The Family Stone

Review by Clint Morris

Whack on the Windows Movie Maker, put in a couple of my own family Christmas videos, and make clips of all the most eventful bits.

You’d get something pretty close to The Family Stone.

Eventful, sure, but does that mean you shouldn’t have spared a couple more moments where we’re merely getting to know everyone that’s sitting around the tree just that little bit better?

That’s the main problem with writer/director’s Thomas Bezucha’s dramedy. We just don’t get to know the characters well enough to really connect to them. It tries earnestly to push your buttons - ‘laugh now’, ‘cry now’, ‘aww now’ - but many just won’t "feel it".

Still, that doesn’t mean this all-star festive offering isn’t entertaining - it most certainly is. All the ingredients that make up for a perfect Christmas comedy are here: slip-ups, mismatched couples, squabbles, food fights, tantrums, crushes, embarrassing moments, revelations.

In fact, the only thing missing seems to be Chevy Chase. Crazy families at Yuletide are always easy to watch, and the Stones are no exception.

In a nutshell: one of the sons (Dermot Mulroney) is bringing his new girlfriend - whom he plans to pop the question to over the course of the holiday - home to meet the family for Christmas.

Unfortunately, she (Sarah Jessica Parker), a snooty Manhattan-ite in a designer suit, doesn’t mesh well with the bohemian clan - led by Mum and Dad (Diane Keaton and Craig T.Nelson) - and Christmas starts to look rather grim.

Where Bezucha’s film scores points is its successful intertwine of comedy and drama. Just when it looks like this is going to be an out-and-out comedy, it throws us a curve ball and injects a touching sub-plot about the importance of family and the possibility of losing one of the clan. Again, you probably won’t feel the need to reach for the Kleenex - it tries a little bit 'too hard' in spots - but you might come close.

If The Family Stone is worth a look for any reason, it’s the cast. They’re all brilliant.

Diane Keaton shines in her role as the family rock, Craig T.Nelson gets one of the best roles he’s had in years as her empathetic husband, Rachel McAdams is perfect as the self-interested youngster of the clan, and Luke Wilson robs laughs as the token stoner of the family.

And though he’s good too, Dermot Mulroney’s straight-man-looking-for-love character is getting so tired. Dude, how many movies have you played the same role now? My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Wedding Date, Dog Park, How To Make an American Quilt, Must Love Dogs… Time to get a new shtick, methinks.

If crazy Vietnam Vet uncle Oliver dropped by, or even feisty and foxy Aunt Sharon, these Stone’s might have been even better - but as it is, they’re a clan worth dropping in on for a couple of hours, but not a lot longer.

3 out of 5

The Family Stone
Australian release: Sunday the 1st of January, 2006.
Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane Keaton, Luke Wilson, Claire Danes, Dermot Mulroney, Rachel McAdams, Craig T Nelson, Tyrone Giordano, Brian J White.
Director: Thomas Bezucha.
Website: Click here.

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