Highlighted by several inspired performances, “Pieces Of April” is an engaging dram-edy that has a little something for everybody. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be thankful that there aren’t nearly as many clichés in the film as there are already in this review. And that’s saying something, since the subject matter — a family torn apart attempting to come together over a holiday meal — is as threadbare as grand-mom’s vintage Thanksgiving placemats. Though the roots of the various conflicts may at first seem bromidic, after things get going writer-director Peter Hedges (“About A Boy”) mostly steers clear of the usual rules of estrangement and, thankfully, offers up no hokey resolutions.
Katie Holmes stars as April Burns, the Black Sheep of an apparently idyllic suburban family. She left mom, dad and her two siblings behind and moved to the Big Apple, where she shares a decrepit flat with her doting boyfriend Bobby (Derek Luke) who — unbeknownst to her family — is black. April and her mother Joy (Patricia Clarkson) don’t get along — never did, according to both parties. It’s a rift made all the more severe because Joy is dying of cancer. So on Thanksgiving Day, the Burns’ load up the family car and head to April’s for some turkey and conciliation. Meanwhile in New York, Bobby tries to comfort April — who’s struggling with her emotions and her first foray into the kitchen — while worrying how her whitewashed family is going to react to his ethnicity.
Heavy as all that sounds, “Pieces Of April” is at times a very funny movie. As the patriarch of the Burns clan, Oliver Platt — yes, Oliver Platt! — is an absolute delight. The perfect straight man for what we come to see is a hilariously dysfunc-tional brood. And Patricia Clarkson is fast becoming, as noted critic Leonard Maltin pointed out after seeing the movie, a national treasure. She just doesn’t ever deliver anything less than her considerable best. It’s Holmes, though, who benefits most from her unconventional character. April Burns wouldn’t fit in with the kids from Dawson’s Creek, and that is just what the career counselor ordered. The time has come for the 24-year-old actress to shed her teen queen image and “Pieces Of April” is certainly a fine start. (Rated PG-13 for language, sensuality, drug content and images of nudity. Running time: 81 minutes)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 24, 2003. Read the original PDF.