The Family Stone

Plot synopsis:
In the opening scene, Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker), an uptight, workaholic businesswoman is on her cell phone in a store, and her fiancee Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) is buying a gift for his sister Amy. He takes her phone and hangs it up. They pause as the opening credits roll with Christmas cards displaying various sketches of 'Christmasy' looking scenes. It zooms in on the Stone family home and mother Sybil Stone (Diane Keaton) sort of sadly staring out the window as her son Thad and his boyfriend/life partner Patrick drive up in their Range Rover. Thad and Patrick come into the house and Sybil gives Patrick a hug, sneaks up on Thad, who is hearing impaired.Next to arrive at the house is sister Amy Stone (Rachel McAdams), who pulls up in her beat up Volvo, which matches Kelly (Craig T. Nelson) and Sybil Stone's maroon Volvo wagon in the driveway. She is dressed sort of haphazardly and her stuff falls out of her bag into the snow. She is irritated. A similar reunion takes place inside the house, where sister Susannah and her daughter Elizabeth are also there. Brother Ben has not arrived, as he has missed the first two flights from San Francisco.It is now that sister Amy begins to tell the family (her father Kelly, mom Sybil, sister Susannah, brother Thad, boyfriend Patrick) about her dinner out in New York with other brother Everett and his girlfriend, Meredith Morton. She describes Meredith as awful, uptight, and describes how horrible she is. Meanwhile, Everett and Meredith pull up in his Saab. The family all watches them in the car through the window, where a visibly nervous Meredith is sharing her apprehension with Everett. They are dressed very formally, whereas the rest of the family is looking very bohemian.Dad Kelly goes outside to help them with their things, and Meredith has to duck out of the way as Kelly and Everett embrace. The family inside snorts. Meredith tries to shake Kelly's hand, and he sort of awkwardly hugs her. Inside they go, where everyone embraces Everett and the uncomfortable Meredith is sort of in the middle of it all, again trying with the handshake of Sybil whom she says has a lovely home. Meredith keeps shouting at Thad even though its not necessary. Everyone else knows sign language (Meredith doesn't). Little Elizabeth remarks that Meredith has nice shoes. Amy hardly acknowledges Meredith's Merry Christmas.Up to Everett's bedroom, where Meredith refuses to share a bed with him in his parents home. So Everett asks for her to have a different place to sleep, and she takes Amy's room, who isn't very happy and she and Sybil make that clear as Meredith moves her stuff in. Meredith is aware of their displeasure, but isn't getting a lot of help to rectify the situation. Then her sister, Julie, calls, and Meredith tells her that they all hate her and that yes, she is being herself. Ben shows up, where his mother informs him that there will be no pot in the house this year.They go to get pizza and Meredith tells the endless and boring story of how they met before the fam settles in. Later on they play charades. Amy accuses Meredith of pointing at Patrick who is African American, to indicate the fourth word in her clue, 'The Bride Wore Black'..... basically calls her a racist.Bedtime. No one is happy. Mom and Dad discuss that Everett will be asking for the ring at some point and she doesn't want to give it to him for Meredith.The next day. Meredith comes to the kitchen where Sybil is. Apologies and awkward tension. Then Amy comes in demanding coffee. More awkward tension. Sybil tells Amy that a local man is still in town and still likes her and shares with Meredith that Brad Stevenson popped Amy's cherry which Amy doesn't like. Sybil leaves the room. Meredith attempts to make small talk with Amy to no avail. Finally Meredith loses it and asks her what it was that she ever did to her, to which Amy says nothing but smiles smugly. Then Meredith announces to her that she doesn't care if she likes her or not. Amy says, "oh, sure you do."While the gift exchange takes place in the kitchen, Everett asks his mom for her mother's wedding ring that she promised him awhile back when he was dating someone she liked better than Meredith. Long story short, she doesn't want that woman wearing her mothers ring so she says "no". This is the beginning of Everett being very angry.Meredith decides to check into the local inn after the Amy incident, where her younger sister Julie (Claire Danes) will be joining her, forgoing Christmas with her own family. It is at this point where Everett loses