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Movie Review - The Family Stone (2005)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Thomas Bezucha |
| Starring: |
Luke Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Claire Danes, Diane Keaton, Dermot Mulroney, Craig T. Nelson, and Sarah Jessica Parker |
| Rated: |
PG-13 (for some sexual content including dialogue, and drug references) |
| Length: |
102 minutes |
| Genre: |
Drama/Comedy/Romance |
| Tagline: |
Feel The Love. |
| Studio: |
20th Century Fox |
| Website: |
The Family Stone |
| Release: |
December 16, 2005 |
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PLOT
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Dermot Mulroney's family is dysfunctional and quirky. Sarah Jessica Parker is uptight and manly-looking. When
Dermot brings Sarah home to meet the family, naturally, their styles clash. Feeling very uncomfortable in this
setting, Sarah asks her more attractive sister (Danes) to join her. Does this make everything go smoother? Of
course not, it only complicates matters. Typical "family reuniting at Christmas" hijinks ensue.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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Who thought it was a good idea to make a movie about Sly and the Family Stone without Sly being involved? It reminds
me of the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers movie that starred the lovely Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sigourney Weaver
but with no Tom Petty in sight.
*wait for it*
Bwahahaha. *wipes tear* I'm too good.
"That was lame, Johnny. How long have you been waiting to bust that one out?"
All week. But let this be a lesson to you. You see how silly I look? Keep that in mind if you even think about
making a similar joke. I overheard somebody say, "What is this, a movie about Sly and the Family Stone?" and then he
loudly guffawed as if he just read one of my reviews. Anyway, you're probably wondering about the movie, right?
Well, it just didn't too much for me. Rachel McAdams and Luke Wilson did a lot for me (hey, keep your minds out of
the gutter!), but as for the rest of the movie? Not so much. Why in the wide wide world of sports would anybody
make Luke and Rachel secondary characters to Dermot Mulroney and Sarah Jessica Parker? Oh, and all this talk about
SJP possibly being considered for an Oscar nomination? Pleeeeeeease. Ms. McAdams acts circles around Ms. I'm
Overrated Because I was in Sex and the City.
You see, Rachel knows that when you cry in a movie you should actually produce a few tears, whereas SJP's
crying consists of her going "wah hah hah" and then looking up without a hint of moisture on her face. I just
don't understand her appeal. Her acting has never impressed me, and well, I'll just say it - she scares me.
When her hair is pulled back she looks *almost* as manly as I do. I know, I know, some of you ladies will
probably give me flak over this. I remember offending one young lady once because I compared Kirsten Dunst
to Skeletor, but I have to be honest and call 'em like I see 'em.
But throwing my absolute indifference for SJP aside, the movie itself misfires on so many levels. I expected
this to be a mix of comedy and drama, but I didn't count on it falling so heavily on the dramatic side. Luke
and Rachel steal every scene they're in, but whenever they aren't around my interest dropped like Tom Cruise's
credibility. I have no doubt there are plenty of moviegoers who will eat up the sappy, melodramatic attempts
at warming the heart, but it never felt real to me. Everything is placed too neatly into formulaic boxes.
If you have any experience with relational diagrams, then you can plot exactly how this will play out. Here, I'll
get you started:
Dermot Mulroney - Straight-laced, the most normal of the family. Dating SJP.
SJP - Uptight. Doesn't fit in well with the family Stone.
Luke Wilson - Free-spirited. Sees something in SJP that the rest of the family ignores.
Claire Danes - More attractive sister of SJP. Soon realizes she has a lot in common with Dermot.
Would you care to guess who ends up with whom? This is just one of those movies where you will always be one or
two steps ahead of it.
The film also tries way too hard to show us just how quirky the family is. One of the brothers is deaf and gay.
To top all that off he is dating a black man. Woooo, quirky! We get it; they're unconventional - thanks for
forcefully shoving it down our throats. Speaking of the gay deaf son, there's a scene at the midpoint that is
quite awkward and extremely heavy-handed with Diane Keaton going so far as to say that she actually wished that
all her sons would be gay.
When Sarah Jessica Parker questions why she would wish that, Diane Keaton and Craig T. Nelson have
conniption fits and act as if SJP has just suggested that they should stone the gay deaf son after Christmas
dinner. I feel compelled to admit that I felt sorry for SJP's character in this scene. Let me get this straight,
if somebody comes up to you and says, "You know what, I want all my children to be gay," you can't then ask why
without being labeled homophobic? Hollywood, you just need to calm down with your hypersensitivity.
Not a horrible movie, but not a particularly engaging one either. Despite some sporadic laughs, The Family
Stone is never as funny as it should be, never as touching as it wants to be, and nowhere near as good as
I wanted it to be. But what do you expect when you have people in charge who thought it'd be a good idea for
Luke Wilson, Rachel McAdams, and Claire Danes to play second fiddle to lesser talents such as Dermot Mulroney
and Sarah Jessica Parker?
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ODDS & ENDS
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- Billy Crudup, Johnny Knoxville, and Aaron Eckhart were all expected to play the role that eventually went to
Luke Wilson.
- Claire Danes was in The Mod Squad with Josh Brolin who was in Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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This isn't replete with profanity, but there's enough to scare away mama and young kids, particularly quite a few
instances of G-d**n.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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The trailer led me to believe this would be more of a comedy than a drama. Keep that in mind.
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THE GIST
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Luke Wilson and Rachel McAdams steal the show! Unfortunately, there just isn't enough of them and The Family
Stone drags in the lack of their presence.
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