib. Serious without forcing you to yawn. In other words, this is a great, not good, but a great film. Oliver Platt is flawless as the dad. Patricia Clarkson is awesome as April's mother. No one is a caricature. They are all people we've known, family as truth. The director deserved an Academy Award nomination. Enough with the Lord of the Rings-type movies. Let's spread the wealth, ladies and gentlemen.
Rating:
Summary: I loved this movie!!!!!
Review: The title says it all! Katie Holmes is excellent in this 'small' film about the redeeming aspects of human nature. The film is honest without being heavy handed; Funny without being too glib. Serious without forcing you to yawn. In other words, this is a great, not good, but a great film. Oliver Platt is flawless as the dad. Patricia Clarkson is awesome as April's mother. No one is a caricature. They are all people we've known; family as truth. The director deserved an Academy Award nomination. Enough with the Lord of the Rings-type movies. Let's spread the wealth, ladies and gentlemen.
Rating:
Summary: All The Pieces Fit!
Review: This is the kind of film that will not get the attention it deserves. Black sheep 'April' just wants to do something nice - like cook Thanksgiving dinner for her 'none-too-eager' estranged family. The film is split between the family's road trip to the New York apartment and the tribulations of April desperately trying to cook a huge meal she has never attempted before. April's Mom (a fantastically complex Patricia Clarkson) is balancing all her emotions along with dealing with cancer. Dad (a thankfully subdued Oliver Pratt) tries to manage his wife, dippy son, prissy, peppy daughter and his cute, but Alzheimer suffering Mother (Alice Drummond; always good, but give this woman a character change!). The scenes are thankfully devoid of pratfalls and deliver real solid emotions and a few chuckles. Meanwhile April is meeting all of her apartment building owners for the first time, seeking an oven that will cook her turkey in time. This too, is full of small, precious moments that are subtle enough to ring true. It never gets sappy and each character delvers a believable performance. Even the ending is satisfying in a most unexpected way. A commentary by director Peter Hedges gives a great deal of insight into film making from the heart and the featurette is adequate for one viewing. The only other feature is the trailer.
Rating:
Summary: funny and moving little film
Review: Written and directed by Peter Hedges, "Pieces of April" is a droll little comedy with deadly serious overtones. April is the black sheep of the Burns family, the one child of whom her mother has no fond memories. Although from what we see of her, April seems to be a pretty decent young lady, it is obvious that her parents and her brother and sister harbor deep resentments towards her (her earlier involvement with drugs and drug dealers seems to be the primary cause of bitterness). Well, it's Thanksgiving Day and April is attempting to mend some bridges by hosting this year's dinner at her cramped New York City apartment. April is terrified of failure and her family members have little faith that she will be able to pull the event off. Complicating matters even further is the fact that Joy, April's mother, is suffering from terminal cancer. As a narrative, the film basically runs along two parallel tracks. One involves April and her frantic attempts to get her dinner cooked despite the fact that her gas oven has suddenly stopped working. This forces her to go up and down the hallway of her apartment building throwing herself on the mercy of her colorfully eccentric neighbors, some of whom offer their assistance and some of whom don't. Hedges mines his richest vein of humor in this section, capturing the offbeat nature of both the people and the situation. The other plotline - involving the family's reluctant trek from suburbia into the city - naturally carries with it far more serious overtones, dealing as it does with death, recrimination, family dysfunction and despair. But even here, Hedges is able to inject some moments of wicked black humor into the proceedings. Oddly enough, of all the characters, April is one of the least fully developed in the film. She remains basically a passive observer and most of what we learn about her comes from comments made by various family members. We have to take it on faith that she is such a loser and a troublemaker because we see very little evidence of it with out own eyes. Certainly the most intriguing character in the story is the ironically named Joy, ironic because, even though her terminally ill status should elicit sympathy from the audience, her often-nasty disposition makes it difficult for us to like her. This is Hedges' boldest touch, this refusal to sugarcoat or sentimentalize a person just because life and the fates have been unkind to her. Also quite fascinating is the character of Beth, April's younger sister. We see how Beth thrives on the positive attention she receives simply by being the "good" daughter of the family, and how she jealously and ever-so-sweetly guards her own position while subtly sabotaging any effort on the part of April to make amends and to find her way back into the fold. It's a fascinating portrayal of sibling rivalry carried to destructive proportions. "Pieces of April" features wonderful performances by Katie Holmes as April, Oliver Platt as her father, Alison Pill as her sister, and Derek Luke (from "Antwone Fisher") as her boyfriend. Particular praise should go to Lillias White, as the neighbor who supplies April with a stove at her greatest hour of need, and to Patricia Clarkson as Joy, who achieves the Herculean task of making her pain-wracked character both abrasive and sympathetic at the same time. It's an award-worthy performance.
Rating:
Summary: An unbelievable film
Review: I originally watched this movie just because I was a Katie Holmes and Oliver Platt fan, but after getting through the dark-comedy I was pleased to have seen it. Taking place around a Thanksgiving dinner, April (Katie Holmes) tries to prepare the last meal for her mother, who is dying of Cancer. This stunning film, shows just how disfunctional families try to deal and mend the problems they have, while trying to deal with crazy obstacles. Very touching, this film will make anyone cry.
Rating: 
Summary: this MOVIE is the problem
Review: An average rating of 4 stars? You have got to be kidding me...
This movie was a complete waste of my time. I kept watching only because I figured it HAD to get better. Guess what-it never did. It was all I could do to watch the whole thing-can't believe Patricia Clarkson was nominated for an Oscar for this.
There are good reasons I stay away from "indie" "films" that bomb at the box office, and this movie is one of them.
Rating:
Summary: SUPERB
Review: Pieces of April is film that many families can relate to. April is the eldest daughter trying to prepare thanksgiving dinner for her visiting family. The film explores her preparation adventures, while exploring the characters of her family as they travel by car. Pieces of April is richly engaging, and I was pleasantly suprised at Katie Holmes performance, not to mention Patricia Clarkson as her mother. This not your happy go lucky family. It has the problems that most families encounter, and it tackles it extremely well. Quite a short film, but don't let that deter you. Pieces of April is one of those really special films that comes along now and again. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: To die for, literally
Review: A terrific little indie film focusing on April, played by Katie Holmes of Wonder Boys. She's the black sheep of her suburban family, and she's living in a really ratty walk-up apartment in NYC with her latest boyfriend. Her mom, wonderfully and poignantly played by Patricia Clarkson in a role that allows her to portray a whole palette of human emotions from hope to rage, is struggling with a poor cancer prognosis. April has never gotten along with anyone in her family, except perhaps her dad - a sweet guy who tries hard to keep all the pieces together in an epic car ride to NY. They're headed into the City, where April, who can't cook toast, has taken on the job of fixing Thanksgiving dinner, as a gesture of healing for the family.
Needless to say, fiasco follows fiasco - and it's funny and outrageous and heartbreaking.
Wonderful emotional conclusion that steers wide of being sappy.
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