Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Film review

'Family Stone' escapes the dysfunction

It might get a little bumpy along the way, but the film capitalizes on a feel-good approach.

By STEVE PERSALL
Published December 15, 2005

[Twentieth Century Fox]

Neurotic fiancee Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker, right), finally fits in when she and Amy Stone (Rachel McAdams, left) and mother Sybil (Diane Keaton) dissolve in laughter after a kitchen disaster in Family Stone.

Thomas Bezucha works a peculiar alchemy with The Family Stone, spinning sitcom sensibilities into something almost golden, a movie about dysfunctional family endearment created on his own terms.

Bezucha quickly throws down the gauntlet, when the first Stone progeny returns home for Christmas. His name is Thad (Tyrone Giordano) and he's a veritable triple play of what could be movie cliches: a deaf, gay man in an interracial relationship. But watch the casual way Bezucha introduces Thad's identity, the way small-talk sign language and jokes only loving relatives could share put audience suspicions at ease.

Thad isn't a central character in The Family Stone, but the way he's handled sets a uniquely mature tone for a movie being sold in previews as a slapstick romantic comedy. The comedy is actually deeper than that, often making laughter uncomfortable and buffering tragedy that itself would be cliched if not for that depth. It's that minute, tangible difference between The Family Stone and last year's failed candidate for holiday heartwarming, Spanglish.

The welcoming of Thad and his partner immediately establishes the Stones as a progressive, inseparable family unit. It also makes the household's rejection of an outsider in their midst more than a plot gimmick, more like a sad insularity. Her name is Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker), the neurotic fiance of golden son Everett (Dermot Mulroney) and not who they expected him to marry.

Meredith tries too hard to be accepted, resulting in nervous missteps and misstatements, and too much worry when the Stones are equally awkward. The only Stone who means everything she says is Amy (Rachel McAdams), whose catty remarks can get ugly. One terrific scene shows her setting up Meredith's embarrassment during a game of charades, making her seem racist. Again, Bezucha's cleverly balanced writing works on dual levels, generating both laughs and pained sighs.

The culture conflict is so sharply defined that it's a minor letdown when Bezucha must put into motion a standard plot and pat resolution. Meredith calls upon her sister Julie (Claire Danes) for support, not expecting her to be the kind of woman the Stones would approve for Everett. Everett doesn't expect that, either, but his piqued interest and his brother's attraction to Meredith leads exactly where most viewers will expect.

The carved path doesn't prevent Bezucha from sending his characters on interesting detours. Luke Wilson gives his most appealing performance since Bottle Rocket as Ben, the stoner/Stone with bloodshot eyes for Meredith. His live-and-let-live demeanor is exactly what everyone else in the house is missing; Meredith is the only one he might snap into it. Through Ben we also realize two things: his father Kelly (Craig T. Nelson) isn't as uptight as he seems, his mother Sybil (Diane Keaton) has cast a nurturing glow through the years.

Keaton is wonderful in a role slowly peeling away Sybil's passive aggression to reveal someone tired of fighting for contentment. A late revelation about her personal life might be treacherous to the movie's progress. Instead it becomes a strength because Keaton knows which sentimental instincts to resist. She and Nelson, an understated, underrated actor, make a fine hub for family conflict to spin around.

There aren't false notes in any performances, only some brief triteness the actors smoothly navigate. More often, Bezucha reaches beyond the dysfunctional family humor to make The Family Stone a movie giving feel-good entertainment a good name.

Steve Persall can be reached at 727 893-8365 or persall@sptimes.com

Grade: B+

Director: Thomas Bezucha

Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Claire Danes, Dermot Mulroney, Craig T. Nelson, Luke Wilson, Tyrone Giordano

Screenplay: Thomas Bezucha

Rating: PG-13; profanity, sexual situations, drug content, mature themes

Running time: 102 min.

[Last modified December 14, 2005, 11:41:06]