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.
(9 votes)
2.
Starring Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Daniels, Emile Hirsch, and Michelle Williams, IMAGINARY HEROES is a funny and poignant coming of age story in which the faade of an ordinary American family is peeled back to reveal that nothing is as it seems.
Tim Travis (Emile Hirsch) is walking through his life like it's a bad dream. His mother Sandy (Sigourney Weaver) is the master of the Travis house with a healthy drug habit, a decade long grudge, and a secret that is literally tearing her apart. His father Ben (Jeff Daniels) is a shell of the man he once was, crippled by circumstance and blind to the mistakes of his past.
People Are Never Who They Seem To Be. In this "mixture of poignant drama and quirky humor...delivered by a superb cast" (Michael Wilmington Chicago Tribune), the Travis family experiences a stunning tragedy which begins to unravel them. Teenaged son Tim (Emile Hirsch, The Girl Next Door) views his life as a bad dream. His father, Ben (Jeff Daniels - Terms Of Endearment, The Hours), tunes out and treats his wife and children like strangers. His mother, Sandy (Oscar-nominee Sigourney Weaver 1986, Best Actress, Alien) sharpens her tongue and sarcasm and dulls her senses with pot while struggling hard to conceal a secret that threatens to ruin them all. With elements of pathos, salty humor and self-discovery, the Travises learn to accept one another as family - warts and all.
(5 votes)
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