Pieces of April poster

Pieces of April (2003)

Film · 1h 21m · Rated PG-13

Comedy, Drama

An earnest, intimate Thanksgiving dinner descends into witty chaos as a family confronts their melancholy past.

Dry wit. A comfort watch at a measured pace. Emotionally it is heavy.

Streaming on MGM+, Kanopy (free), Hoopla (free), The Roku Channel (free), Fandango at Home (free), YouTube (free) and 1 more.

Pieces of April parents guide

It stays inside its PG-13, with some innuendo or implied sex and some strong language.

Our estimate: fine from about 13. Rated PG-13.

Scare
Not scary
Jump scares
None noted
Gore
No gore
Violence
No real violence
Sex and nudity
Mild
Mild means innuendo, or sex implied off screen, with no nudity.
Language
Moderate
Some strong profanity, a few f-words.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

What is Pieces of April about?

Quirky and rebellious April Burns lives with her boyfriend in a low-rent New York City apartment miles away from her emotionally distant family. But when she discovers that her mother has a fatal form of breast cancer, she invites the clan to her place for Thanksgiving. While her father struggles to drive her family into the city, April -- an inexperienced cook -- runs into kitchen trouble and must ask a neighbor for help.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

Bittersweet. It earns its ending, but not everyone gets what they want.

Cast and crew

Directed byPeter Hedges
StarringKatie Holmes, Derek Luke, Patricia Clarkson, Oliver Platt, Alison Pill, John Gallagher Jr.

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Pieces of April is on our Thanksgiving and Road trips lists.

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Lists with the same feel: Melancholy and Comfort watches.

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.