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Movie Overview
Cast
Katie Holmes
Patricia Clarkson
Oliver Platt
Director
Peter Hedges
MPAA Rating
PG-13 - language, sensuality, drug content, and images of nudity
Pieces of April (2003)
REVIEWS
NEWS
INTERVIEWS
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(1 - 40) of 40
OFCS Rating: 87% Fresh
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1
7/10
"Intelligent, painful, and ultimately very moving."
Movie Gazette
Anton Bitel
D+
"Embodies the tiresome side of independent filmmaking."
FilmJerk.com
Brian Orndorf
3/4
"An affectionate holiday movie with a lot of spirit and heart, but one that might have been much better if not for the fact that the visuals almost annihilate the narrative."
Cinemaphile.org
David Keyes
2.5/4
"An emotionally powerful ending aside,
Pieces of April
should have been a warm and fuzzy Thanksgiving treat. Instead, it's mostly just fuzzy."
Movie Boeuf
David N. Butterworth
2.5/4
"...a typically quirky independent comedy..."
Reel Film Reviews
David Nusair
B-
"Everything worked out a little too neatly for this farce to convince as drama."
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Dennis Schwartz
4/5
"A simple and sweet movie that will leave you misty eyed."
Film Threat
Don R. Lewis
4/5
"Peter Hedges has made a simple and sweet movie that will leave you misty eyed."
Film Threat
Don R. Lewis
2.5/4
"Plays like a sitcom that just so happens to feature characters infinitely more real and complex than the genre usually permits...[Katie Holmes] is a joy to watch."
DustinPutman.com
Dustin Putman
1.5/4
"Far stranger than the unnecessary air of mystery and constant telegraphing going on here is how Hedges turns disease and race into a running joke."
Slant Magazine
Ed Gonzalez
3/5
"Es una pequeña peliculita, pero con una sensibilidad enorme."
Uruguay Total
Enrique Buchichio
B+
"What a pleasant and touching little movie this is."
EricDSnider.com
Eric D. Snider
3.5/4
"That Hedges is able to weave all the strands of humor, regret, anger and love into a paltry 80 minutes is quite an achievement."
eFilmCritic.com
Erik Childress
C+
"
Pieces of April
looks like it is charming most of those who see it, but I was irritated by its artifice."
Film Blather
Eugene Novikov
3/4
"...a solid and quirky dysfunctional family comedy-drama...sharply touching and carries the appropriate tone of wit and genuine forethought to heighten its redemptive vibes."
Movie Eye
Frank Ochieng
B-
"What raises 'Pieces of April' above its flaws is the emotional investment that Hedges and his cast have made in it."
One Guy's Opinion
Frank Swietek
"Pieces of April revolves around a Thanksgiving dinner and draws out all our mixed feelings about families, memories, nasty grievances and moments of deep gratitude."
Spirituality and Practice
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
3/4
"The ending of
Pieces of April
is conventional, but satisfying, and there's enough delightful weirdness up to the final moments that it's hard to fault Hedges for taking the easy way out."
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
4/4
"A small independent with a big heart."
Palo Alto Weekly
Jeanne Aufmuth
7/10
"Most of the writing is effectively funny, and Clarkson's performance gives the story's dramatic undercurrent some much needed weight."
Window to the Movies
Jeffrey Chen
51/100
"The sum of
April
's obvious flaws can't undo its sincerity."
MovieMartyr.com
Jeremy Heilman
6/10
"I found myself weeping like a child missing his mom for days on end."
JoBlo's Movie Emporium
JoBlo
3
"..I can’t stress enough the grace and beauty of Peter Hedges’ haunting picture .."
Bangitout.com
Jordan Hiller
2.75/5
"[Katie] Holmes doesn’t so much react as put on an appropriate expression."
Film-Forward.com
Kent Turner
B+
"A holiday classic for the art house crowd"
Reeling Reviews
Laura Clifford
3/4
"Great performances of well observed characters lift the movie above its one-note ending"
Movie Habit
Marty Mapes
"Katie Holmes... gives her most subtle and audacious performance yet..."
Flick Filosopher
MaryAnn Johanson
3/5
"A reasonably fun and poignant family story ... and an ending that almost successfully wrapped everything up in a neat holiday bow."
Goatdog's Movies
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
3/4
"[The masterstroke is] keeping the family apart for most of the movie and using character analysis as a way of
suggesting
the dysfunction."
Aisle Seat
Mike McGranaghan
A-
"Moments that are real and touching and meaningful."
Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies
Nell Minow
4.5/5
"[Director Peter] Hedges keeps it laceratingly real, with bulls-eye performances from talented actors who are all used to much bigger budgets."
Shadows on the Wall
Rich Cline
B+
"The best movie about Thanksgiving in a long time, maybe ever."
Laramie Movie Scope
Robert Roten
B
"“Pieces of April” too easily wraps up the lifelong conflict between Joy and April in the end, but there is a good-natured feel that makes it an amiable little holiday film."
Reeling Reviews
Robin Clifford
B-
"You may leave on a high note, but you’ll quickly remember how long it took you to reach that pinnacle"
Eclipse Magazine
Sean O'Connell
B+
"The moment I realized the movie was working for me was when I realized that I was
rooting
for it to work, just as I was rooting for young April a feel-good parable about taking steps in the right direction."
Decent Films Guide
Steven D. Greydanus
7/10
"It's an amusingly indelible portrait of a family reunion and reconciliation -- and leaving this life with no regrets."
www.susangranger.com
Susan Granger
2/4
"A white fantasy of helpful, unflaggingly one-dimensional minorities."
Film Freak Central
Walter Chaw
3.5/4
"A series of terrific performances (led by the amazing Patricia Clarkson) make this unusual Thanksgiving comedy a feast for the mind."
Oscar Guy
Wesley Lovell
"Click here to see review"
Wolf Entertainment Guide
William Wolf
Read review
Cinema Crazed
Felix Vasquez Jr.
(1 - 40) of 40
OFCS Rating: 87% Fresh
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