The Family Stone
Encyclopedia
The Family Stone is a 2005 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Thomas Bezucha
. Produced by Michael London
and distributed by 20th Century Fox
, it stars an ensemble cast
, including Diane Keaton
, Craig T. Nelson
, Dermot Mulroney
, Sarah Jessica Parker
, Luke Wilson
, Claire Danes
, Rachel McAdams
, Tyrone Giordano
, Brian J. White
, and Elizabeth Reaser
.
The plot follows the Christmas
holiday misadventures of the Stone family in a small New England
town when the eldest son, played by Mulroney, brings his uptight girlfriend (played by Parker) home with the intention of proposing to her with a cherished heirloom
ring. Overwhelmed by the hostile reception, she begs her sister to join her for emotional support, triggering further complications.
The Family Stone was released in North America on November 26, 2005 and was a moderate critical and commercial success, with a worldwide gross of over US$92.2 million. While Parker was nominated for a Golden Globe Award
for her performance, Keaton, Nelson and McAdams garnered a Satellite Award nomination each. In addition, McAdams was awarded a Teen Choice Award the following year.
, 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 (Dermot Mulroney
) and his liberal and rambunctious family.
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 for support. Everett finds himself attracted to the more outgoing Julie. Meredith desperately tries to fit in, but her strained attempt to play charades
and a clumsy effort to engage the family in a dinner table discussion about nature versus nurture
and sexual orientation
prove to be disastrous and Amy Stone (Rachel McAdams
) insults her. Distraught, Meredith attempts to drive off but crashes the car, and Everett's brother Ben (Luke Wilson
) comes to comfort her. The two end up at a local bar where, after several drinks, Meredith lets down her hair, literally and figuratively, and begins to enjoy herself. She invites Amy's high school flame and local paramedic
, Brad Stevenson (Paul Schneider
), to the Stone's for Christmas breakfast. The following morning, when she awakens in Ben's bed, she incorrectly assumes their night of revelry ended with the two sleeping together.
Christmas proves to be a day of accusations, recriminations, self-discoveries, and attempts to mend fences. 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. In a moment of emotional confusion—or clarity—he asks Julie to try on the ring, and it gets stuck. When Julie and Meredith lock themselves in the bathroom to get the ring off, they assume Everett is about to propose to Meredith. The family exchanges gifts; and Meredith, oblivious to Sybil's failing health, presents each with a framed enlarged photograph of Sybil taken when she was pregnant with Amy. Everyone is touched by her gesture, and Meredith relaxes slightly; but, when Everett asks to talk to her, she demurs again and again until she blurts out that she will not marry him. He counters that he didn't plan to ask her. Meredith breaks down in front of the family. All the personality conflicts come to a head, and everyone begins the process of healing.
One year later, the family reunites at the Stone house. Meredith and Ben are a couple, as are Everett and Julie and Amy and Brad. Thad and Patrick have adopted a baby boy named Gus, and Susannah has had her baby. Sybil has died. She is referenced as the family gathers around the tree. The framed photograph of Sybil is on the wall next to the tree.
Others
reports that 52% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 151 reviews, with a rating average of 5.9 out of 10. The critical consensus is: "This family holiday dramedy features fine performances but awkward shifts of tone." Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics," which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 60%, based on a sample of 35 reviews. Metacritic
, which assigns a weighted mean
rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 56 based on 35 reviews.
On the negative side, Manohla Dargis opened her damning review in the New York Times, with "All happy families resemble one another, Tolstoy famously wrote, and each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, but Tolstoy didn't know the Stones, who are happy in a Hollywood kind of way and unhappy in a self-help kind of way. This tribe of ravenous cannibals bares its excellent teeth at anyone who doesn't accommodate the family's preening self-regard." and went on from there to blister the film for almost every scene and aspect. Among her sharper comments were:
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
gave the film three stars out of four. He stated the film "is silly at times, leaning toward the screwball
tradition of everyone racing around the house at the same time in a panic fueled by serial misunderstandings [but] there is also a thoughtful side, involving the long and loving marriage of Sybil and Kelly." He further added, "The Family Stone sorts out its characters admirably, depends on typecasting to help establish its characters more quickly, and finds a winding path between happy and sad secrets to that moment when we realize that the Family Stone will always think of this fateful Christmas with a smile, and a tear."
