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Imaginary Heroes (2004)
Tomatometer
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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
Reviews for Imaginary Heroes
Especially forceful performances make it well worth watching, even if it becomes a bit too much at times.
It’s unusual and faintly disturbing to see Jeff Daniels play such an unlikeable character.
Stumbling between failed comedy and stilted drama, Imaginary Heroes never finds a convincing tone.
It's not clear why this same movie is made over and over. The concept isn't exactly inspirational box office gold.
Has a third act that consists almost entirely of skeletons tumbling out of the closet, but Weaver's and Hirsch's flawless performances elevate the film above and beyond the ranks of 'Ordinary People' pastiches, and in the end it stands on its own merits.
Harris directs at a funereal pace that snuffs out his script's own wit, and only Weaver keeps the bitter laughs coming.
Harris' dreary, pill-popping suburbia is only a few blocks from Peyton Place.
A family drama so overwrought that it puts you in a state of profound disbelief.
With that much baggage, Tim doesn’t need a loving family. He needs a Smarte Carte.
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