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Imaginary Heroes

  • 2004
  • R
  • 1h 51m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
10K
YOUR RATING
Sigourney Weaver in Imaginary Heroes (2004)
Home Video Trailer from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Play trailer2:16
10 Videos
21 Photos
Dark ComedyPsychological DramaDrama

Members of a dysfunctional family react differently to the suicide of the eldest son.Members of a dysfunctional family react differently to the suicide of the eldest son.Members of a dysfunctional family react differently to the suicide of the eldest son.

  • Director
    • Dan Harris
  • Writer
    • Dan Harris
  • Stars
    • Sigourney Weaver
    • Jeff Daniels
    • Emile Hirsch
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.0/10
    10K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Dan Harris
    • Writer
      • Dan Harris
    • Stars
      • Sigourney Weaver
      • Jeff Daniels
      • Emile Hirsch
    • 59User reviews
    • 76Critic reviews
    • 53Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 2 nominations total

    Videos10

    Imaginary Heroes
    Trailer 2:16
    Imaginary Heroes
    Imaginary Heroes Scene: I'm Looking For The Good Stuff
    Clip 2:05
    Imaginary Heroes Scene: I'm Looking For The Good Stuff
    Imaginary Heroes Scene: I'm Looking For The Good Stuff
    Clip 2:05
    Imaginary Heroes Scene: I'm Looking For The Good Stuff
    Imaginary Heroes Scene: You Must Be What, 13?
    Clip 1:01
    Imaginary Heroes Scene: You Must Be What, 13?
    Imaginary Heroes Scene: You Won't Understand
    Clip 0:41
    Imaginary Heroes Scene: You Won't Understand
    Imaginary Heroes Scene: Take Your Pick
    Clip 1:20
    Imaginary Heroes Scene: Take Your Pick
    Imaginary Heroes Scene: What Am I Gonna Do?
    Clip 1:56
    Imaginary Heroes Scene: What Am I Gonna Do?

    Photos21

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    Top cast56

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    Sigourney Weaver
    Sigourney Weaver
    • Sandy Travis
    Jeff Daniels
    Jeff Daniels
    • Ben Travis
    Emile Hirsch
    Emile Hirsch
    • Tim Travis
    Michelle Williams
    Michelle Williams
    • Penny Travis
    Kip Pardue
    Kip Pardue
    • Matt Travis
    Deirdre O'Connell
    Deirdre O'Connell
    • Marge Dwyer
    Ryan Donowho
    Ryan Donowho
    • Kyle Dwyer
    Suzanne Santo
    Suzanne Santo
    • Steph Connors
    Jay Paulson
    Jay Paulson
    • Vern
    Luke Robertson
    Luke Robertson
    • Jack Johnson
    Lee Wilkof
    Lee Wilkof
    • Mitchell Goldstein
    Terry Beaver
    • Dr. Montey
    Sara Tanaka
    Sara Tanaka
    • Shelly Chan
    Ned Benson
    Ned Benson
    • Undercover Hippie
    Larry Fessenden
    Larry Fessenden
    • Store Clerk
    Ryan Patrick Bachand
    • Sid
    Lori Yeghiayan
    • Veteran Home Receptionist
    Heidi Newhart
    • Angela
    • Director
      • Dan Harris
    • Writer
      • Dan Harris
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews59

    7.010.2K
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    10

    Featured reviews

    10uclajt

    Outstanding!

    Wow. When I went to this film at the Toronto film festival I had no idea what I was in for. This movie takes you on an emotional roller-coaster in the best sense of the term. Sigourney Weaver was better than I've seen from her in years; Emile Hirsch was great and Jeff Daniels broke my heart. I can see how this won't be every person's cup of tea, as at times it deals with some pretty harsh things that can happen to a family. Don't get me wrong -- it's really funny too -- at my screening the audience burst out in applause after laughing over and over again. I just think if you're open to examining your own life, Imaginary Heroes will sincerely touch you. I can't wait until it comes out in theaters.
    7maxpower03

    Sometimes impressive, but a film not without its faults

    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-
    7blanche-2

    Derivative script lacks some punch

    "Imaginary Heroes" is a 2004 film starring Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Daniels, Emile Hirsch, Michelle Williams, and Kip Pardue.

    The story concerns a dysfunctional family that becomes even more dysfunctional when the oldest child (Pardue) commits suicide.

    "Ordinary People" has been mentioned often in relation to this film; it's sort of "Ordinary People" with a role reversal. The mother in this case, Sandy Travis (Weaver) is more accessible than the father, Ben (Daniels) who is clearly devastated and unable to cope. Like "Ordinary People," the younger son Tim (Hirsch) is the focus of the film.

