Laughter + crying = good times!
THE FAMILY STONE is a movie about a family coming together for Christmas. There are tears, laughter, drugs, and fist fights. Just like in my family. I found this movie to be a delight. The laughs are big, and the emotions true. I genuinely felt like this was a real family, dealing with issues that were both funny and heartbreaking.
Sarah Jessica Parker plays MEREDITH, who is going home to meet her boyfriend’s family for the first time. They are a tightly knit clan, and none of them take to Meredith right away. I read the script by Tom Bezucha a few years ago, when it was called “F*cking Hate Her”. I liked it, but I remember thinking that it was too bad that this woman was being shunned so fast. But Parker (who I admit I am not a fan of) is very good at being unintentionally a bitch. Well, mostly unintentionally. She is tightly wound, arrogant and stubborn. Lots of laughs come from her being uncomfortable, and stumbling into many Stone family no-nos. Her main nemesis is AMY, played with delightful glee by Rachel McAdams. Every time I see McAdams, I fall more and more in love with her.
By the end of the film, Meredith is accepted by the Stones, although not without considerable soul searching by many of the characters. Luke Wilson is charming as the stoner brother, and Claire Danes is her normal lovable self. But the people that really carry the movie are Diane Keaton and Craig T. Nelson. Their performances are the reason that you believe in this story; that you believe in this family. They are flawed, yet trying their best. Just like in real life, that is all we can hope for.
And to prevent myself getting too sappy, I will tell you that in THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, there is a great scene of a young boy spreading his ejaculate on some library books. Great stuff! But don’t take me word for it. Go see these films for yourself, and you make up your own mind. As Michael Ironside said in the amazing STARSHIP TROOPERS, figuring things out for yourself is the only real freedom any of us have.
