The Family Stone
THE FAMILY STONE (2005)
Starring Claire Danes, Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Dermot Mulroney, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Luke Wilson, Tyrone Giordano, Brian White, Elizabeth Reaser, Paul Schneider, Savannah Stehlin, Jamie Kaler, Robert Dioguardi, Carol Locatell, Ginna Carter, Gus Buktenika, Michael Pemberton, Ron Wall and Christopher Parker.
Screenplay by Thomas Bezukha.
Directed by Thomas Bezukha.
Distributed by Twentieth Century Fox. 102 minutes. Rated PG-13.
Holiday family gatherings, no matter how close the family, are never nearly as fun as we would like to imagine. However, if it is tough for the clan, it is torture for outsiders who wander in. The rest of the people in the room have their own shorthand, their own histories, their own catchphrases and simmering frustrations.
For someone coming in brand new to the dynamic – all the time is spent playing catch-up. This dynamic was explored wonderfully this summer with the overlooked Junebug. That indie was small in scope but big on ideas.
The Hollywood version of the story has now arrived. The Family Stone has an exceptionally strong cast, a good script and a pure heart. If it is not exactly as hefty (or as good) as Junebug, that is an excusable offense. It is a film that works well enough on its own merits.
It tells the story of the Stones – an extended New England family that has become the annual site of the family get together for the holidays. The patriarch is Kelly (Craig T. Nelson), a college professor. His wife Sybil (Diane Keaton) is a doting but with-it mom. The kids are businessman Everett (Dermot Mulroney), college student Amy (Rachel McAdams), lovable black sheep Ben (Luke Wilson), immensely pregnant housewife Susannah (Elizabeth Reaser) and Thad (Tyrone Giordano), who hits the politically correct trifecta of being deaf, gay and happily partnered with an African-American.
The Stones appear to be a well-balanced family, smart, well-off, educated, liberal and loving. The problem arises when Everett decides to bring his new fiancé Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) to meet his family. To say that things get off to a rocky start is putting it mildly, the all-business Meredith meshes with her future in-laws like oil and water. And somewhat understandably so – Meredith is a horror; uptight, priggish, opinionated, and just vaguely bigoted and homophobic. Any time or way that she tries to fit in just falls horribly flat.
For moral support, Meredith calls in her sister Julie (Claire Danes) to join her. The fact that the tribe loves Julie just makes things worse for Meredith. Suddenly Everett starts to wonder if maybe he has fallen for the wrong sister. And Julie, while trying to be loyal to her older sister, reciprocates the feeling.
In the meantime, brother Ben decides to make a project of Meredith. “You’ve got a freak flag,” he tells her, “you just don’t fly it.” Ben and Meredith become friends, and realize that there is an underlying attraction that they try, but not too hard, to fight off. All of this sibling shuffling would appear to be much more difficult than the movie makes it out to be.
Towards the end of the film, it seems like writer/director Thomas Bezukha loses track of the plot. There are some really unnecessarily slapstick scenes (specifically one with several of the Stone family members floundering about on the kitchen floor drenched in spilled food). On the exact opposite scale of the spectrum, a major character’s illness – which had been hinted at earlier in the film, but still seems like a bit of a manipulation – ramps up the pathos. Also, a relationship between the youngest Stone girl and a local firefighter seems rushed, there is too little transition between her finding him to be annoying to getting to the point where in a prologue which takes place a year later she is ready to marry the guy.
However, The Family Stone has a lot of heart, a lot of humor and a lot of ideas. If it can’t quite rein it all in at the end – well, there are a lot worse problems for a movie to have. (12/05)
Alex Diamond
Copyright ©2005 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: December 23, 2005.
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