his patience with his dysfunctional family. He gathers the group together, and declares that their behavior will now change. They cant believe he's serious, and when Amy tries to smart off again, he slams his fist down and shouts that they will pull their fangs out and be nice. He then storms off after telling them that they better get used to Meredith because shes important to him. They are off to the inn, but not before Ben extends the olive branch in the form of coffee in Sybil's favorite mug, and also telling Meredith that he had a dream about her last night. He doesn't get to tell her what the dream was.After the inn, somehow Meredith is back at the house. Susannah, who is very pregnant by the way, goes upstairs where Patrick has informed her that her mom is taking nap. Her mom rolls over when Susannah gets in bed with her. Susannah asks Sybil "who else knows?"Ben and Dad Kelly are seen at the local football field, getting stoned by smoking dope. They are having pleasant conversation when Ben asks what's up with mom, and Kelly acts like nothing is going on. Ben insists that its obvious that she is sick, again, and finally Kelly admits that it's true and that the prognosis is not good. Ben gets upset. They go home.Meanwhile, Thad and Everett are shopping in town.... for an engagement ring. Thad tells Everett that he shouldn't marry Meredith. Everett can't believe it. Back at home, Meredith is bonding with Patrick in the kitchen. They are making the Morton family Christmas morning breakfast item. Everett and Thad are going to the bus stop to meet Julie. Julie gets off the bus and Everett is enamored. Julie then falls as she gets off the bus. Back at the house, the family LOVES Julie. Loves. The greeting that you would expect Meredith to get. They are in the kitchen, where Ben walks in and hugs Sybil and is emotional, and Amy wants to know whats wrong and they all pretend nothing is wrong. Everyone is asking Meredith why she put mushrooms in the breakfast item because Everett is allergic and she freaks out; everyone is also attending to Julies cut knee. Meredith takes over and takes Julie upstairs to fix the cut, and is clearly aware that everyone likes Julie and hates her still.In the next scene, everyone is having Christmas Eve dinner. Everyone is making pleasant conversation about Ben's work and Julie's work, when the conversation turns to Patrick and Thad's attempt to adopt children. Meredith asks them if they care about the race of their child, as Patrick is black and Thad is white. They say that they don't care what color it is, they are happy to be getting a kid. Then talk turns to them being gay, and Sybil (very strung-out on the pain/cancer medication she is taking) remarks that she wishes all three of her sons were gay because then they would never leave her. Clearly uncomfortable, the conservative Meredith asks Sybil point blank if she was serious about wanting all three of her boys to be gay, because "why would a mother wish that on her children?". The tone of the conversation takes a serious and troubling turn, when Meredith tries to understand why Sybil would wish for her kids to have a difficult life of being gay when it's hard enough for all of them "being normal". This cynical remark takes the conversation on a downward spiral, when Everett doesn't help her explain what she means, and Sybil yells at Meredith followed by Kelly yelling more. Meredith responds by leaving the dinner table and running outside to the Saab. Before Julie can try and stick up for Meredith, Sybil shouts at Thad that he's "more normal than all the other assholes at the table".Meanwhile, we hear Meredith unsuccessfully trying to leave the Stone family home, with the Saab hitting a shrub, then a tree. Julie starts to go to help her, but Ben volunteers to head outside. He gets to the car, and says to Meredith, "well ma'am what seems to be the problem here?" She bursts into more sobs, and he tells her to move over and proceeds to take her to a bar.Everett has lost his appetite. Later, when he can't reach Meredith, he decides to go and look for her. Julie goes too.Meredith and Ben are getting loaded (drunk) at the local bar on Dos Equis beers. Ben informs Meredith that she really needs to relax. Ben tells her that deep down she is a freak, she just doesn't let her flag fly. She drinks some more beers. She picks a song. She sits back down. She is getting drunk.Julie and Everett are having a walk and talking about life. Everett is clearly taken with Julie.Meanwhile, back at the bar, in walks Brad Stevenson (Amy's son) and his ambulance driving partner Dave. Meredith makes the Brad connection, and