PRODUCT INFORMATION PAGE Pieces of April View and buy for $12.99 on Amazon.com

Here are some customer reviews of Pieces of April : Anyone who doesn't identify with at least one person, scene, or incident in this fabulous, endearing, funny, sad movie has led a very sheltered life (or grown up on another planet). While the characters and dialogue may be a bit exagerrated at times, this movie is truly a eye-opening depiction of the "nuclear" family. 'Fess up - we ALL have a family like this in one respect or another. April's fiasco with the turkey is original and hilarious. There is nothing not to enjoy here. This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The plot is so incredibly stupid and boring, this was a complete waste of my time. The camera angles are bad, sometimes shaking. Please save yourself the agony. The previews painted this movie as a hilarious farce -- the family pigging out on Krispy Kreme before the big dinner at April's, April scurrying around with a half-baked turkey in her arms, etc. etc. The movie is actually much darker and somber than these preview snippets would have you believe, with themes of death, redemption, and anger. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for exposing umanity's more sinister side, but this chafes uncomfortably against the comedic grain here. The comedic elements deserve a mention. When April is dressed down by an African-American neighbor, someone in the theatre was howling with laughter. Call me a square, but I don't find reverse racism particularly funny. I am not sure if the bratty behavior of Patricia Clarkson's mother is supposed to be funny or sad or poignant. Katie Holmes makes the best of fleshing out the title character, who is less of a person than a placeholder for Rebellious Daughter/Sister. And why is it that in Pieces of April that all the women (barring Grandma, in an age reversal of the "innocent child" character) are varying degrees of selfish and hysterical, and all the men -- Dad, Boyfriend, Brother -- are quiet, sympathetic types who bend to the relentless and often irrational demands of the women around them? And finally, the use of digital media here is sometimes creative, and sometimes looks like a terrible lighting mistake. The movie's tag is "There's one in every family". Do they mean April, who looks reasonable next to her mother and sister? Do they mean Mom? Not so sure. If your idea of hilarity is turkeys being held hostage, offensive ethnic and gender stereotypes, and sitting through a movie in which revelations drip out at the rate of a newly opened bottle of ketchup -- nothing, then a large GLUB! -- by all means, see this movie. April is the Burns family outcast, the "bad" eldest daughter. April lives in a rundown apartment in New York and invites her family over for Thanksgiving dinner to meet her new boyfriend, Bobby. April's mom, ironically named Joy, is dying of breast cancer and this could be April's last chance to connect with her. April's invitation is taken by her family as one more example of her selfishness. Her sanctimonious sister Beth asks, "Should Mom even be traveling?" Joy wears a silly bouffant wig, she's nauseated from her chemotherapy and is tired of her family's constant solicitousness. The old ways aren't working for Joy anymore. Her illness has isolated and marginalized her the same way she has isolated and marginalized her daughter April. In the meantime, April discovers the turkey she bought is too big for the apartment's stove. She knocks on all her neighbors' doors to see if she can use their oven. April's neighbors treat her with the kindness and recognition that she's never received from her own family. Maybe April's not so "bad" after all. This is a beautiful, small film. Its plot is not only about April learning to see herself outside of her family's definition of her, but about Joy's coming to terms with the loneliness that that her illness brings. Only stubborn self-assertion can keep Joy alive and make her remaining months worth living. And who can understand that better than April, bravely setting the Thanksgiving table with her thrift-store dishes in the face of her family's disdain? It's the story of her life. I adore both 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' and 'About a Boy' and can say I'm thrilled with Peter Hedges's first directorial effort. I wish everyone could see this film. Katie Holmes, as well as every member of the supporting cast delivers a strong, believable performance. In typical Hedges style, every character is complex and realistic. This movie feels real - every frame feels as if it's a home movie, or a documentary of a real family. I highly recommmend this film.

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