Fireflies in the Garden 2008

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Lee doesn't trust his storytelling or the audience. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: It's a tragedy, in all of the wrong ways. Read more

Alison Willmore, AV Club: [A] middling effort about the fights and reconnections experienced by a family gathered due to an unexpected tragedy... Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This histrionic family drama must have looked good on paper to attract such a big-name cast, but on the screen it comes off as glib, rushed, and underdeveloped. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Read more

William Goss, Film.com: The emotional effectiveness varies from moment to moment between not pushing too hard or simply not pulling hard enough. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: "Fireflies" is probably too convoluted to pave the way for more roles of this sort, but watching Reynolds get inside Michael's pain, you hope it won't be long until something will. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: The actors are all good and a few scenes -- an opening family argument, a crucial battle when Michael finally fights back -- are painfully moving. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: A dreadful exercise in navel-gazing that resides in a particularly trite corner of Pat Conroy-ville. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: A dispiriting rehash of dysfunctional family cliches that seems to last longer than Thanksgiving Day dinner. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A fraught family drama that shows us the same family in past and present, 22 years apart. It might have been more effective if it had followed a chronological order. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The relationships are lived-in and complex, with the same hopelessness that we find in real life. People don't change. Read more

Tom Huddlestone, Time Out: It's not a bad film - Lee directs with subtle grace and the cast is predictably strong - but it's saddled with too many characters, not enough drama and a strong sense of overfamiliarity. Read more

Alissa Simon, Variety: Despite the mega-wattage of pic's starry cast, theatrical prospects seem dim for this clumsy melodrama, which looks and sounds no better than an average made-for-cabler. Read more

Nick Schager, Village Voice: Despite an A-list roster, the performances are universally one-note, a fact largely attributable to a script overflowing with blunt dialogue and heavy-handed symbolism. Read more