demands they join them for beers. More Julie and Everett bonding. He is clearly unfulfilled and has lived the life he thought his family wanted him to live and be perfect and that has not entailed him living his life the way he has wanted to.Now Meredith's song comes on. She makes Brad dance with her and invites him to Christmas morning. She is now disheveled and wasted, and says it would be really great if they could get some pot to smoke and does Ben know where they could get some.Julie and Everett walk back to the inn, where there is no Meredith. Everett invites Julie for a cup of coffee, but she tells him that she cant do that, presumably because Meredith is her sister.Meredith and Ben are now drunk and in the Saab outside where Ben tells Meredith that in the dream she was a little girl shoveling snow, and that he was the snow and she was scooping him up.Back at the inn, Julie is in bed reading, and there is a knock at the door. Its not Everett but is Kelly wanting to apologize to Julie and to Meredith for what went down back at dinner. Back at the house, Everett walks into the house, and Sybil apologizes. He tells her that he doesn't believe that she is sorry. Kelly comes home and Sybil tells him that Everett is super pissed. She tells him that she is scared of a lot of things, but mostly that he's getting married for the wrong reasons and she wont be around for it anyways. She slightly opens her blouse to reveal scares from a double mastectomy and Kelly kisses her. Everett tries to call Meredith, she doesn't answer because she is sleeping on Ben's shoulder in the Saab.The next morning, it is Christmas Day. Susannah and Elizabeth want to open stockings. Meredith wakes up, and realizes that she is in Ben's bed and he is in the shower. She freaks, and freaks some more when Kelly is knocking at the door to see when he came home since the Saab is back in the driveway. He finally walks in, to find Meredith in Ben's bed, and turns and walks out sort of shocked.Downstairs, Everett is working on coffee when Sybil comes in and gives him the ring. He remains pissed, when a shell shocked Kelly walks in and is tossed out by Sybil. More talk about wanting Everett to be happy, when Sybil drops the illness bomb again (implying that her cancer is advanced and will not recover), and Everett has a breakdown about it. Then Julie comes in, and somehow in the scenario Everett asks her to try on the Stone ring, which she then cant get off her finger. Chaos ensues, and Julie is upset, no one understands why. Then in walks Meredith, when Everett asks where shes been, she lies and says she just got there. The ring chaos continues, and Julie and Meredith go into the bathroom to get the ring off. Then it all spills out. Meredith thinks she slept with Ben, Julie tells her that the ring is her wedding ring and she says something like "that's it?"Brad shows up and Amy is angry with Meredith for inviting him and how do you know him, etc. They were all at the bar, he tells the story. They are all gathering to open presents in the family room.The scene gets weird because Meredith thinks that Everett is going to propose and she's not up for it, so she rushes to give out her gift for everyone. They're all kind of shocked that she has gotten them a gift, then they open it as a group. She has gotten them all a framed photo of a pregnant Sybil, and they are all shocked that she would give them such a thoughtful gift. Sybil tells her that she has done good. She gets up to go do something, get away, and Everett tries to go with her and she blurts out that she will not marry Everett in front of everyone. Then Everett tells her that he wasn't going to ask, and then she blurts out that she slept with Ben. Then Ben tries to tell them that they didn't sleep together at all, but then Meredith leaves the room to go to the kitchen, sobbing about how humiliated she is.She tires to put her Morton family meal in the oven, and now that they realize she's not a horrible person, Amy and Sybil feel bad for her humiliation and go to the kitchen, where they smack the kitchen door and hit Meredith, and her dish falls all over her and all over the floor. She is crying more, asking them why they think they are better than her, and tells Amy that she is the worst, then Amy falls in the egg mess. Meanwhile Everett is chasing Ben, they end up in the kitchen, where Ben finally is able to tell him that they didn't have sex, and he slept on the floor. And why does he care really, he doesn't love her. Sybil, Amy and Meredith hear this exchange, and obviously agree with this assessment.Everett showers, Julie finds out when the bus back to