PIECES OF APRIL

Country: USA
Director: Peter Hedges
Lead Actors: Katie Holmes, Derek Luke, Oliver Platt, Patricia Clarkson, Allison Pill, John Gallagher, Jr., Sean Hayes
Running time: 81 min.
Rating: PG (Coarse language, sexually suggestive scenes, nudity)

"Peter 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." - Elvis Mitchell, New York Times

She's the one in every family.

Premiering at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival ® , screenwriter Peter Hedges (ABOUT A BOY), makes his directorial debut with PIECES OF APRIL, a heartwarming and painfully real portrait of that most frightening of events – the family dinner. April (Katie Holmes, PHONE BOOTH) prepares feverishly for the arrival of her decidedly dysfunctional family to her tiny Manhattan apartment. Her boyfriend, Bobby (Derek Luke, ANTWONE FISHER) leaves her to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner as he heads out to run some mysterious errands. Trouble is, April doesn’t know the head from the tail on a Turkey, and her oven has decided to pack it in on the day of the meal. At least cranberry sauce will be easy, “You just open the can”. She is forced to turn to her erratic neighbors for help, including the introverted Wayne (Sean Hayes, TV’s WILL & GRACE) in 5D, who happens to have a new stove. All the while, April’s family hurtles towards her in their cramped station wagon. Her father (Oliver Platt, HOPE SPRINGS) tries desperately to keep things positive, while her mother, violently neurotic Joy (Patricia Clarkson, FAR FROM HEAVEN) rides shotgun. Stuffed in the back are April’s stoner brother Timmy, her whiny and insecure sister Beth, and her senile grandmother Dottie. Along the way, we discover Joy is battling breast cancer, but she uses her impending mortality as a springboard for a new found freedom of humourous expression. At last, the family arrives and the real chaos ensues. In many ways, the film is GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER? in reverse, as April’s family is forced to examine their own prejudices when they finally meet Bobby. Katie Holmes’ performance as April is a revelation – she proves she has far outgrown her status as a TV teen idol, and blossomed into her new identity as a legitimate film star. Patricia Clarkson also shines as Joy, and further establishes her status as one the queens of independent cinema. With a recipe that is equal parts spot – on observation and intelligent farce (with a dash of quirky humor), director Hedges serves up a film that audiences are sure to savour.

"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. " – Los Angeles Times