Family, the one set of people who have the greatest influence in your life but whose selction, you have absolutely no control over. Unstable and traumatic childhoods often lead to unstable and affected adults and that’s the exact predicament Michael (Reynolds) has found himself in.

The successful but unfulfilled romance-novelist had returned to his family home to celebrate his younger sister’s graduation. But when his mother Lisa (Roberts) is unexpectedly killed in a car crash the family are turned upside down. Having always disliked his father Charlie (Dafoe) – who was a little too heavy-handed with his levels of discipline – Micheal is forced to address their fractured relations while also trying and fix his marriage to one-time drug addict Kelly (Moss) and relationship with sister Ryne. Help comes in the form of his lovable Aunt Jane (Watson) who was once a co-conspirator in his youthful rebellions and has always gotten along well with Micheal. But while delving further and further into his family and their past, he discovers a shocking truth about his mother and one that he will have to deal with alone.

Fireflies in the Garden doesn’t live up to expectation and while it has all the potential to be an emotion-evoking heartfelt drama it ends up falling a little flat. This is in partly due to the script which while containing a whole host of characters lacks real depth into all of them and we find it hard to understand some of their motivations or logic. For example Michael’s wife Kelly attends the funeral after being invited by Aunt Jane and even though the couple have broken up, after a quickie make-up session (while the rest of the family are downstairs observing a minute’s silence - truly one of the films comic highlights!) they are back together no questions asked. The only information we have about their break up is that it was due to her drug habit but after an initial conversation with Micheal the subject is never again mentioned. This lack of detail also extends to Aunt Jane character who we never really understand and it thus becomes difficult to figure her out and why she’s so adamant the details of Michael’s latest book are kept a secret.

That said the films main attraction is the character of Micheal whose cheeky, smart and charming nature makes him incredibly likeable and Reynolds does a superb job playing the role. Dafoe and Roberts’s award winning talent are never really on show and we only get a glimpse at what the actors are capable of doing. However, Dafoe’s uncanny ability to sour milk his with the look on his face does make an appearance.   
 
While the film does contain some nice family moments the overall affect that it tries to do too much. It focuses on Michael’s relationship with a number of characters and thus fails to make the audience really connect or identify with any, resulting in a pleasant and enjoyable film at the time, but ultimately quite forgettable.