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Movies / On DVD / Imaginary Heroes
Imaginary Heroes

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Imaginary Heroes (2004)

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Reviews Counted:101

Fresh:35

Rotten:66

Average Rating:5.2/10

Consensus: Imaginary Heroes is a muddled, melodramatic and unconvincing drama.

Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: This realistic family film starring Sigourney Weaver and Emile Hirsch as a loving mother and son asks some deep questions about mortality, the risks of depression, and staying together verses... This realistic family film starring Sigourney Weaver and Emile Hirsch as a loving mother and son asks some deep questions about mortality, the risks of depression, and staying together verses splitting up. Living in a beautiful house in a manicured suburban neighborhood, the Travis family seems flawless at first glance. That is, until the handsome eldest son (Kip Pardue), a star swimmer, commits suicide, leaving the family in pieces. The father (Jeff Daniels), rejects the other members of the family, becoming distant and aloof. The college-student daughter (Michelle Williams), rarely visits home any more. The mother (Weaver), resorts to petty quibbles with her next-door neighbor (Deirdre O'Connell), and develops a minor--but highly amusing--marijuana habit. And the youngest son, Tim (Hirsch)--who is the protagonist and the real victim in the story--searches for meaning, identity, and solace from the chaos that surrounds him. Tim's best friend Kyle (Ryan Donowho) experiments with drugs and sex, providing for some understated and poignant coming-of-age situations. But for the most part, it is the chemistry between expert actors Weaver and Hirsch that carries the film, making IMAGINARY HEROES a lovely, sensitive meditation on the mid-life family crisis. [More]

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Emile Hirsch, Jeff Daniels, Deirdre O'Connell

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Emile Hirsch, Jeff Daniels, Deirdre O'Connell, Kip Pardue, Ryan Donowho, Michelle Williams, Suzanne Santo

Director: Daniel Harris

Director: Daniel Harris
Screenwriter: Daniel Harris
Producer: Illana Diamant, Gina Resnick, Art Linson, Denise Shaw
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

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Reviews for Imaginary Heroes

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; UK critics are listed first)
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Especially forceful performances make it well worth watching, even if it becomes a bit too much at times.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
06/04/05
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

It’s unusual and faintly disturbing to see Jeff Daniels play such an unlikeable character.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
07/05/05
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
07/05/05
Empire Magazine
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
07/05/05
David Edwards
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]
N/R

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Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
07/05/05
BBC
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
12/06/05
Independent
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Tired dysfunctional family drama that speaks to grief and denial in unwieldy doses.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
03/01/05
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly

The questions are more interesting before Harris answers them in all-too- neat explanations that come off as a cheap, painless way to solve problems with much deeper roots.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
02/24/05
Sean Axmaker
Sean Axmaker
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Sigourney Weaver gives a terrific performance in this impressive film.

Full Review Source: Sympatico.ca | comment Comment
03/21/05
Angela Baldassarre
Angela Baldassarre
Sympatico.ca

unusually bold and affecting

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
12/16/04
Chris Barsanti
Chris Barsanti
Filmcritic.com

If the film had been about Weaver rather than her family, Harris might have scripted an ending that represented a risky individual choice instead of a communal retreat.

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
03/18/05
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

Hirsch is dead-on with his weary deadpan in the face of high school torment, sexual confusion and parental absurdity.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
12/17/04
Jami Bernard
Jami Bernard
New York Daily News

Plays like Ordinary People rewritten by someone too young to imitate that film's powerful complications.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
02/25/05
Michael Booth
Michael Booth
Denver Post

Somebody slipped Hollywood a dysfunctional-family pill this year. This one requires a degree of patience and a taste for the low-key. In other words, it's for the art house.

Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment Comment
12/26/04
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

A hard-hitting drama about the sharp edges of grief and the need for families to nurture openness and love in the midst of tragedies that test their mettle.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
12/16/04
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Weaver dominates the proceedings, bringing such intelligence, energy, and complexity to the role that it should be a crime she hasn’t received but a whisper of Oscar buzz.

Full Review Source: FilmStew.com | comment Comment
12/19/04
Brett Buckalew
Brett Buckalew
FilmStew.com

Harris directs at a funereal pace that snuffs out his script's own wit, and only Weaver keeps the bitter laughs coming.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
02/20/05
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe

Comes across as patently false...are there really any suburbs in America like this one, with its family’s cute, tragicomic disintegration in the wake of a son’s suicide?

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
02/17/05
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

Another installment in the ongoing Ice Storm chronicles.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
10/15/04
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central
 
 
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