It's Thanksgiving weekend. The weekend traditionally when even dysfunctional families put their problems behind them and get together around the Roast turkey and pumpkin pie.

Particularly engaging then is this 'disaster waiting to happen' type comedy, in which a young girl, the April of the title, is attempting to build bridges with her family by asking them to make their way to her house in the city, where she will cook the Thanksgiving dinner.

Long-suffering father, ill mother, absent-minded grandma, precocious sister and disparate brother have no confidence in April's cooking abilities and whilst we watch the trials and tribulations of their journey to the city, we watch with growing dread as April's cooking plans go from bad to worse to disaster level as her oven packs up and her neighbours largely prove to be an eccentric bunch of oddballs as she calls on them for help.

Writer/director Peter Hedges, the talent behind the scripts of About A Boy and What's Eating Gilbert Grape, has come up with an engaging bittersweet comedy for this his directorial debut. Its obviously been shot on a shoestring budget (with digital cameras) and with a largely unknown cast (apart from comedian/actor Oliver Platt and, for fans of Dawson's Creek, Katie Holmes), but that shouldn't (and mustn't) put you off because the bright performances on view here, are one of the film's highlights.

Holmes is particularly good as April and Platt is also notable as the father who tries, despite his family's protestations, to stick up for his unreliable daughter, whom they're going to visit.

Pieces of April, as an independent film, has a commendable air of authenticity throughout, moments of humour inflect the whole piece, since all the time you're watching an oncoming disaster and just wondering how bad it is going to be. Naturally, given it's a bittersweet comedy, Hedges has a few nice surprises up his sleeve.

This is one of those comedies that aims for small time targets, hits them and packs both sadness and affection in spades into its well edited 80 minute running time, without resorting to unnecessary sentimentalism.