The Family Stone
What appears to be a simple fish out of water Meet the Parents kind of holiday comedy (involving an heirloom diamond) is actually a (mostly) surprisingly complex tale of a great group of people painfully misunderstanding each other. While my companions and I had some disagreement as to who was really coming off likable and who was coming off as rude, what was great about the movie is how no character really stuck to our first impressions, just like the characters’ first impressions were also forced to change during the movie. We were treated to sibling and parental and relationship dynamics and a double helix of a plot so interesting and layered and complex, and we all made decisions about what we thought of so and so, and then we were forced to reassess our feelings as we learned new information, or as people changed their tune. It all felt real, the meanness was not cartoonish, the rudeness was all unintentional and clearly so, the awkwardness was palpable. It’s a deft portrayal of a lot of people who know and don’t know each other, and who don’t even know themselves.
Sarah Jessica Parker is coming home with boyfriend Dermot Mulroney, reprising his favorite role as Man Who Doesn’t Know What He Wants. He’s got a duty to her and to his family, and as with many halves of a couple playing referee between family and lover, he messes up; it’s a much more human portrayal of a person we have all known (or been or dated) than what he was allowed in My Best Friend’s Wedding. Parker is completely out of her element in this family and stumbles in trying too hard; they try too hard too, and all trying in exactly the wrong ways.
Diane Keaton and Craig T. Nelson are Mulroney’s parents (as well as 4 other kids plus some hangers on) and they get to start as Types and then move into a much more complex characterization, which I appreciated. We think Keaton will be doing her hilarious wacky older lady role, but then we have the painful dinner and then she unwraps the red gift and it’s really terrific. Even Clair Danes (as Parker’s sister, called in for support but largely wasted) gets to chew thoughtfully on her own foot despite having no reason to invest in this family. It’s a true rollercoaster of emotions and moods, and while that descriptor is a bit hackneyed, it’s the most descriptive possible. Rachel McAdams gets to channel her inner Mean Girl again, but without the wild eyed camp, making it all the more delectable.
In the final act were a couple of dischordant episodes of lame Hollywood triteness which would have been disappointing in a more pedestrian film. In this movie, however, with all the careful weaving and bobbing and subtleties that had developed, these splashes of unworthiness were more glaring. Written and directed by Thomas Bezucha (his second time for both jobs), these aberrant moments felt like studio pressure rather than anything genuine to the story. Maybe the actual events could have happened in these situations more organically, but agh! Overall, however, the film rises above such plebeian mistakes, and is rewarding to watch.
MPAA Rating PG-13
Release date 12/16/05
Time in minutes 102
Director Thomas Bezucha
Studio 20th Century Fox