her home leaves that night. Everett and Meredith chat in his room, basically concurring that they're done. Meredith goes to Ben's room, and he invites her to sit on the bed. Then he tells her to get out of her clothes which smell like puke, and she puts on a tee short and they lay and sing Christmas songs. Susannah's husband finally shows up. Everett wonders where Julie is, and Elizabeth has the family ring on and fesses up that Julie said goodbye. Everett and Thad and Kelly go looking for her at the inn, then Everett spots her across the way at the bus stop. He goes to her as the bus drives up and asks her to stay. She doesn't and the bus leaves. Then the bus stops and she gets off and asks him what he's doing for New Years.One Year Later. Christmas Eve.Thad and Patrick and their new adopted baby son pull up to the Stone house in their Range Rover. They go into the house, where Ben and Meredith (now married) are waiting. Susannah and her new baby are there along with Elizabeth, as is Dad Kelly. In the living room are Amy and Brad Stevenson (now married). Sybil is nowhere in sight. Amy is wearing a ring that Sybil always wore throughout the movie (confirming to us that Sybil is dead, having lost her recurring battle with breast cancer definitively). Then Everett and Julie (also married to each other) show up. Everyone is together and sort of smiling, and they are decorating the family Christmas tree. They all leave Brad and Amy in the family room, where Amy hangs an ornament that Sybil had been staring at earlier in the movie.THE END

Tags: dramatic, romantic, comedy, cruelty, entertaining

Review:
"The Family Stone" proves itself a better-than-average example of the genre because of its talented cast and reasonably intelligent script.Sarah Jessica Parker's presence ensures that Meredith always remains sympathetic, even when we can also perfectly understand why she irritates the Stones.
Nelson, Dermot Mulroney, Rachel McAdams, Luke Wilson--make the most of their roles, and, more importantly, they really do start to seem like a family, not a random collection of actors.
The only actor who fails to make an impression is Claire Danes, who can't do much with the underwritten role of Meredith's sister Julie."The Family Stone" is not a groundbreaking movie, but it goes beyond the fish-out-of-water clichés that its plot might suggest.
Reviewers on this site have accused the movie of pushing a liberal agenda via its sympathetic portrayal of an interracial gay couple and a semi-bohemian family--and of pushing a conservative agenda via its portrayal of the Stones as hypocritical liberals who pay lip service to tolerance but are prejudiced against people like Meredith.
Personally, I'm not sure if "The Family Stone" has any agenda, other than to cast good actors in a holiday comedy-drama that doesn't insult its audience's intelligence.
Yes, I realize that a terminal illness was also an issue, and yes, Keaton is a fine actress, but her character failed the test of grace--more the writer's fault than Keaton's.I think that what would actually have happened in this situation is that either the eldest son would have upbraided his family for their boorish and cruel behavior, taken his fiancée and left(if he was really committed)telling them they could call him when they grew up; or, the fiancée, seeing that he was not really committed, would have left, herself.
***** The Previews of The Family Stone seemed to hold out the promise of a genuinely light and thoroughly amusing comedy, perhaps a bit over-the-top, but focused on the cultural differences between a very liberal family, (giving the impression that the parents were, perhaps, "Hippies" back in the 60's) and a super-conservative and tightly wound woman, engaged to one of their sons.The problem is that the film showcased in the theatrical trailer plus the marketing campaign launched to promote it, vs.
***** The Previews of The Family Stone seemed to hold out the promise of a genuinely light and thoroughly amusing comedy, perhaps a bit over-the-top, but focused on the cultural differences between a very liberal family, (giving the impression that the parents were, perhaps, "Hippies" back in the 60's) and a super-conservative and tightly wound woman, engaged to one of their sons.The problem is that the film showcased in the theatrical trailer plus the marketing campaign launched to promote it, vs.
Sarah Jessica Parker, Luke Wilson, Dermot Mulroney, Claire Danes, Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Craig T.
Sarah Jessica Parker, Luke Wilson, Dermot Mulroney, Claire Danes, Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Craig T.
