'Pieces of April'
No thank you

THE FACT THAT Pieces of April was a buzz film at the Sundance fest this year attests to the sorry state of American indie cinema, which has essentially become a minor-league Hollywood. A secondhand "original" soundtrack of corrosive Stephin Merritt lullabies sets the tone of Peter Hedges's digital-video comic drama. The screenplay's tired Guess Who's Coming to Dinner-meets-Daytrippers scenario traps viewers in a car with a miserable cauca-zombie family as they journey toward a Thanksgiving feast that's been thoroughly botched by black sheep April (Katie Holmes, in art-damaged attire that's very early '90s) and her (gasp!) black boyfriend, Derek Luke. Hedges's presentation of working-class urban life is even more stereotypical than a Wayans comedy, but at least the Wayans clan bring parody to the table. Pieces of April's moth-eaten liberal idea of just desserts requires that the sarcasm eventually gives way to a multicult sweetness as white and sugary as April's store-bought marshmallow treats – though not before Patricia Clarkson, as April's mother, provides a few potent glimpses of a dying woman's solitude. As one of April's neighbors, Sean Hayes (the flouncing Will and Grace cliché who, according to current UPN ads, provides TV viewers with all the queer they need) might be imitating Merritt's glum and contrary persona. Though Allison Pill plays a brown-nosing daughter role to annoying perfection, Pieces of April's few decent scraps are provided by Clarkson. (Johnny Ray Huston)