Year of Release: 2005
Director: Thomas Bezucha
Starring: Diane Keaton, Dermot Mulroney, Sarah Jessica Parker, Craig T. Nelson, Luke Wilson, Claire Danes, Tyrone Giordano, Brian White, Elizabeth Reaser, Paul Schneider, Savannah Stehlin, Jamie Kaler
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
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Synopsis and Review
Director Thomas Bezucha made a name for himself with his debut feature "Big Eden" which premiered in 2000 to overall good critical reception, which in turn opened the doors for this bigger budgeted endeavor. "The Family Stone" follows the narrative of a large family who meets on a recurring basis for Christmas. This year, the oldest sibling, Everett is bringing home with him his girlfriend Meredith. Meredith who is a bit high strung, believes his family won't particularly like her. Amy one of Everett's sisters, briefly describes to the rest of the family meeting her and how awkward Meredith is. The remaining siblings appear for the holidays, including Thad and his partner Patrick, Susannah who is pregnant and whose husband isn't able to join for now due to work, and Ben who is currently single. Meredith's attempts to ingratiate herself with the family, including Sybil and Kelly, respectively the matriarch and patriarch of the family don't go so well, and after a few incidents she decides to take shelter at a local inn. She also decides to call her sister Julie for support. Everett who is planning to propose to Meredith, and wants to pass on a family heirloom in the process, gets a disapproving message from Sybil. As Julie arrives in town, the interactions between the group start changing, as does Sybil's own revelations that all is not well with her.
"The Family Stone" is a film that tries to be a lot of things simultaneously, aiming to be a heartwarming Christmas film, one that has a message of tolerance and inclusivity, but also a romantic comedy where a career focused woman has an epiphany that work isn't everything (a la Charles Shyer's "Baby Boom"), and where misaligned couples eventually find their happy ending. It's quite a lot, with a lot of different characters all aiming to have space for their quirks and specificities, which allows them to differentiate themselves from each other. In the end all these competing agendas is one of the downfalls of the film. Meredith's storyline is treated rather shoddily, with Sarah Jessica Parker channeling a bit of Kathy Wood into the role, but not having the opportunity to give her a bit more dimension. She's portrayed for the most part as a rather shrill and grating character (a bit similarly to what Sandra Bullock started with in "The Proposal", but was able to deconstruct as the narrative continued), never giving the character an opportunity to demonstrate what makes her successful, appreciative of her path or even her brilliance. The family itself comes across as both loving and accepting, but oddly enough also judgmental and rather prickly. None of the siblings has much in terms of discernible character traits (what exactly is the difference between Luke Wilson's Ben and Dermot Mulroney's Everett, aside from the actors themselves is hard to understand), with some of them appearing more as backdrop, as opposed to fully functional characters (this isn't Wes Anderson's "The Royal Tenenbaums" for sure). Ultimately what makes this film watchable is the fantastic cast that is assembled. Diane Keaton and Craig T. Nelson have great chemistry and bring warmth and humor to the film, and get solid support from Rachel McAdams (who still gets a bit lost in all the noise) and Luke Wilson. The production team is solid, including the cinematography from Jonathan Brown and score from Michael Giacchino. It's watchable, but not as memorable as this fantastic cast deserves.
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