The discomfort felt by Sarah Jessica Parker's uptight career girl as she spends Christmas with her partner's close-knit New England liberal family is used to good effect, but as much awkwardness is felt as a result of their jibes as by her tactlessness, so she's not marked out solely as a stooge.
Dermot Mulroney, Rachel McAdams (the best thing in Wes Craven's 'Red Eye'), Luke Wilson (a much better actor than brother Owen) and Diane Keaton also give fine turns, and Craig T.
"The Family Stone" was my favourite of the many movies we saw over the Holidays -- but we almost missed out on it, due to bad Marketing..
I thought it would be a heartwarming movie about misunderstandings and the mutual awkwardness of meeting your in-laws.What the trailers left out was the fact that the family hates their prospective daughter-in-law Meredith without ever giving her a chance.
Being uptight does not make someone a bad person (think Monica on Friends).Throughout the movie I was waiting for Meredith to get her comeuppance, like Ben Stiller's character does in Meet the Parents.
It is trying to be too many things and doing none of them well.I finished watching the movie with a sense that if I knew anyone remotely like these people I would have a great deal of difficulty getting up and facing the day tomorrow and I didn't remotely care what happened to any of them.Please take my warning and give this movie the widest possible berth - you won't regret it!.
It had great acting, laugh out loud scenes, and heart breaking moments, but in the meantime, I felt it didn't know what it wants to be, some of the characters were stereotypes we've seen a hundred times before, and I thought some of things happening were totally unbelievable.The film tells the story of uptight businesswoman Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) who meets the parents of her boyfriend Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) for the first time during the Christmas celebrations.
From the get go, The Stones don't like Meredith, so she calls her sister Julie (Claire Danes) to come back her up.The picture didn't know whether it wants to be a slapstick comedy, or a heartfelt drama.
And I think the film could have used more time to give us a better idea of some characters like Julie and Ben (Luke Wison).
But it's always a good sign when you wish a film was longer; Frankly, I was entertained throughout the film.The Family Stone had a great cast, with some actors giving their best performances in a long time, and I'm surprised no one from the cast was nominated for an Academy award.
In fact, I think Danes is the only cast member who gave a so-so performance.So, I'd recommend The Family Stone, but with a cast like this, I can't help but think this film could have been much better..
Into this sour mash of liberal posturing we bring the innocent victim representing everything this wonderful family sees as counter their culture, Sarah Jessica Parker.A fairly bright middle schooler who stumbled into this film could easily determine the plot permutations after the first fifteen minutes.
One of the things I like about the movie is that this is not in your face as far as the tragedy part, no more than a few lines in a couple of scenes.Sarah Jeessica Parker plays against her type, a stuffy, straight-laced businesswoman and does a surprisingly good job throughout the movie.
If you want a film that contradicts itself repeatedly, pushes a certain agenda, and leaves you feeling that you just wasted two hours of your life, then this movie is for you.For example, all the family acts like the mom character is a loving, nurturing soul, but in the film, she's one of the worst back-stabbing, smug, self-worshipping witches you'll have the misfortune to meet.The situations are forced and contrived.
Okay so, there's a gay deaf brother with a black boyfriend, a dad who smokes pot with his middle aged son, a mother with breast cancer, another son with an annoying fiancé (I don't like Sarah Jessica Parker- this role certainly doesn't help her at all), and a daughter who doesn't do much of anything and they all get together for Christmas.This is supposed to be funny?
The film seems like an excuse to try to push the envelope with issues, but the issues are presented in such a way that seems like "think liberal, or you hate everyone." This disengaged me from the movie, and I was thankful for the ending credits..
Aside from the epilogue we're also supposed to believe that they go through these life-changing moments (mostly at each other's expense, no less) in the space of twenty four hours, except for the characters that aren't horrible, but they're so boring and insipid you wonder why they're there at all.I've always made it a point to see every film I start to the end.
If you've got a hankering for a good old fashioned feel-bad holiday movie, "The Family Stone" will be right up your alley.
