Imaginary Heroes Review
by Harvey S. Karten (harveycritic AT cs DOT com)December 8th, 2004
IMAGINARY HEROES
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Sony Pictures Classics
Grade: B+
Directed by: Dan Harris
Written by: Dan Harris
Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Emile Hirsch, Jeff Daniels, Michelle Williams, Kip Pardue
Screened at: Sony, NYC, 12/7/04
When former vice president Dan Quayle came out for family values, he probably never met the Travis family–though given Quayle's ability to argue about fictional characters, he may not have had much trouble contacting them. The thing is, unless you've been raised by wolves, you know that not all families are alike and many of them are living hell for their hapless inhabitants. Some are downright dysfunctional, and who–aside from fans of the Bobsey Twins, the Hardy Boys and the folks on Leave It To Beaver–wants to hear about flawless, perfect folks residing in Shangri-La? The Travis family, created by writer and debut-director Dan Harris, is far from perfect; in fact it's undergoing a state of crisis. But these are the kinds of people that lots of us would be happy to live with, or at least with the hip mom, Sandy Travis, played impeccably with good humor and sadness alike by Sigourney Weaver.
The wholly unexpected action that led to the Travis family crisis is the suicide of their oldest child, Matt Travis (Kip Pardue), and while victims of suicide are usually people who feel they do not fit in, what's unusual is that Matt was his school's champion swimmer, winning races quite a few strokes ahead of his nearest competitor.
Of the people who do not feel they fit in, the principal character in "Imaginery Heroes" is the seventeen-year-old Tim Travis (Emile Hirsch), whose father, Ben Travis (Jeff Daniels) had paid $2,000 for the boy's piano lessons only to hear the lad say that he showed up for all his lessons but never learned. The principal reason for Tim's problems comes in a revelation near the story's conclusion, the cause having to do with the way Tim has been treated by his dad who, after Matt's suicide, has become unhinged and has taken a three months' leave of absence from work to hang around a park, unbeknownst to the rest of his family.
There's plenty of humor in "Imaginary Heroes," some coming from the stupid things that people say at Matt's funeral but most coming from Sandy Travis's behavior. She's the kind of woman that would make Dan Quayle think a few times before saying that families are best, since she talks freely with her seventeen- year-old about masturbation, while she not only tolerates but seems to thrive on the use of the f word around the dinner table. Her affection for marijuana is endearing and, given her beauty (despite her playing the role of someone in her forties), we don't wonder that the twenty-something supermarket checker gives her his number.
"Imaginary Heroes" takes us into a high school patronized largely by boys and girls from the middle- and upper-middle classes, but their problems are not dissimilar from those suffered in inner-city institutions. The school bully, who lives with his parents in a trailer, regularly beats Tim up, Tim's mother's intervention only making things worse. At the boy's graduation, the valedictorian ends her speech by insisting that she hated the school and hopes everyone she knows "would rot in hell."
While Sigourney Weaver delivers her usual crackerjack job as a performer, Emile Hirsch, known to fans for his roles in "The Emperor's Club" and "The Girl Next Door," turns in his best performance as a boy who can't talk to his father but is on good terms with a mom who's savvy about kids his age.
Rated R. 112 minutes. © 2004 by Harvey Karten
@harveycritic.com
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