Imaginary Heroes Review
by Mark R. Leeper (markrleeper AT yahoo DOT com)December 18th, 2004
IMAGINARY HEROES
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Like ORDINARY PEOPLE, this is a film about
how the loss of one son in a family affects the
entire family, but particularly the surviving son.
Unlike ORIDINARY PEOPLE, the parents are really just
a little too weird and the whole film is hard to
warm up to. Rating: low +1 (-4 to +4) or 5/10
A suicide in a well-to-do suburban family reveals weaknesses under the surface that threaten to destroy the family. The film written and directed by Dan Harris strongly recalls Robert Redford's ORDINARY PEOPLE but comes a long way from measuring up. The title almost sounds inspired by that film. This family is even more severely dysfunctional. Sigourney Weaver plays Sandy Travis, a woman who is irrepressible, irresponsible, and self-indulgent.
Ben Travis (played in a rare unsympathetic role by Jeff Daniels) has lived through his older son Matt's glory as a champion swimmer. He never asked if Matt wanted to be a swimmer. With the loss of Matt he emotionally disconnects himself from his family.
Between the two parents there was little support for Matt who eventually ends his own life. But the focus of the story is on Sandy Travis and on Tim Travis (Emile Hirsch), the Travis's other son--the one not a star at anything--who is neglected by the parents for being just average. Nobody in the family connects with anyone else and each person takes drugs of some sort to avoid his own emotional problems.
Sandy and Ben each believe in no rules but his own. Ben insists that reverence be shown for the dead Matt by serving portions for him at every meal. Sandy is shocked when her neighbor buys a new gas grill. "She doesn't have a husband and she buys a new grill!"
In fact, there is a small war brewing between Sandy and the neighbor. Sandy is cold to her family but defends them like a mother bear. In one case when she thinks her son is being bullied she goes to his home and is absolutely savage attacking the bully and his mother.
Dan Harris who wrote and directed seems like an unlikely author for this material. He co-wrote the script for the film X2: X-MEN UNITED. He is working on screenplays for SUPERMAN RETURNS, LOGAN'S RUN, and ENDER'S GAME (also science fiction). Here he directs a film that in spite of the title is a drama rather than a fantasy. Occasionally his direction seems a little gimmicky. We see one subjective shot from the inside of a microwave oven, for example. It is not a grievous fault, but it was a distraction as I asked myself, "What am I doing in a microwave oven?"
IMAGINARY HEROES solicits our emotions but never really delivers the impact the film needed. The people do not really seem to know each other and at the end of the film I was not sure I knew any of them either.
Mark R. Leeper
[email protected]
Copyright 2004 Mark R. Leeper
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
