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The Family Stone

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The Family Stone (2005)

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Reviews Counted:147

Fresh:77

Rotten:70

Average Rating:5.9/10

Consensus: This family holiday dramedy features fine performances but awkward shifts of tone.

Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for some sexual content including dialogue, and drug references.

Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:16-12-2005

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

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61 - 80 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Richly satisfying, The Family Stone takes us from laughter to tears and back again

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
12/16/05
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

This year's lump of cinematic coal has a diamond blazing inside.

Full Review Source: Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas) | comment Comment
12/16/05
Mark Collette
Mark Collette
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)

[The film] at times approximates the cozy hostility that can permeate real-life family gatherings. But then the movie's snap turns to sap, and edgy comedy becomes standard gazing-at-the-Christmas-tree warm fuzziness.

Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | comment Comment
12/16/05
Carla Meyer
Carla Meyer
Sacramento Bee

Some will find it touching, some will be too weary of the plot contrivances and the smug Stone family to care.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
12/16/05
Moira MacDonald
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times

A feel-bad holiday film about a repellent family, with a milquetoast dad and a smug, devious harpy of a mom.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
12/16/05
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle

Strangely, though, it's not an overdose of sentimentality that makes the family - - and the film - - so hard to buy. It's that most of its members are so blithely cruel.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
12/16/05
James Hebert
James Hebert
San Diego Union-Tribune

This is one busy wannabe heart-tugger.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
12/16/05
Mike Clark
Mike Clark
USA Today

Indie director Bezucha has held on to just enough individuality to breathe a little life into the cliches.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
12/16/05
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

The Family Stone is a lot slyer than you might expect.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
12/16/05
Susan Walker
Susan Walker
Toronto Star

There are cringe-worthy passages and an overly sentimental structure (everyone pairs up so very tidily), but the performances are delightful, and the picture comes together.

Full Review Source: Slate | comment Comment
12/16/05
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
Slate

Thomas Bezucha applies just the right light touch to the film, layering in strong dollops of wit, wackiness and warmth, making it among the best of its type.

Full Review Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | comment Comment
12/16/05
Jack Garner
Jack Garner
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

The Family Stone is like a festively wrapped gift box that contains that special sweater you wanted - - only in the wrong size.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
12/16/05
Gary Goldstein
Gary Goldstein
Reel.com

In the spirit of the holiday family saga, I cry, Uncle.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Daily News | comment Comment
12/16/05
Gary Thompson
Gary Thompson
Philadelphia Daily News

'The Family Stone' is a cliche-ridden disaster that wants desperately to be a holiday tear-jerker, but mostly pushes all the wrong buttons.

Full Review Source: Kaplan vs. Kaplan | comment Comment
12/16/05
David Kaplan
David Kaplan
Kaplan vs. Kaplan

It doesn't matter how many fine actors are assembled in a film, if the script is terrible, then the movie can't be good.

Full Review Source: Kaplan vs. Kaplan | comment Comment
12/16/05
Jeanne Kaplan
Jeanne Kaplan
Kaplan vs. Kaplan

In the aggregate, though, it's a fractious Christmas spent with unpleasant relatives you'd rather avoid.

Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
12/16/05
Jason Ferguson
Jason Ferguson
Orlando Weekly

It's movie comfort food - - a few good laughs, a few winks of recognition, a few tears.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
12/16/05
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

The Family Stone is almost totally emotionally bankrupt.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
12/16/05
M.E. Russell
M.E. Russell
Oregonian

The Family Stone is a satisfying, big-hearted celebration of diversity that will brighten holiday moviegoing - - at least in the blue states.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
12/16/05
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post

Good acting only goes so far to salvage a bad script.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
12/16/05
Lisa Rose
Lisa Rose
Newark Star-Ledger
 
 
61 - 80 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
all

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