In PIECES OF APRIL April (Katie Holmes), the family black sheep, scours her building for an oven that works as she attempts to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for her relatives in the dilapidated tenement home she shares with her boyfriend, Bobby (Derek Luke). She wants no help from Bobby in cooking her 15-pound turkey, which she hopes will please her mom (Patricia Clarkson), dad (Oliver Platt), brother, sister, and grandmother. On Thanksgiving morning April's family is reluctant to make the trek into New York City to a family member that is better left forgotten. They pig out on Krispy Kremes, take the scenic route, and plan for concealed methods to dispose the holiday meal while seating at the table. It is clear that her family would love to be anywhere else but with April for the holidays. Cruising down the road in an older-model station wagon with wood paneling and stopping occasionally to allow the mother to vomit from her cancer treatments and even to bury a roadkill, the audience wonders whether they will even reach their intended destination in time for dinner.There are several touching moments in PIECES OF APRIL: April's statement that she is "the first pancake" in the family (thus meant to be thrown away), April's interactions with the immigrant Chinese family in her building (esp. the scene of her trying to explain why Thanksgiving is celebrated), and the (sad) incident of April's sister singing in the car. Most importantly, the emotions and fears pertaining to the mother's illness depicted by each family member were greatly hard-felt and very well portrayed.PIECES OF APRIL is a wonderful holiday film that enables the audience a glimpse of one family that is far from perfect. It is full of laughs and sincere sentiments of this one particular day in their lives.