In Variety
, Justin Chang called the film "a smart, tart but mildly undercooked Christmas pudding" and added the "lovingly mounted ensembler has many heartfelt moments and a keen ear for the rhythms of domestic life, which make the neatly gift-wrapped outcome somewhat disappointing [...] Bezucha tosses the viewer into every conversation headfirst, deploying a rough, at times disorienting visual style that works in rhythm with the layers of overlapping dialogue to deliver a pleasingly antic, semi-improvisational feel [...] but while individual scenes have an authentically off-the-cuff feel, the narrative structure as a whole feels a tad schematic."
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times
said, "A contemporary version of the traditional screwball romantic comedy, The Family Stone is a film that's at times as ragged and shaggy as its family unit. But as written and directed by Thomas Bezucha, its offbeat mixture of highly choreographed comic crises and the occasional bite of reality make for an unexpectedly enticing blend." In Rolling Stone
, Peter Travers
rated the film three out of a possible four stars and added, "It's a comedy with a dash of tragedy — the kind of thing that usually makes me puke. But I fell for this one [...] Writer-director Thomas Bezucha lays it on thick, but he knows the mad-dog anarchy of family life and gives the laughs a sharp comic edge."
Thomas Bezucha
Thomas Gordon Bezucha is an American screenwriter and director.He wrote and directed Big Eden and The Family Stone . He is a graduate of Amherst Regional High School in Amherst, Massachusetts. He will next direct Monte Carlo, which he co-wrote with April Blair.Bezucha is openly gay.-External...
. Produced by Michael London
Michael London
Michael London is an American film producer who owns Groundswell Productions. He has produced over 20 films including Sideways, The Visitor, Win Win, and Smart People. The film Sideways was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture in 2005...
and distributed by 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, it stars an ensemble cast
Ensemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
, including Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970...
, Craig T. Nelson
Craig T. Nelson
Craig Theodore Nelson is an American actor. He is probably best known for his Emmy-winning roles as Hayden Fox on the TV series Coach, and as Steve Freeling in the 1982 film Poltergeist. He also starred in The Incredibles in 2004 as Mr...
, Dermot Mulroney
Dermot Mulroney
-Early life:Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa. He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor,...
, Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
, Luke Wilson
Luke Wilson
Luke Cunningham Wilson is an American film actor known for his roles in Old School, Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums, Legally Blonde, Idiocracy and Death at a Funeral.-Early life:...
, Claire Danes
Claire Danes
Claire Catherine Danes is an American actress of television, stage and film. She has appeared in roles as diverse as Angela Chase in My So-Called Life, as Juliet in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, as Kate Brewster in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, as Yvaine in Stardust and as Temple Grandin in...
, Rachel McAdams
Rachel McAdams
Rachel Anne McAdams is a Canadian actress. After graduating from a theatre program at York University, Toronto in 2001, she worked steadily as an actress until finding fame in 2004 with starring roles in teen comedy Mean Girls and romantic drama The Notebook...
, Tyrone Giordano
Tyrone Giordano
Tyrone Giordano is a deaf American actor.An alumnus of Montgomery Blair High School and Gallaudet University, he began acting in Washington, DC in 1999...
, Brian J. White
Brian J. White
Brian Joseph White is an American actor, dancer, football player, lacrosse player, stock broker and youth activist.-Personal life:...
, and Elizabeth Reaser
Elizabeth Reaser
Elizabeth Ann Reaser is an American film, television, and stage actress. Her work includes the films Stay, The Family Stone, and The Twilight Saga and the TV series Saved, Grey's Anatomy and The Ex-List....
.
The plot follows the Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
holiday misadventures of the Stone family in a small New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
town when the eldest son, played by Mulroney, brings his uptight girlfriend (played by Parker) home with the intention of proposing to her with a cherished heirloom
Heirloom
In popular usage, an heirloom is something, perhaps an antique or some kind of jewelry, that has been passed down for generations through family members....
ring. Overwhelmed by the hostile reception, she begs her sister to join her for emotional support, triggering further complications.
