Another plunge into the emotional underworld of American suburbia, Imaginary Heroes may be the first of its kind to mirror the form of a dysfunctional family: It looks good. It seems to work. It occasionally coheres into a priceless moment. But in the end, the pieces don't all fit together as they should. Writer-director Dan Harris is best known for co-writing the screenplay for the second X-Men movie, and he's on board to pen a script for Superman. His sensitive command of characters makes it easy to see why he fits so easily into those gigs. In Imaginary Heroes, everyone practically quivers under the influence of all-consuming emotions. That tone makes the perfect counterpoint to explosions and laser-beam eyes, but when not balanced by mutant adventures, the constant parade of raw-wound emotions eventually becomes a bit much to take.