Then you may be able to enjoy this grueling story about an uptight and mostly unlikable yuppie, Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker), being introduced to her fiancé's mostly obnoxious and unfriendly family, led by dragon-lady mom (Diane Keaton) and wet noodle dad (Craig T.
Things get oh so wacky when Meredith's sister, Claire Danes, shows up to lend support and falls for Meredith's fiancé, while Meredith herself falls for the stoned slacker son (Luke Wilson) who we're supposed to believe, in a stretch of imagination that no amount of yoga will make possible, is a documentary film maker.
The screenwriters drag Claire Danes into the film and then have absolutely nothing for her character to do; her "love story" with Dermot Mulroney (he of the perpetual snarl) is not the least bit developed or believable.
It is hard to know which player is most guilty of throwing the game in this charade of a comedy: the actors, the writer, or the director.In this painfully unfunny portrait of a quirky loving family, Emmett brings his cold and "formal" girlfriend Meredith home for the Christmas holiday.
Dermot Mulroney completely misses the mark in his attempt at complexity and devotion to either his girlfriend or his mother.The writing is flat and uninspired, but a talented cast should be able to mine a script for moments that aren't on the page.The direction is either so precise or heavy handed as to not let the actors create characters that interact organically.
Resorting to slip and fall gags, and those old favorites, shouting at deaf people, and "I got drunk last night and can't remember if I had sex with the wrong person," I heard only two laughs during the entire screening, both generated by the oafish warmth of Luke Wilson's delivery of otherwise incidental dialog.Press releases (and some reviewers) have lazily ascribed the term "dysfunctional" to the Stones, but this family appears to operate pretty well inclusive of the ordinary miscommunication we all experience in everyday life.
If this is dysfunctional, I'd like to be adopted!The unsatisfying ending is so absurdly ridiculous that Meg Ryan's reaction when discovering Tom Hanks is her online pen pal in "You've Got Mail" looks realistic by comparison.At one point Parker's character screams, "When is someone going to love me?" My answer in five words: "Not in this film, dear.".
I definitely recommend this movie to anyone and everyone, whether you're a sap like me, or you just need a good reality check to make you appreciate your own family and the time you have with them..
Based on the trailers I had seen, I went into this movie thinking that it was a lighthearted comedy about a girl going to meet the parents and having funny misunderstandings occur.
It was instead a film about a girl who just can't seem to make her fiancée's family like her and who keeps acting weird and can't even make the audience feel sorry for her.
Political Correctness reigns in Hollywood, billed in the previews as a romantic comedy, the Family Stone turns out to be a character study of a bunch of annoying liberals.Diane Keaton playing the most smug, elitist mother on the planet.
In the end, most people will feel more sympathetic to the unlikely Sarah Jessica Parker who had to put with this family from college town, East Coast ville.Hollywood gives us: Crash (we are all racists), Lord of War (we are all evil gun runners), the Constant Gardener (we are all evil industrialists), Syriana, Good Night and Good Luck, and American Dreamz (fame suck up wannabes) I know I missed a few here from 2005/2006.Oy vey, give me the kid's cartoons like Over the Hedge.
Having decided they will dislike her even before she arrives, the plot writers seem not to have realised that if she is so appalling before she arrives for one brother, the family should feel equally appalled for another brother.The saddest thing about this film is that rudeness to a guest seems to be acceptable when the family defend their own bohemian beliefs .It is truly not worth watching.Had I been the girlfriend I'd have beat a hasty retreat and been glad of a lucky escape!''Here happy Xmas ..have a nice life ...have your ring back ...BYE ...''.
Makes no sense whatsoever.How would a family supposedly SO understanding and hip be so intolerant of someone invited into their homes unless that character truly were written that way...which SJP's character is not...nor would it make sense that Dermot Mulroney's character would want to date someone like that in the first place.Not only did I not like this movie, I found it irritating and offensive to truly open minded people, much less, informed movie goers.Maybe children who see the world in black & white might like the movie, but for adults, they'll know they're being manipulated in the worst way..