The Family Stone was released in North America on November 26, 2005 and was a moderate critical and commercial success, with a worldwide gross of over US$92.2 million. While Parker was nominated for a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
The Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1950...
for her performance, Keaton, Nelson and McAdams garnered a Satellite Award nomination each. In addition, McAdams was awarded a Teen Choice Award the following year.
Plot
Set in the fictional town of Thayer, ConnecticutConnecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, the story focuses on Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
), a successful Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
executive whose uptight, conservative demeanor is a sharp contrast to that of her boyfriend Everett (Dermot Mulroney
Dermot Mulroney
-Early life:Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa. He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor,...
) and his liberal and rambunctious family.
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
Claire Danes
Claire Catherine Danes is an American actress of television, stage and film. She has appeared in roles as diverse as Angela Chase in My So-Called Life, as Juliet in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, as Kate Brewster in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, as Yvaine in Stardust and as Temple Grandin in...
) to join her for support. Everett finds himself attracted to the more outgoing Julie. Meredith desperately tries to fit in, but her strained attempt to play charades
Charades
Charades or charade is a word guessing game. In the form most played today, it is an acting game in which one player acts out a word or phrase, often by pantomiming similar-sounding words, and the other players guess the word or phrase. The idea is to use physical rather than verbal language to...
and a clumsy effort to engage the family in a dinner table discussion about nature versus nurture
Nature versus nurture
The nature versus nurture debate concerns the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities versus personal experiences The nature versus nurture debate concerns the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature," i.e. nativism, or innatism) versus personal experiences...
and sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
prove to be disastrous and Amy Stone (Rachel McAdams
Rachel McAdams
Rachel Anne McAdams is a Canadian actress. After graduating from a theatre program at York University, Toronto in 2001, she worked steadily as an actress until finding fame in 2004 with starring roles in teen comedy Mean Girls and romantic drama The Notebook...
) insults her. Distraught, Meredith attempts to drive off but crashes the car, and Everett's brother Ben (Luke Wilson
Luke Wilson
Luke Cunningham Wilson is an American film actor known for his roles in Old School, Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums, Legally Blonde, Idiocracy and Death at a Funeral.-Early life:...
) comes to comfort her. The two end up at a local bar where, after several drinks, Meredith lets down her hair, literally and figuratively, and begins to enjoy herself. She invites Amy's high school flame and local paramedic
Paramedic
A paramedic is a healthcare professional that works in emergency medical situations. Paramedics provide advanced levels of care for medical emergencies and trauma. The majority of paramedics are based in the field in ambulances, emergency response vehicles, or in specialist mobile units such as...
, Brad Stevenson (Paul Schneider
Paul Schneider (actor)
Paul Andrew Schneider is an American film actor.-Early life and career:Schneider was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. He graduated from the North Carolina School of Arts...
), to the Stone's for Christmas breakfast. The following morning, when she awakens in Ben's bed, she incorrectly assumes their night of revelry ended with the two sleeping together.
Christmas proves to be a day of accusations, recriminations, self-discoveries, and attempts to mend fences. 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. In a moment of emotional confusion—or clarity—he asks Julie to try on the ring, and it gets stuck. When Julie and Meredith lock themselves in the bathroom to get the ring off, they assume Everett is about to propose to Meredith. The family exchanges gifts; and Meredith, oblivious to Sybil's failing health, presents each with a framed enlarged photograph of Sybil taken when she was pregnant with Amy. Everyone is touched by her gesture, and Meredith relaxes slightly; but, when Everett asks to talk to her, she demurs again and again until she blurts out that she will not marry him. He counters that he didn't plan to ask her. Meredith breaks down in front of the family. All the personality conflicts come to a head, and everyone begins the process of healing.
One year later, the family reunites at the Stone house. Meredith and Ben are a couple, as are Everett and Julie and Amy and Brad. Thad and Patrick have adopted a baby boy named Gus, and Susannah has had her baby. Sybil has died. She is referenced as the family gathers around the tree. The framed photograph of Sybil is on the wall next to the tree.
