Tired dysfunctional family drama that speaks to grief and denial in unwieldy doses.
Comment
03/01/05
Rate this Movie 
Imaginary Heroes (2004)
35
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work
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
Theatrical Release:Dec 17, 2004 Limited
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... [More]
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Emile Hirsch, Jeff Daniels, Deirdre O'Connell
Director: Daniel Harris
Get This Movie
Reviews for Imaginary Heroes
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.
02/24/05
Sigourney Weaver gives a terrific performance in this impressive film.
03/21/05
unusually bold and affecting
12/16/04
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.
03/18/05
Hirsch is dead-on with his weary deadpan in the face of high school torment, sexual confusion and parental absurdity.
12/17/04
Top CriticPlays like Ordinary People rewritten by someone too young to imitate that film's powerful complications.
02/25/05
Top CriticSomebody 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.
12/26/04
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.
12/16/04
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.
12/19/04
Harris directs at a funereal pace that snuffs out his script's own wit, and only Weaver keeps the bitter laughs coming.
02/20/05
Top CriticComes 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?
02/17/05
Another installment in the ongoing Ice Storm chronicles.
10/15/04
Audiences may feel compelled towards labeling Imaginary Heroes nothing more than a movie-of-the-week. But, most will have to admit, it’s a pretty good one.
10/14/04
Especially forceful performances make it well worth watching, even if it becomes a bit too much at times.
06/04/05
A family drama so overwrought that it puts you in a state of profound disbelief.
11/28/04
Sad movies can rock you when they are well-paced and believable, but if you ever laugh because they go too far, the emotional connection is lost.
02/11/05
Imaginary Heroes may not show the directorial confidence of Zach Braff's remarkable Garden State or the emotional depth of A Home at the End of the World, but it's a strong character-driven story all the same.
03/04/05
Harris' dreary, pill-popping suburbia is only a few blocks from Peyton Place.
03/08/05
Harris has made a movie that's not entirely credible. And at times, it seems as if he's doing emotional heavy lifting for which he hasn't properly trained.
02/25/05
Top CriticRT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
MSN's Year in Review 
Take a look at MSN's choices for the Top 10 films of 2009.
40 Best Films of the 2000s
Last week, Moviefone offered us their worst films of the 2000s. Now see their 40 best!
Tarantino's Characters
Hollywood.com explores why QT's characters resonate so well with audiences.
10 Questions For Zac Efron
The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.
Top 20 of the Decade
Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds