Her mother hates her. Her sister hates her. Her grandmother thinks she's dead. April Burns (Katie Holmes) was the typical "wild child". She did drugs. Got tatooed. Dated drug dealers. You name it. Her family kicked her out of the house, and she moved to New York City.
It has been many months later, and April has changed her lifestyle. She ditched the drug dealer-boyfriend; she's going to school; She quit the drugs and found a new boyfriend named Bobby (Derek Luke). April has invited the whole family to visit her for thanksgiving dinner. Her mother (Patricia Clarkson) wants to go so badly, if only to laugh in her daughter's face. It may be her last chance; she is dying of brest cancer, and April knows it, too.
Beth Burns (Alison Pill) is so mad that they are even going. She hates that her sister may actually be changing and she won't be the center of attention anymore. The brother, Tim Burns (John Gallagher, Jr.), smokes marijuana and takes photos. He really doesn't care what's going on.
April's father (Oliver Platt), is just trying to hold everyone together while Grandma Dottie (Alice Drummond) keeps on with the well-timed zingers. Mr. Burns keeps telling his wife that April has changed, yet she won't belive him. She still thinks that April is wild and dangerous.
But as the dysfunctional family travels to NYC by car, April hurridly tries to prepare her Turkey dinner with a broken oven. Nothing is going right for her. Hopefully, everything will turn out all right.
There are 2½ stories being told in Pieces of April. First, we have April and her quest to make the perfect turkey Dinner; then we have the dysfunctuional Burns family's car ride. Lastly, we have this small sub-plot about April's boyfriend and what no-good he might be up to.
The ½ plot seems taked on and unnecessary, only there to fill time. The film would have flowed much better without April's boyfriend altogether. And speaking of time, the film is much shorter than it could have been, but it ends on a good note and we are only left to guess if April and her mother made up. We'd like to think they did.
Alice Drummond is hilarious as old Grandma Dottie, when-ever she has a line to say, and each line is good one at that. But it's Patricia Clarkson, however, in her Oscar-nominated supporting role, who steals the show. Clarkson is superb as the ill-tempered, dying Mrs. Burns. Her performance was subtle as she brought the character to life, so to speak. Cranky and in a fowl mood, her best scene, perhaps, was lighting up a roach with her son in a bathroom and then promptly telling him to roll them tighter, for the next time.
Pieces of April isn't the best of thanksgiving movies, but it is sweet and does have it's tender moments. It tires to tell several stories and does so sufficiently. Still, the film is good. Good, not great.
Plot: 
There is so much potential in the screenplay of Pieces of April, yet there are certain things that bog it down - namley - the sub-plot about April's boyfirend.
Visual Effects:
Being shot for $200,000, this film couldn't afford special effects. Cinematography, though, is average but works very well with the film. Instead of affecting the film, the cinematography inhances it.
Sound:
The first music heard in the film is two techno-hip/hop-rap-crap songs that are annoying at best and don't fit the film at all. The sound gets better as we go on and there are better songs, too. The score is decent enough.
Character Development:
The film ends on a dime before anything is really resolved. You never find out if April and her mother make up or not, and you would really like to find out, so we're left to guess.
Other than that, we learn bits and pieces of why Mrs. Burns hates her daughter and why she is dying, yet nothing more. There is so much room for growth yet there isn't any growth. This isn't always a bad thing, and sometimes giving out details slowly enhances the film. But not here.
Atmosphere:
Realism:
This is a good film about a totally dysfunctional family. Director Peter Hedges captured the the average family very well. There could be hundreds of families like April's all over the world. Who knows?
Warren’s Rating:
8/10 Is the movie worth your time to watch?
14-02-05
