This film tells the story of a novelist whose mother dies in a traffic accident. He is family is transformed forever.The story is a mix of present day family interactions of the novelist Michael Taylor, and his flashbacks to his childhood days when he endured emotional abuse from his father. Michael's experience is sad, and I am pleased to see that he turned out to be a functional individual. The father is also a memorable character, as his behaviour is truly despicable. The tale of dysfunctional family interaction, and the subsequent understanding and forgiveness is a nice to watch. However, somehow they do not make much emotional impact on me. Maybe the lost 30 minutes are crucial in engaging the viewers."Fireflies in the Garden" has amassed a lot of biggest stars of Hollywood, and I am surprised that it has not got a wider release as a result.

I'm not a literary genius or anything but this movie left me totally confused. Why did it seem like everyone was beating up on Michael, the one who had been abused? Even the aunt Jane whom I thought would have been the most understanding had zero empathy for Michael and defended the father to the death. She said that the book would kill the father (William Dafoe). Well, so effing what if it does? At least the writer could have let the audience know why she cared so much, after all her relation is to Lisa not the father so it makes absolutely no sense to me. She said to Michael "everything you touch turns to sh**", where did that come from? In my eyes it was totally unwarranted and if it had been me she would have gotten punched in the teeth for saying it. Then she never apologized even after Michael found her son. So it just seems like continued abuse on the abused. Then to throw the Manuscript in the fire is supposed to be a sign of forgiveness? So Michael's supposed to feel guilty for his father's sins? What!? Come on....It would have been a better movie if Jane didn't grow up to be such a turncoat b**ch.

The backstory is as interesting as is the movie itself. Writer/director Lee lost his own mother just a few years ago and much of Michael here can be considered autobiographical.The very first scene sets the mood and establishes the key family dynamics. Dad, mom, and young Michael are in the car, it is raining, young Michael is putting his hand on the rear window. Dad rhetorically asks "How many times have I told you not to touch the glass?" Michael pulls his hand away, but not long after defiantly puts it back. Dad stops the car, Michael gets out in the rain, dad says "You remember how to get home." The perfect family is most often a myth, outsiders see a mom, dad, and one or more kids all seemingly in perfect harmony. But dynamics inside the family, in the car, at the dinner table, in the garage, often paint a much different picture.In this story the mother is the "frame" that holds everything together. But when she is gone, what happens? Ryan Reynolds is good in a serious role as Michael Taylor , who as a young adult is an author. He is coming home for his sister's graduation. On the plane a flight attendant brings a copy of his book and asks if he would sign it, which he does willingly.Willem Dafoe is perfectly cast as the dad, professor Charles Taylor . Julia Roberts is the mom, Lisa Taylor , who gave up her career to function as an at-home mom.I will admit that the first few scenes were a bit off-putting, as they switched seemingly randomly between the past and the present. My wife and I had a bit of difficulty figuring out who each character was and how they were related. But getting past that it turned out to be a good story of family dynamics.SPOILERS: Charles is very difficult, very controlling, yet also in need of a certain amount of ego-stroking. Lisa understands him well and helps keep things balanced. But while they are going to pick up Lisa's sister, sis's son is in the street retrieving a home-run hit by his little sister. Momentarily distracted by Lisa's need to put on makeup in the car, Charlie veers to avoid the boy and crashes into a utility pole. Lisa was not wearing her seat belt, the car was perhaps too old to have air bags, and Lisa died. The aftermath threw family members into a renewed state of unrest but eventually Michael and Charlie begin to manage their differences. In going through some papers and phone call records of his mom's he figures out she had been having an affair and was in fact planning on leaving Charlie. Michael looked up the man and in essence thanked his for giving a bit of happiness to his mom, after all after she was dead there was no additional consequence.

First the cruelty. Yeah, I'm a tree hugger and that's why I think imagery of firecrackers put inside living fish and the senseless batting of fireflies with tennis rackets is a terrible message for children and impressionable young adults. As for the characters -I just didn't like them. Ryan Reynolds was pretty flat, smoked cigarettes, and didn't seem like the same kid that grew up. And then I'm just tired of seeing women -like the one Julia Roberts portrayed- getting mentally abused and just taking it. Don't bother with this one. I love Carrie-Anne Moss but there was little development of her character -in fact I couldn't figure out her relationship to everyone and I'm not about to sit through it again. And then, probably worst of all, I'm really tired of watching drivers turn their heads for several seconds to talk to the person next to them. Let's work on fresh material, Hollywood.