Cheap Pieces of April (DVD) (Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, Derek Luke, Oliver Platt) (Peter Hedges (II)) Price

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Customer Reviews of Pieces of April

Touching And Funny
Katie Holmes stars in the comedy "Pieces of April". It uniquely combines drama and comedy brilliantly. The writers prove that they know where to place the substances. It contains lots of unique humor that is rarely used in other films. Most of it comes unexpectedly, which keeps audiences' eyes wide open for every second. As the struggles increase, the intensity increases. The two story lines combine as one movie greatly: April struggling to create the perfect Thanksgiving get-together at her apartment and her estranged family traveling there with a lot of drama. Though the film runs only seventy-four minutes, the cast and crew made perfect use of what they had.

Katie Holmes is wonderful in her role of April, which asides her from her previous works due to her wardrobe and her lifestyle. She proves that she will stay in the spotlight for many more years. Patricia Clarkson shines in her Oscar nominated role as April's mother, who's dying of cancer. All other actors also perform their roles wonderfully: Oliver Platt, Sean Hayes, and more. Everyone, including Holmes and Clarkson, offers their own sense of genre, which adds more flavor to the film.

"Pieces of April" is a great film for those looking for a unique comedy. This is sure to please many audiences for a long time. The laughs will keep coming regardless amount of viewings. They never get old. This is one scene to anticipate:

April talking to a 911 operator: "Hi! I'd like to report a kidnapping. There's a guy holding my turkey hostage. My turkey....my turkey....my turkey."

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A quirky, charming movie about family
April Burns decides to invite her estranged family to her new apartment in New York's Lower East Side to enjoy a homemade Thanksgiving meal and to meet her new boyfriend, Bobby. Problems start to crop up, though, as her stove breaks down and she must hunt through her apartment building (on Thanksgiving Day) to find a stove that works. Jim and Joy Burns have problems of their own, with their other two children trying to convince them not to go to April's and the whole family struggling with Joy's terminal illness and their feelings regarding April.

Writer/Director Peter Hedges has crafted a quirky and uniquely charming film, with more of a home movie look to it. At times, this detracts from the film because a few of the shots are unsteady. The cast is wonderful, with Katie Holmes as April, Oliver Platt as Jim Burns, the wonderful Alice Drummond as Grandma Dottie, and Derek Luke as Bobby. Patricia Clarkson is fantastic as Joy Burns, juggling her feelings toward her estranged daughter with her terminal illness and her family's treatment of her. Also making a fine appearance is Sean Hayes as Wayne, the man with the new stove who lives in 5D. The cast works very well together, bringing home the message that family means togetherness no matter what.

The DVD contains both the Full-Screen and Widescreen versions of the film along with audio commentary and a nice "Making Of" featurette. The movie had me both laughing and near tears toward the end, and just left me with a good feeling. It's definitely a charming film.

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Interesting, quirky and cute
April lives in a small apartment and has always been the black sheep -- drugging and what-have-you. She decides to cook a Thanksgiving feast for her family (cancer-stricken mom, nice father, forgetful grandmother, earnest sister and silly brother). Unfortunately, her stove has broken.

Thus starts a movie of April meeting her neighbors in an effort to find a stove to cook her bird in (witness one neighbor rescind her offer of a stove when she realizes as a vegan she cannot ethically smell flesh cooking.) The best is the African-American couple downstairs who get shocked at April wanting to use canned cranberry suace ("NOBODY likes it from the can," they emphasize when April says she likes it from the can.)

Meanwhile, her family drives while fighting to April's house.

So ... do they make it? Does April cook the bird? Is it a good or bad Thanksgiving for all? Watch this and see.