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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

67
$9.99
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66
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Girl from Monaco, The
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Seraphine
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Song of Sparrows, The
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Tokyo Sonata
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Tokyo!
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Tony Manero
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Treeless Mountain
88
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Two Lovers
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U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Pieces of April
MGM / United Artists
FILM:
MUSIC:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for language, sensuality, drug content and images of nudity
Starring
Katie Holmes,
Patricia Clarkson,
Oliver Platt,
Derek Luke,
Alison Pill,
Alice Drummond,
John Gallagher Jr., Sean Hayes,
and
Sisqo
Poignant and funny, Pieces of April is an up-close look at an extraordinary day in the life of the not-so-ordinary Burns family. (MGM)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
Drama
|
Family/Kids
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Peter Hedges
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Peter Hedges
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: February 24, 2004
Video: February 24, 2004
Theatrical: October 17, 2003
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
81 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
Special Jury Dramatic Performance Prize (Clarkson) (tie), 2003 Sundance Film Festival; Nominated, Grand Jury Prize, 2003 Sundance Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
San Francisco Chronicle
Carla Meyer
Both heartfelt and tough-minded.

90
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
Hedges's intelligent and touching farce, Pieces of April, makes an important contribution to a small and insignificant subgenre: Thanksgiving Day failure. It does so by raising the bar.

90
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
It turns out to be an especially warm comedy with a hidden heart. It's a film whose humor has feeling behind it because writer-director Peter Hedges doesn't let his comedy overpower an understanding of how emotionally weighted family situations are always going to be.

90
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
This film explores what low-budget films do best: the quirkiness of character, and slightly off-kilter comedy.

90
Film Threat
Tim Merrill
A film to savor and to be thankful for.

90
Variety
David Rooney
A Thanksgiving family reunion comedy that sparkles with acerbic wit, original characters and genuine heart.

90
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Pieces of April would deserve your attention and respect even if all these colorful threads didn't come together into a luminous whole. But they do, beautifully and unaffectedly, because what's been on Mr. Hedges's mind is not just a comedy of alienation but a drama of acceptance and reconciliation.
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Stephen Cole
The restraint and wit Hedges and his cast display in putting together Pieces of April pay off in the film's brightly organized, deeply satisfying conclusion.

80
Empire
Natasha Aitken
Patricia Clarkson's standout performance as Joy is as honest as it gets, and writer-director Hodges treats her sickness not with pity but great understanding.

80
Dallas Observer
Robert Wilonsky
It just feels like the real thing, which is a trick few writers can muster and even fewer directors can master.

80
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
Belongs, wholly and completely, to Clarkson, who delivers Joy's mordant asides and withering observations with a flawless balance of tartness and vulnerability.

80
The Hollywood Reporter
Duane Byrge
This warm and scruffy film may strike some as a mere period piece, but it's juiced with recognizable family trauma and garnished with a quirky sensibility -- it's the portrait of a group of people we come to care about.

80
New York Magazine
Peter Rainer
Hedges keeps everything in balance: The sadness and frivolity all seem to be part of the same emotional continuum. Hes made a lingeringly poignant little movie.

80
Film Threat
Don R. Lewis
As the debate between digital video and film rages on, Pieces of April proves a point that many people overlook in the DV/film debate. If you have a great story, a great script and a great cast, DV will work as well as film onscreen.

75
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Holmes nails every laugh without missing the dramatic nuances. She makes April and her movie well worth knowing.

75
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Despite its themes of terminal illness, dysfunctional families, and the need to heal old wounds, the film spends more time provoking laughter than tears.

75
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
In a movie that dwells so wittily and movingly on forgiveness, you have to grant pardon. Clarkson alone makes "April" a feast.

75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
For a movie about community and forgiveness, family and grace, Pieces of April is refreshingly unsappy.

75
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
As pat as some of its conclusions may seem, this low-budget effort has charm, fine acting and one of the few realistic screen depictions of the awkward dynamics of a family trying to circle its wagons.

75
New York Post
Megan Lehmann
Clarkson, the reigning queen of the indies, is simultaneously funny and heartbreaking, following up killer performances in "The Station Agent" and "All the Real Girls."

75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
The characters are so convincing and the mood so light and flaky that it's hard not to find it a delicious little hors d'oeuvre of a movie.

75
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
The highest compliment I can pay Pieces of April is that it brings to mind a Paul Simon lyric: "the mother and child reunion is only a motion away."

75
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Pieces of April isn't the biggest or best film of the year, but it's touching, witty, smart and well-made. You have to sort through a lot of chaff at the multiplex to find all those qualities in a single movie.

75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Despite its flaws, Pieces of April has a lot of joy and quirkiness; it's well-intentioned in its screwy way, with flashes of human insight, and actors who can take a moment and make it glow.

70
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Although Pieces of April doesn't quite stick together as a whole -- in some places it's conventional and a bit contrived, particularly the ending, which feels rushed and a little tough to buy -- Hedges peppers it with enough wonderful moments that you can't help warming up to it.

67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
The ordeal undeniably strikes an emotional chord, and much of this is due to Holmes, who wonderfully communicates both the character's streak of rebellion and her desire to atone. The movie is a solid star vehicle for her.

63
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Sweet and tart in just the right doses, but there's also something underwhelming about it.

63
Premiere
Glenn Kenny
A modestly scaled film on every level, but Hedges and company manage to ring true on almost all the material's sweet and sour notes.

60
TV Guide
Ken Fox
This gentle comedy marks the feature directing debut of writer Peter Hedges, a gifted writer who's perhaps best known for the screenplay based on his novel "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."

50
LA Weekly
Chuck Wilson
A tougher, more experienced director may someday force Holmes to surprise first herself, then us.

50
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
The quaint racial blinders are really on the eyes of the filmmaker, Peter Hedges, who shoves his characters into the narrowest of sitcom slots and seals them there.

50
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
Though Pieces Of April comes together with improbable grace, Hedges evokes unearned tears from a premise that's already loaded from the start. Like Holmes, he serves up boxed stuffing and canned cranberries, then fishes for compliments to the chef.

50
Austin Chronicle
Kimberley Jones
Ultimately Hedges film, like the turkey, comes out underdone.

50
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
The movie ends with a sentimental vision of unity that, admittedly, warmed this weary moviegoer's heart. If that vision was earned, I might even have melted.

50
Chicago Reader
Anthony Kaufman
Patricia Clarkson is wonderfully acerbic as April's cancer-afflicted mom, and the finale is surprisingly subtle and sweet, but the rest of this DV feature is as contrived as a sitcom.

30
Village Voice
Dennis Lim
Manipulative and cloying, Pieces of April turns into something altogether creepier, even pathological, whenever first-time filmmaker Peter Hedges (screenwriter of "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and "About a Boy") brings up race.


The average user rating for this movie is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
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