Pieces of April 2003

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: While pleasant enough, Pieces is more a sweet snack than a feast. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Deftly captures the pressures that accompany holiday gatherings. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: This is one of those quietly wonderful films that really deserves an audience. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: The film grows on you. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Clarkson alone makes April a feast. Read more

Elvis Mitchell, New York Times: [An] intelligent and touching farce. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A shell game that replaces the comedy of observation it sets out to be with glib one-liners, shallow characterizations, and a sweet but naive vision of racial harmony. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: An especially warm comedy with a hidden heart. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: The film grows on you, thanks to strong characters and the shrewd observational humor of writer-director Peter Hedges. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Too rare pleasure: an honest and sentimental journey. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The setup is appealingly small-scale, yet the film's tone is one of fake intimacy -- shtick parading as quirky truth. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: The film more than earns its heartwarming finale by virtue of the skilled performances of the leads. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Few films manage to be this light and hopeful without being drop-dead dumb. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Funny-sober, high-brow situation comedy, about family, holidays and the perils of uncooked poultry, unpaid utility bills. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: Pieces of April is built around the tired premise of a dysfunctional family's Thanksgiving get-together, but -- surprise -- it's fresh. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Economically paced and emotionally satisfying, Pieces of April is a good example of what small independent movies can do. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: A delightful, funny surprise. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Longer on calculating sourness than on psychologically organic wit. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: A charmer of mild surprises, heartfelt laughs and genuine humanity. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: 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. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: 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. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Hedges peppers it with enough wonderful moments that you can't help warming up to it. Read more

Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle: Avoids sentimentality at every turn and truly earns both its laughs and its tears. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Seamless blend of over-the-top farce with sincere drama. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: It's in the cross-cutting between April's disaster-prone preparations and her family's turbulent journey that Hedges's movie finds its lively and likeable rhythm. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Laughter and poignancy go hand in hand in this DV debut whose comedy that may be standard, but never ceases to deliver sharp, dark laughs. Read more

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

Dennis Lim, Village Voice: A gluttonous buffet of Sundance cliches, with an acid-reflux aftertaste of condescension and unexamined racism. Read more