DAN HARRIS'S DIRECTION of this ruthless suburban satire fetches remarkable, atypical performances from Sigourney Weaver and Jeff Daniels, whose characters' tragicomic marriage explodes when their eldest son kills himself. However, it's the couple's youngest son, Tim (Emile Hirsch), who forms the story's moral compass – if such a thing exists. Hirsch, following up a charming turn as the lead in The Girl Next Door, is stellar as a guilty, angst-addled teenager who must cope not only with his brother's suicide, his parents' descent into severe depression and sickness, and his own tortured coming of age, but also with a mounting litany of incidental atrocities. Imaginary Heroes is, by and large, a story filled with dark laughter that turns to tears; unfortunately, as the carnage mounts, the movie trades in suspension of disbelief for melodrama and a dip into the sentimental. (Jeremy Russell)