I can’t deny the incidental pleasures of watching these talented players giving it their all, even in such a misguided project.
The Family Stone (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:34
Fresh:20
Rotten:14
Average Rating:6.1/10
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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Reviews for The Family Stone
It's worth two hours for those who appreciate this kind of workmanlike, low-risk drama.
A feel-bad holiday film about a repellent family, with a milquetoast dad and a smug, devious harpy of a mom.
The Family Stone is a satisfying, big-hearted celebration of diversity that will brighten holiday moviegoing - - at least in the blue states.
A machine-tooled entertainment that's as fake and flimsy as a plastic Christmas tree.
It plays almost like Terms of Endearment crossed with the feel-good yule romance Love Actually.
So check your disbelief at the door, bring along a mini-packet of Kleenex, and brace yourself for Two-Ply and the Family Stone.
What was supposed to be a jewel turns out to be a simple Christmas trinket.
When The Family Stone did touch me, I had such mixed feelings, I half-wished the movie had kept its hands to itself.
Suddenly we're wiping away tears, glancing around to make sure no one noticed we had fallen for this steaming cup of melodrama.
The movie is a holiday romantic comedy that wants to put the holiday romantic comedy out of business.
This is a family, and a movie, where everyone talks at once -- and more often than you'd think, its characters actually come up with something worth saying.
Hollywood is always making family comedies, but they are rarely about real families: relations who are as difficult as they are wonderful, people who both love and irritate the heck out of each other. Families like The Family Stone.
This is pleasing holiday fare that may stay with you through the first months of 2006.
There are many ways to define the shrieking awfulness of The Family Stone, from the general lack of wit to the cheap exploitation of cancer to its casual cruelty.
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