Movie Review--The Family Stone

I expected to like this movie more than I did. I also expected it to be funnier. While it did have some very funny moments, in general, I would consider it more drama than comedy. Sarah Jessica Parker plays the part of Meredith, an uptight, conservative woman who comes to spend the Christmas holidays with her soon-to-be-fiance, Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) and his family. His family doesn't like her at all at first, and they are quite mean to her. Mean enough, in fact, that I had trouble reconciling the fact that they were supposed to be easy-going liberal sorts with how horribly they treated her. It is true that Meredith made an ass of herself at times. Her comments one night at dinner indicating that Everett's gay brother and his partner shouldn't adopt a child because becoming gay might be partly due to environment stand out most starkly to me. But, they'd already treated her pretty badly before that and never really gave her a chance or tried to help her feel more comfortable.

Meredith feels so uncomfortable that she invites her sister, Julie (Claire Danes) to spend the holidays with them. This is when things get really interesting. Everett had never met Julie before that and finds himself drawn to her. Meanwhile, his older brother Ben (Luke Wilson) tries to befriend Meredith.

Anyway, like I said, more drama than comedy. It would have been better the other way around. I'm not sure it was necessary to have the mother be terminally ill, either. I don't really think it made the story better, though it sure made it sadder. The movie does have its moments, though, as well as an impressive cast.