the family stone
View company contact information for The Family Stone on IMDbPro. [1]
“The Family Stone aims to please, and lands precisely on so-so.” [2]
Meredith, her sister, the Stones, and the family stone conflate. [3]
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. [4]
In her review in the New York Times, Manohla Dargis observed the film is “a clear attempt to bottle the manic energy and generous spirit of madcap classics like George Cukor ’s wonderful 1938 Holiday. [5]
The Stone family unites in common cause when their favorite son brings his uptight girlfriend home for the Christmas holiday, with plans of proposing. [3]
It is an ensemble piece focusing on the Christmas holiday misadventures of the titular family when the eldest son brings his girlfriend home with the intention of proposing to her with a cherished heirloom ring, the title being a play on the family’s name and a reference to the ring. [...] Set in the fictional town of Thayer, Massachusetts, the story focuses on Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker), a successful Manhattan executive whose uptight, conservative demeanor is a sharp contrast to that of her boyfriend Everett Stone’s (Dermot Mulroney) rambunctious family. [5]
Matriarch Sybil (Diane Keaton) and patriarch Kelly (Craig T. Nelson) are a loving couple whose diverse children are affectionate and respectful. [...] 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. [4]
Overwhelmed by the hostile reception, she begs her sister to join her for emotional support, triggering further complications. [3]
Sybil, who originally refused Everett’s request for his grandmother’s ring, reconsiders her position and offers it to him, but by now his feelings for Meredith have shifted to her sister. [5]
The Stones, a New England family, have their annual holiday gathering. [2]
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. [4]
Meredith, feeling very much an outsider, opts to stay at the local inn instead of with the family and asks her sister Julie (Claire Danes) to join her from Bedford for support. [5]
Sources:
[1] The Family Stone (2005)
[2] The Family Stone - Yahoo! Movies
[3] The Family Stone (2005) - Plot summary
[4] The Family Stone - Rotten Tomatoes
[5] The Family Stone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia