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The Family Stone

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The Family Stone (2005)

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Reviews Counted:147

Fresh:77

Rotten:70

Average Rating:5.9/10

Consensus: This family holiday dramedy features fine performances but awkward shifts of tone.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for some sexual content including dialogue, and drug references.

Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:Dec 16, 2005 Wide

Box Office: $59,856,288

Synopsis: Destined to be a Christmas classic, Thomas Bezucha's dazzling dramedy, THE FAMILY STONE, manages to be both warmhearted and sentimental while possessing a razor-sharp hilarious mean streak. The... Destined to be a Christmas classic, Thomas Bezucha's dazzling dramedy, THE FAMILY STONE, manages to be both warmhearted and sentimental while possessing a razor-sharp hilarious mean streak. The fairly conventional story centers on Sarah Jessica Parker's uptight career woman, Meredith, and her run-in with the eponymous Stone family. With her permanently pursed lips and severe bun, SJP looks and acts the anti-Carrie Bradshaw here as, armed with cell phone and business-suit collection, she gears up to meet her fiance's oddball family, a tight-knit, colorful clan who border on bohemian. Matriarch Sybil (Diane Keaton) and patriarch Kelly (Craig T. Nelson) are a loving couple whose diverse children are affectionate and respectful. When Meredith's humorless aura infects the homestead, it is mom Sybil and sister Amy (Rachel McAdams), who sense a romantic mismatch and attack her venomously, sparking a tete-a-tete-a-tete between three feisty females. While this Battle Royal is waged, dramatic subplots brew in the background, one involving the deaf and gay brother Thad's desire to adopt a child, and the other a rather devastating secret on the verge of exposure. It is in the emergence of Meredith's refreshingly calm and breezy younger sister, Julie (Claire Danes), entering the film with a dramatic fall from a bus exit, that brings all conflict to a head. [More]

Starring: Claire Danes, Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Sarah Jessica Parker

Starring: Claire Danes, Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dermot Mulroney, Luke Wilson, Tyrone Giordano, Brian White, Elizabeth Reazer, Savannah Stehlin, Paul Schneider

Director: Thomas Bezucha

Director: Thomas Bezucha
Producer: Michael London
Studio: 20th Century Fox

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Release:

Apr 21, 2009

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Reviews for The Family Stone

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating)
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So, despite its flaws, there is plenty to like, just like any family.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
12/16/05
E! Online

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/01/06
Empire Magazine

This film is clearly a vehicle for Parker. We wouldn't want to waste all the "Sex and the City" steam now would we?

Full Review Source: Sympatico.ca | comment Comment
01/06/06
Angela Baldassarre
Angela Baldassarre
Sympatico.ca

As a comedy, The Family Stone is more easy listening than rock-and-roll, but some of the performances (notably from McAdams and Nelson) are comfortable and affecting.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
12/15/05
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Moments of high hilarity and cringe-inducing honesty are scattered throughout The Family Stone.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
12/16/05
Bob Strauss
Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News

Even with an empty tank of ideas by the end of the picture, Stone still remains worthy of a view, providing that desired blast of familial idiosyncrasies just in time for the holiday season.

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
12/15/05
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com

It plays almost like Terms of Endearment crossed with the feel-good yule romance Love Actually.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
12/16/05
Bruce Westbrook
Bruce Westbrook
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A lump of coal brightened by four diamond-sharp performances.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
12/15/05
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is wonderful; it has heart and humor.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
12/22/05
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

The Family Stone shows us the world through several different sets of eyes, and, by the end, we see exactly what they see.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
12/15/05
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

There are cringe-worthy passages and an overly sentimental structure (everyone pairs up so very tidily), but the performances are delightful, and the picture comes together.

Full Review Source: Slate | comment Comment
12/16/05
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
Slate

It feels forcibly formulaic and yet sort of daringly original, all at the same time.

Full Review Source: Fresno Bee | comment Comment
12/17/05
Donald Munro
Donald Munro
Fresno Bee

With intelligence and unforced spirit to spare, The Family Stone is that rare widely commercial motion picture worth embracing.

Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment Comment
12/15/05
Dustin Putman
Dustin Putman
DustinPutman.com

If this movie doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit, you're either dead...or Jewish.

Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | comment Comment
12/15/05
Edward Douglas
Edward Douglas
ComingSoon.net

Taking the fish out of water concept to the extreme, this old-fashioned holiday comedy tries to revive Capra's zany screwball comedies like You Can't Take It With You

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
11/04/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

While some may roll their eyes at the outrageous fantasyland the Stones live in, others will look at it with wistfulness. Either way, it's a fun place.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
12/15/05
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

Bezucha's film accurately captures the forlorn hysteria of those few days when love should be the primary emotion and not judgmental claustrophobia.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
12/15/05
Erik Childress
Erik Childress
eFilmCritic.com

A terrific screwball comedy in its own right, like a more erudite Meet the Parents.

Full Review Source: Film Blather | comment Comment
12/17/05
Eugene Novikov
Eugene Novikov
Film Blather

Gleefully irreverent and proudly offbeat in its rhythmic mix of pluckiness and pathos, Bezucha's festive family farce is up front and center.

Full Review Source: Movie Eye | comment Comment
12/18/05
Frank Ochieng
Frank Ochieng
Movie Eye

A funny and emotionally resonant family drama about the value of seeing everyone as a work in progress and transcending our provisional and limited judgments of them.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
10/29/05
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice
 
 
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