    For me, the film was absorbing enough to keep watching but has a curious detachment about it. There were some wonderful interactions - mother and son, mother and neighbor, brother and sister (Williams) and some good offbeat moments. What never clicked was Ben being any part of that family or having any chemistry with Sandy. This seems to have been the goal of director/writer Dan Harris. In one scene in a grocery store, the checkout kid assumes Sandy is "about 30" and gives her his phone number. In almost the next scene, Daniels asks Sandy if she wants plastic surgery for her birthday. Weaver was 55 when this film was made, actually probably 54, and looks phenomenal. So what is Ben looking at? However, there's something askew about Ben's complete detachment because the viewer doesn't really see how Daniels ever WAS attached to that family.

    The end has a couple of twists and also some very touching scenes. Everyone is very good, with Weaver and Hirsch being the standouts.

    There's not a tremendous amount of dialogue in this movie and lots of stares. The script could have been sharper. But "Imaginary Heroes" is a good effort.
    9plkldf

    Excellent, smart, funny, scary

    This film is chock-full of little surprises, many of them funny. The fact that it's written and directed by a 24-year old blows my mind. Some of the scenes where the high school kids are using ecstasy made me very uncomfortable because I have a kid that age and I could picture her using it. As parent of a teen, I found the depictions of the parent-child interactions to be dead-on accurate.

    I enjoyed the film's many little jokes, and I enjoyed the fact that not everything made perfect sense and not all the issues were resolved by the end. To paraphrase Mark Twain, truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction is required to stick to that which is possible, while truth is not.

    This is a film which plays with the viewer, allowing us believe that people are what other people think they are, only to allow us later to realize that the folks we assumed were right were completely ignorant of the real situation. One of the film's strongest scenes, a scene about which we feel very relieved and sympathetic about what the character is doing, turns out to be based on a completely wrong assumption, and the character, while admirable, is totally wrong. It's very subtly done, I think. Very realistic.

    I liked the score a lot -- I thought it really aided the film, really helped set the mood -- the film has a couple of screwball moments, and the background music helps establish that.

    The valedictorian speech is a hoot and a half -- got a big laugh! The movie is really in my head right now -- saw it this morning. Will try to see it again, time allowing. Tens are hard to come by, but a solid nine in my book.
    7dromasca

    mature work from a very young script-writer and director

    It is hard to judge 'Imaginary Heroes' without referring to the fact that director and script writer Dan Harris is only 25. You can hardly believe seeing this film, which is not only a mature piece of work, professional and deep, but also with some of the defects of routine specific to older directors.

    The setting is the American suburb, too familiar from 'American Beauty' or 'Desperate Housewives'. As in 'American Beauty'the film turns around a suicide, but here it happens at the beginning of the movie, and we are left watching a mid-class family coping with the death of the gifted sportsman brother and son. Emile Hirsch plays the younger brother, Sigourney Weaver is the mother, both are excellent trying to cope with the loss, to find the reason and motivation to survive. Harris drives his actors with a sure hand, and the first two sections of the film (there are four in total, as the seasons of the year) build a wonderful tension, with credible dilemmas and real questions. It is the second part of the film that disappoints slightly, it looks too tired and conventional, and I suspect that the producers may have interfered in the work of the young script-writer and director, trying to bring him closer to the Hollywood convention. That's how this film fails to be a somber version of 'American Beauty', with a different focus. I am sure however that we will hear a lot about Dan Harris in the coming years.

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    Related interests

    Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Sian Clifford in Fleabag (2016)
    Dark Comedy
    Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
    Psychological Drama
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      At an assembly, a student reads "original poetry" by another who had recently killed herself. The poetry is actual an excerpt from the lyrics to "Alive" by Pearl Jam.
    • Goofs
      When Tim is asleep on the kitchen table, the contents of the pickle jar he was eating from jumps from empty to half full between shots.
    • Quotes

      Shelly Chan: [commencement address] These were the best years of our lives. At least that's what they told us. Personally, I hated high school. I hated all of you and I hope you all rot in hell. Thank you.

    • Connections
      Spoofs Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
    • Soundtracks
      Violin Concerto No. 1 in E major Op. 8 RV 269 'Spring' I. Allegro
      from 'The Four Seasons'

      Written by Antonio Vivaldi (as Vivaldi)

      Performed by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (as The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)

      Courtesy of Extreme Music

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    FAQ20

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 10, 2005 (Germany)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • Germany
      • Belgium
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Hayali Kahramanlar
    • Filming locations
      • Chatham, New Jersey, USA
    • Production companies
      • ApolloProMedia GmbH & Co. 1. Filmproduktion KG (I)
      • QI Quality International GmbH & Co. KG
      • Signature Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $4,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $228,767
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $4,696
      • Dec 19, 2004
    • Gross worldwide
      • $291,118
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 51m(111 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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