The Family Stone
I think if you were absolutely forced by gunpoint to pick out and watch a Christmas movie, this one would be tolerable. Then again, I am no fan of Christmas flicks.
Unless you are in this unfortunate gunpoint situation, I would really not bother to watch The Family Stone. The film centers around Merideth, a highly uptight career woman (played by Sarah Jessica Parker who is desparately trying to remain "sexy and sassy," but simultaneously break away from her Sex in the City character) whose boyfriend brings her to his family's house for the holidays. The boyfriend , Everett, is played by the ever-bland Dermot Mulroney.
Meanwhile, Parker obviously does not have much range as an actress. The character she portrays in The Family Stone just ends up seeming like her famous Carrie Bradshaw character after having had a nervous breakdown or something. It makes you feel as though you must have missed that juicy season of Sex and the City where Carrie completely loses it and spends time in the psych ward. This "lost" Sex and the City season would have been a far more enjoyable than The Family Stone.
As the film progresses, it turns out that her boyfriend Everett's waspy but close knit and down-to-earth New England family hates Merideth and tries to get rid of her. The more Merideth tries to fit in and get the family to like her, the more they want her gone. Meanwhile Merideth's sister (played by Claire Danes with a recent and great hairstyle makeover) shows up for moral support and ends up falling for Everett. Merideth in turn falls for Everett's free-spirited hippiesque brother played by Luke Wilson.
This film is billed as a comedy but trust me, laughs are nowhere to be found. The laughs the film tried to incorporate seemed forced and unconvincing as anything other than "charming vignettes" deliberately inserted to lighten the mood of the film which really was about things like- cancer. Big surprise, I found The Family Stone to be a bit depressing. Some of the film centered around the matriarch of the family played by Diane Keaton and how she expected to be dying from breast cancer. Can you really throw this kind of drama into a film and still bill it as a feel-good comedy? I ask you!
The best thing about the film was it had nice fuzzy family time feelings throughout. There were a few fairly unique characters thrown in to the film which I liked; for example, the deaf and gay brother and his interracial relationship with his boyfriend. However all in all, I am not sure how much originality The Family Stone really brings to the table. The film does not seem to have much of a good reason for existing. It seems as though someone just asked writer/director Thomas Bezucha, "can you come up with a Christmas date film we can throw a bunch of celebrities into? Here take some money. Lots of money..." The Family Stone was a result of this lame request.
Yes I can admit, it did satisfy the chick flick component for me to some degree and to its defense, The Family Stone wasn't boring. So if you are a woman and feeling like watching something girly and overtly about feelings, this film might not be a bad choice. So just get out the blanket and the Ben & Jerry's and prepare to feel pretty lame.
Grading
Story: C
Acting: C
Visuals: C
Originality/Innovation: D+
Enjoyability: C
Overall: C
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