Family Stone - Movie Review
Jan. 4th, 2006 06:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordljIt opens like a Christmas card. In fact the opening credits' background are set up to look like traditional cards. The huge family home, surrounded by trees and snow, belongs to the Stone family. Big family. Big house (how many bedrooms have en suite bathrooms, that's what i want to know. We saw at least 2 plus you know the parents' room will have one yet someone moaned because two sisters were locked in the downstairs toilet talking.) The family itself seems to be a happy family, didn't seem to be much tension or undercurrent between the siblings. Everyone was loving, mostly un-quirky aside from one renegade brother and one sister who was a bit prickly but, gosh, they all loved them anyway.
Sounds sickeningly sweet doesn't it? Yet it wasn't. Enter the Intruder. The Interloper. The Girlfriend of oldest "perfect" son Everett. Meredith. Even her name conjures up tightly wrapped. Which she is. Brittle, nervous, Type A yet wanting his family to like her. She just doesn't know how to relax and be herself and is over anxious about making a good impression. Which means, of course, she does and says everything wrong. The prickly sister, Amy, has already taken a dislike to her and has spread her opinions so that the family isn't predisposed to like her anyway. Nobody really seemed to have given her a chance, they all had predetermined opinions, thanks to Amy. Enter Meredith's sister, Julie. Nobody knew her, nobody had met her previous to the visit, Julie fits in, Julie is wrapped into the fold of the family's arms. That doesn't help matters, does it?
Everett's mother, his brother, his sister all suggest that he not marry Meredith. Another brother and his father both agree that Everett doesn't actually love Meredith. Ah but then there is an unexpected (well, not really, you could see it coming a mile away) spark between Everett and Julie and then Meredith and Ben, the renegade brother. There is a secondary thread running through the movie that becomes evident fairly early on which is also somewhat predictable to the genre. It's not overdone though and neither is the family dynamic.
So overall, i really did like this movie a lot. Nice direction, nice performances, sentimental and sad without smacking you upside the head with it. You cry one minute and giggle the next, just like real life. I didn't feel manipulated with the emotional bits but maybe i should warn you.. and skip over the next sentence if you don't want to know....
If you've lost, are losing or about to lose a close family member, it's going to hit you harder. Trust me.
So the actors... Sarah Jessica Parker is not on my list of must-see actors but i hold my hands up and admit, this part was made for her. Thin, brittle, but before long, she puts just that bit of vulnerability in it that you feel sympathetic for her instead of dislike. Luke Wilson isn't on my list either though i can watch him before i can watch his brother Owen. He plays the renegade son Ben perfectly. You could be over the top with this but he isn't. He's just a bit of a rascal. Clare Danes as Julie *is* a bit smug, i admit. Diane Keaton and Craig T. Nelson are Mom and Dad, frank, understanding, loving, demonstrative. Dermott Mulrooney plays Everett, the oldest, "responsible" son, the golden boy, who needs to loosen up as much as Meredith does. Rachel MacAdam plays Amy, the bratty, somewhat hostile younger sister, who just needs to get laid. Ok come on, that's pretty much what they're saying. There's a boy, you see, the one that got away. He drives an ambulance. There's the gay brother and his partner Patrick who is caring, handy in the kitchen and everyone loves him too. There's a pregnant older sister with her daughter. Possibly a workoholic husband there but that's not really expanded upon.
And.. it's Christmas. Stuff always happens between families at Christmas doesn't it? There's no conflict between the family members, just Us against Her but somehow the movie really works. Admittedly a bit of a chick flick but this chick and her friend enjoyed it and laughed and cried through the whole thing. It's a nice movie. No bad language, no nudity. It isn't needed. Refreshing, really.
Sounds sickeningly sweet doesn't it? Yet it wasn't. Enter the Intruder. The Interloper. The Girlfriend of oldest "perfect" son Everett. Meredith. Even her name conjures up tightly wrapped. Which she is. Brittle, nervous, Type A yet wanting his family to like her. She just doesn't know how to relax and be herself and is over anxious about making a good impression. Which means, of course, she does and says everything wrong. The prickly sister, Amy, has already taken a dislike to her and has spread her opinions so that the family isn't predisposed to like her anyway. Nobody really seemed to have given her a chance, they all had predetermined opinions, thanks to Amy. Enter Meredith's sister, Julie. Nobody knew her, nobody had met her previous to the visit, Julie fits in, Julie is wrapped into the fold of the family's arms. That doesn't help matters, does it?
Everett's mother, his brother, his sister all suggest that he not marry Meredith. Another brother and his father both agree that Everett doesn't actually love Meredith. Ah but then there is an unexpected (well, not really, you could see it coming a mile away) spark between Everett and Julie and then Meredith and Ben, the renegade brother. There is a secondary thread running through the movie that becomes evident fairly early on which is also somewhat predictable to the genre. It's not overdone though and neither is the family dynamic.
So overall, i really did like this movie a lot. Nice direction, nice performances, sentimental and sad without smacking you upside the head with it. You cry one minute and giggle the next, just like real life. I didn't feel manipulated with the emotional bits but maybe i should warn you.. and skip over the next sentence if you don't want to know....
If you've lost, are losing or about to lose a close family member, it's going to hit you harder. Trust me.
So the actors... Sarah Jessica Parker is not on my list of must-see actors but i hold my hands up and admit, this part was made for her. Thin, brittle, but before long, she puts just that bit of vulnerability in it that you feel sympathetic for her instead of dislike. Luke Wilson isn't on my list either though i can watch him before i can watch his brother Owen. He plays the renegade son Ben perfectly. You could be over the top with this but he isn't. He's just a bit of a rascal. Clare Danes as Julie *is* a bit smug, i admit. Diane Keaton and Craig T. Nelson are Mom and Dad, frank, understanding, loving, demonstrative. Dermott Mulrooney plays Everett, the oldest, "responsible" son, the golden boy, who needs to loosen up as much as Meredith does. Rachel MacAdam plays Amy, the bratty, somewhat hostile younger sister, who just needs to get laid. Ok come on, that's pretty much what they're saying. There's a boy, you see, the one that got away. He drives an ambulance. There's the gay brother and his partner Patrick who is caring, handy in the kitchen and everyone loves him too. There's a pregnant older sister with her daughter. Possibly a workoholic husband there but that's not really expanded upon.
And.. it's Christmas. Stuff always happens between families at Christmas doesn't it? There's no conflict between the family members, just Us against Her but somehow the movie really works. Admittedly a bit of a chick flick but this chick and her friend enjoyed it and laughed and cried through the whole thing. It's a nice movie. No bad language, no nudity. It isn't needed. Refreshing, really.
