One of my all time favorites.

As Good As It Gets

A Masterpiece!

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Another slice of darkness and denial hiding beneath the surface of American suburbia, Imaginary Heroes chronicles the lives of the Travis family, all recovering following the suicide of their eldest son.The pair at the center of the film is mother and son Sandy (Sigourney Weaver) and Tim (Emile Hirsch), both acting out in different ways as a result of the death. While Tim experiments with prescription medication and his own sexuality, Sandy regresses to her former self, smoking marijuana and coming to terms with an old act of infidelity.The relationship between Sandy and Tim is explored well, especially when references are made to both of them being outcast from their own family: Sandy due to her affair and Tim, initially, due to always being in the shadow of his more successful older brother. Considerably less time is allowed for Sandy's husband Ben (Jeff Daniels) who, in a devastating depiction of denial, orders Sandy to make an additional plate of food for his dead son and place it in his old spot at the dinner table. Michelle Williams' older sister Penny is underwritten and could easily be taken out of the film.Despite its long runtime, Imaginary Heroes doesn't explore its many subplots as much as the individual stories deserve, while some of the movie's black comedy doesn't translate as well as writer/director Dan Harris may have liked. And the depiction of a disturbed family dynamic isn't depicted as strongly as the many other films out there with similar ideas. But despite some issues, the central performances from Weaver and Hirsch are stunning, and easily carry the film to its successfully subdued conclusion.Rating: B-

A real honest-to-god dog turd of a movie. And the worst part is it didn't have to end up so craptastical... The earlier scenes between mother and son were the definite highlight and made me hope for something good. But the second half a)drags b)is entirely too sappy for the mood set up in the first half and c)is pretty shite-a-riffic. It's really too too bad. If you wanna see Jeff Daniels in a GOOD dysfunctional father role, watch "The Squid and The Whale", he actually had something to sink his teeth into. On the other hand, if you liked "Stepmom", you'll luuuv this heaping pile of gooey emotional discharge.

"Imaginary Heroes" takes us through that often treaded path of a suicide in the family and its aftermath. Dan Harris directs a strong cast which manages to redeem his extremely lacking screenplay. It's a screenplay littered with holes and devoid of any real emotional logic. But still I found myself watching till the end, largely thanks to the performances.Jeff Daniels is in unshaven, hangdog mode. We've seen in all before, but it is effective. Emil Hirsh basically reprises his role of both "Wild Iris" and "The Mudge Boy". Yet another teenage boy detached and lost following a death in the family, with the added twist of an uncertain sexuality. He's an appealing young performer and does well in the role, but it is definitely time to let go and try something else.And then there's Sigourney Weaver. After too many forgettable roles in equally forgettable movies, one could be forgiven for forgetting just how good she can be. Somehow in this deficient vehicle, Weaver manages to create a wonderfully accurate characterization. It's a subtle, often humorous and always convincing performance and the only real that I stuck with "Imaginary Heroes" to the end.

===========BIG SPOILER================================== This is a terrible movie with no likable characters. So many clichés and senseless scenes. It needs a good editor but then there might not be any movie left. Please save your two hours. The only decent and unpredictable scene in the movie was when the younger brother refuses to stop his brother from killing himself. The description read "moments of dark comedy". Perhaps I missed those when I blinked. The horrible characters start right with the funeral. The funeral goers are laughing and complaining about the food while at the funeral of a very young man who has committed suicide? Then the father makes digs at the only son left? Right at the funeral? How is it that the next door neighbor whose husband cheated on her with Sigourney Weaver's character is the bad guy for telling the husband? The father doesn't even know his son can play the piano though everyone else around him seems to know he is a great pianist. The movie tries to shove every dramatic cliché possible into one movie: father over-driving athletic son to succeed, dysfunctional family losing a chosen son to suicide, the son left feeling lost and alone, drugs, marital affairs, child conceived via affair but raised as husband's son, incest, homosexual tendencies, bullies, possible terminal illness, etc, etc, etc. DO NOT WASTE YOUR 2 HOURS.