Imaginary Heroes (2004)

This film is a great example of a storyteller who doesn't understand the story that he's telling. I know that sounds like an absurd thing to allege. How can the guy telling the tale not understand it? However, it's the only way I can explain the bizarrely wrong emotional focus and characterizations on display in Imaginary Heroes. Writer/director Dan Harris is like a cook who set out to make an apple pie, yet tried to make it with kumquats and licorice. You might be able to make something oddly tasty out of those ingredients, but not by following an apple pie recipe. This movie has the structure and style of a by-the-numbers tale of 21st century suburban angst stuck in between a beginning which unknowingly negates its own premise and an ending with an escalating series of ridiculous revelations that even Harris can't keep up with. Things start out with 17 year old Tim Travis (Emile Hirsch) telling us that his older brother Matt (Kip Pardue) killed himself because he was incredibly great at swimming at the same time he hated swimming more than anything else in the world. Now, I have to confess, this opening with Tim's narration of images of Matt put me off this film right away, long before any of the other flaws reared their head. I can imagine someone hating the obsessive demands of competitive sports or the pressure of competition. How the hell does anyone hate the act of swimming enough to commit suicide? If you really disliked it that much, you'd stop swimming when you were too young for anyone to know you were any good at it. To say that Matt killed himself because he hated swimming is a ludicrously simplistic description of a much more complex dynamic, and if the point of Tim describing it like that would have been to illustrate how ludicrously simplistic Tim's thinking or view of the world is…that might have been interesting. Unfortunately, every example of human behavior in this movie is as ludicrously simplistic as Tim's analysis of his brother offing himself.Even if I'm overreacting to that, the rest of Imaginary Heroes still isn't any good. It starts off with suicide and then focuses on the characters least affected by that tragedy. Tim and his mom, Sandy (Sigourney Weaver), go about with their unimaginatively angsty suburban lives and there's no meaningful connection between anything they do and what happened to Matt. The only one who is affected by it is Tim's dad, Ben (Jeff Daniels), and he's a terribly written character who only exists to serve the Almighty Plot Hammer. Ben switches from resentful bastard to fumbling, desperate, nice guy to wounded father to suit whatever particular scene Tim and Sandy are in at the moment. In this script, Tim and Sandy are meant to be actual human beings while Ben is never considered as more than a prop.At least Ben gets a decent amount of screen time servicing Tim and Sandy's narratives. Tim also has an older sister, Penny (Michelle Williams), and I haven't the foggiest idea what this character is doing in this movie at all. Her existence has no purpose or function and she contributes nothing to the story. She's dead weight that should have been cut out of the screenplay very early on in the process and is another glaring example of how filmmakers occasionally need someone to tell them "no". Penny isn't nearly as glaring a necessary deletion as Jar Jar Binks, but I'd say she's about a .4 on the Binks scale.There isn't much of a plot to Imaginary Heroes. Stuff just happens. Most of it's boring and I could go on and on about how what isn't boring doesn't make any sense. I just want to focus on one big, whanging crazy thing. This is going to spoil a significant aspect of the film, so if you haven't seen it and ever plan to…stop reading now.Okay, here it comes. After having some sort of drug addled sex with his best friend Kyle (Ryan Donowho), Tim eventually discovers that Ben, the father who's never liked him and treated him like crap his whole life, isn't his biological father. It turns out Sandy had an affair with Kyle's dad and that's how she got pregnant with Tim. Now, which of these do you think would be more traumatic?1. Finding out the son of a bitch who's made your life miserable isn't your real father?2. Finding out you just boinked your half-brother?Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I think the whole "you screwed your half-brother" situation would be a much, much bigger deal. Once the secret of Tim's parentage is revealed, though, no one and nothing in the movie ever references or even alludes to the whole "sex with your half-brother" thing. There's a very big fuss made of Ben not being Tim's real dad, but Tim shtupping a blood relative gets flushed down the memory hole and is never seen or heard from again. Am I wrong about this? Is finding out that you essentially were the product of a sperm donor more disturbing than being told you've ignorantly committed incest?I don't know what else I can tell you about Imaginary Heroes. The parts of this film that aren't boring are wildly and weirdly ill considered. Unless you like kumquats and licorice with a nice, flaky crust…don't bother with this movie.

The somewhat-belligerent brother of a suicide finds that he and his mother grieve in much the same way (by acting out) but that Dad is morose and blaming himself. Writer-director Dan Harris gives us a dysfunctional family torn at the seams, characters with question marks hanging over them, and then lays all the story-points out in the most obvious terms: Suicide! Secrets! Gay shame! Family sickness! Ultimately aiming to wrap things up with a tidy bow, Harris wants to make sure we don't miss a trick, initially giving us thoughtful material to ponder but then spelling everything out in an elementary, sentimental fashion. Sigourney Weaver's bemused performance as the family matriarch is dryly disengaged and she's a joy--that is, until Harris gives her a make-over (complete with sensible new hairstyle). It's the cinematic equivalent of a condescending pat on the head. ** from ****

"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.

This is a fantastic movie revealing the truths about family under severe stress. This was such a touching movie. It is so honest. It's very memorable and I'm recommending it to you.Your own experiences with family life will probably be similar, however less dramatic. The strength of a family is tested here and they attempt to find strength in their own weaknesses working through grief and denial. If you have ever felt alone in your world, you'll be able to connect. It's a refreshing perspective on reality that will give you a wide range of feelings most movies neglect to attempt. Watch it, you'll love it.