Marking Hedges' directorial debut, the film stars Katie Holmes, Derek Luke, Sean Hayes, Alison Pill, Oliver Platt and Patricia Clarkson.

April Burns, the eldest daughter in a highly dysfunctional family, lives in a small tenement apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with her boyfriend Bobby.

Although estranged from her parents, Jim and Joy, and younger siblings Beth and Timmy, she opts to invite them for Thanksgiving dinner.

After initial difficulty, Bobby finds a suit and begins heading home, only to be confronted by April's former boyfriend, a drug dealer named Tyrone.

This theme is reinforced by April's race to get dinner cooked in time and by Bobby's search to find a suit and return home.

[3] Hedges started working on the script for Pieces of April about eight or nine years before the film was released, though eventually forgot about the project.

Hedges was additionally inspired by a true story about a group of friends who had "borrowed" an apartment to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner.

Pieces of April was in pre-production on three occasions, each time with a budget of around $7 million, though attempts to get the film off the ground repeatedly failed.

The fourth time Hedges attempted to get the film developed, he took it to independent company InDigEnt, who signed it immediately, albeit on a much smaller budget of $300,000.

Due to the tight schedule many locations, such as the Burns family home and the Salvation Army store, were only available for a single day.

Following its positive reception there, the rights to the film were reported to be in a bidding war with companies including Miramax, Fine Line Features and Artisan Entertainment.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Pieces of April transcends its small-scale setting and budget with endearing performances, playful humor, and genuine sweetness, resulting in a touching holiday treat.

[9] Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times called the film an "intelligent and touching farce" and added, "Mr. Hedges dances from one vignette to another with a mouthwatering finesse.

"[10] Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, praising its humor and quirkiness and describing it as "well-intentioned in its screwy way, with flashes of human insight, and actors who can take a moment and make it glow.

[13] One of the film's few less-favorable reviews came from Entertainment Weekly who gave it a 'C', calling it a "glib comedy" and adding, "Hedges shoves his characters into sitcom slots and seals them there.

[28] She also won the 'Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Dramatic Performance' award at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, for her roles in Pieces of April, and also The Station Agent and All the Real Girls.