The Plot During The Stone family's annual Christmas holiday weekend, a son brings home his self-centered, uptight girlfriend who talks too much, with plans of proposing.
The previews for "The Family Stone" made me believe that it was going to be like "Meet The Parents." I found all of the characters accept for Luke Wilson and Sarah Jessica Parker, to be unbearable!
Sarah does a good job of playing the uptight business woman, it seems to me that her being brutally honest was a bit too much for this whacked out, vulgar family.I thought this movie didn't know if it wanted to be a drama or a comedy, therefore it was neither.
If anybody sees the trailer of this film,he will think it as a funny romantic comedy.But surprise!it's not.Neither it's a romantic drama or a serious drama.It can best be described as a confusing director with a good cast and a greasy(of course not the travolta's one) plot.The whole film full of the confusing activities and dull moments.Sarah Jessica Parker can be seen trying to make influence on his boyfriend's family,but guess what she lands with his brother at last.The dying mother(Diane Keaton)supports her younger son(cannot hear)who is a gay(of course with a black partner),the harsh sister(Rachel madams)always raises her voice against parker,Luke Wilson having crush on his elder brother love at the first sight and the elder brother going for the sister of his girlfriend.What to expect from this film?answer is 1 and half of good sleep.Am I a little too bit harsh?.....if u want u can see.But don't say that i didn't tell u before..
Suffice to say it annoyed me to the point where I couldn't pay attention to the next couple of scenes.So, if you're in the mood for an unfunny comedy with poorly written characters and a misguided Hollywood agenda, give The Family Stone a try..
In the following lines you'll read all about the failure of this painful experience of which I forced myself to watch so that you, reader and perhaps future viewer, don't have to do it yourself.In short words: Dermot Mulronet brings his girlfriend Sarah Jessica Parker to meet his family on Christmas and it turns out to be a disaster because Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Craig T.
Nelson and unlimited company hates this woman out of nowhere, with no reason at all, and they show to her this side, and Sarah plays a fast talker, a bit introverted figure with few confidence on herself, to the point of calling her sister (Claire Danes) to assist her during this painful holiday.A movie based on disrespect amidst different people AND trying to make funny of it is not my style.
Here comes some examples of why this film sucked.The dinner scene, where Sarah Jessica talks and talks without finding the right words to express herself about how difficult is to be gay and to have a gay son (reference of one of the Stone's family member and his boyfriend) was insulting.
These people never gave Sarah a chance to present herself, they judge and judge her again, they're so closed, trapped in their own little worlds and securities that they forgot that they're not perfect, and actually, they're annoying."The Family Stone" gets even lower with a unfair subplot concerning Diane Keaton's character with a fragile health condition that seems to intervene with the family reactions to the girl.
Sarah Jessica Parker's character gets insulted and abused seriously by Family Stone in one scene and in the next everything is back to funny and quirky again.
Those are attempts to make the family seem like good people, but they are just too shallow and forced to make it work.For the most part you just really feel sorry for Sarah Jessica Parker's unsure and anxious character, but you don't know if you're supposed to, because however cruel the Stones get, the movie still tries to sell them as nice people.
In the end, they bring characters together that would never fall in love with each other under those circumstances in real life and the whole movie ends up being an illogical and unbelievable chaos.What stays behind is the bitter notion that someone wants to force his values upon you under the disguise of a heartwarming Christmas comedy.
For sheer bloviating meaningfulness, mixed in with some of the more excruciatingly uncomfortable scenes I've ever seen in a ensemble movie, there's The Family Stone, a film that simply doesn't know what it wants to be.
Definitely one of the worst movies of the year, and totally a waste of time for the strong to wonderful cast that was wasted in this piece of garbage (what were they thinking???) Sarah Jessica Parker's transformation seemed too rushed - all she needed was to get liquored-up during one night out on the town with her boyfriend's brother???
The prodigal son Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) brings his conservative and bigot fiancée Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker) to spend Christmas holidays with his very closed family.
I did not like this movie except for Sarah Jessica & Luke Wilson.