On Thanksgiving Day, a young woman invites her estranged family for dinner, but everything that can go wrong does.
It’s been 20-odd years since its release, and I said, why not resurface it for you? OK, for me as well. So, this is how it goes… Documentary-style comedy/drama from Peter Hedges, the writer of top-shelf dramas and comedy/dramas such as What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Dan in Real Life (2008), and Ben is Back (2018).
Besides the mounted over-the-shoulder camera, the film’s realism lies in the suspension of disbelief. All the things that go wrong balance realism and surrealism and could have happened to anyone. The important thing is not only the way the story is told all the way to the end but also the ending. It’s a bittersweet story about family bonding, using Thanksgiving Day as an opportunity to forgive and forget, mend fences, and remind us how short life is.
Katie Holmes, Oliver Platt, Patricia Clarkson, Derek Luke, Alison Pill, Lillias White, Isiah Whitlock Jr., and more perform brilliantly in front of the camera. I hope you enjoy it.
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