Cast
The Stones- Diane KeatonDiane KeatonDiane Keaton is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970...
as Sybil Stone, the family's strong-willed, bohemian matriarch. A breast cancerBreast cancerBreast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
survivor, she deals with the recurrence of the fatal illness. Playing the glue that holds the family together, Keaton was the first actor approached to star in the film. With her attachment to the project, Bezucha and London were able to recruite other actors from their wish list. Keaton has stated, that she was instantly drawn to her role, as the many layers to Sybil's personality allowed her "to explore so many – often conflicting – emotions." - Craig T. NelsonCraig T. NelsonCraig Theodore Nelson is an American actor. He is probably best known for his Emmy-winning roles as Hayden Fox on the TV series Coach, and as Steve Freeling in the 1982 film Poltergeist. He also starred in The Incredibles in 2004 as Mr...
as Kelly Stone, Sybil's husband, a college professor in his sixties. Attracted to the role, Nelson felt Kelly was different compared to other patriarchs: "Kelly appears to be the traditional titular head of the Stone household, but it is Sybil who really dominates the family. Despite his low-key personality, Kelly’s calming yet offbeat influence on each of his five children is obvious." - Dermot MulroneyDermot Mulroney-Early life:Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa. He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor,...
as Everett Stone, Sybil and Kelly's eldest son, a successful ManhattanManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
executive. Mulroney found it challenging playing a seemingly over-achieving, submissive character, commenting, "Everett starts out very button-downed and straight-laced, but by the end of the story he returns to his real personality. He is really like the rest of the Stone family: loose and kind of bohemianBohemianA Bohemian is a resident of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, either in a narrow sense as the region of Bohemia proper or in a wider meaning as the whole country, now known as the Czech Republic. The word "Bohemian" was used to denote the Czech people as well as the Czech language before the word...
." - Luke WilsonLuke WilsonLuke Cunningham Wilson is an American film actor known for his roles in Old School, Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums, Legally Blonde, Idiocracy and Death at a Funeral.-Early life:...
as Ben Stone, Everett's brother, a stonerStoner-People:* Stoner , bass guitarist* Alyson Stoner , American actress and dancer* Andrew Stoner , Australian politician, member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and the Leader of the New South Wales National Party...
and film editor, living in Berkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. Wilson characterized Ben as a dramatic contrast to his straight-and-narrow brother Everett: "Compared to his siblings, Ben is a looser character. He's the free spirit of the family." - Elizabeth ReaserElizabeth ReaserElizabeth Ann Reaser is an American film, television, and stage actress. Her work includes the films Stay, The Family Stone, and The Twilight Saga and the TV series Saved, Grey's Anatomy and The Ex-List....
as Susannah Stone Trousdale, the Stone's eldest daughter. A stay-at-home mom who has one child, Elizabeth (Savannah Stehlin), she is expecting her second. - Tyrone GiordanoTyrone GiordanoTyrone Giordano is a deaf American actor.An alumnus of Montgomery Blair High School and Gallaudet University, he began acting in Washington, DC in 1999...
as Thad Stone, the family's youngest son. A deaf and gayGayGay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
architect, who lives in BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
and is contemplating adopting a child with his partnerDomestic partnershipA domestic partnership is a legal or personal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by marriage nor a civil union...
Patrick. Bezucha recruited the services of a sign language teacher who worked closely with each actor in the instruction of American Sign LanguageAmerican Sign LanguageAmerican Sign Language, or ASL, for a time also called Ameslan, is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans, including deaf communities in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in some regions of Mexico...
during rehearsals and throughout production. - Rachel McAdamsRachel McAdamsRachel Anne McAdams is a Canadian actress. After graduating from a theatre program at York University, Toronto in 2001, she worked steadily as an actress until finding fame in 2004 with starring roles in teen comedy Mean Girls and romantic drama The Notebook...
as Amy Stone, the youngest member of the family. Amy is a school teacher pursuing her Masters Degree, who had previously met Meredith and took an immediate dislike to her. McAdams said she felt "drawn to the dramatic arc that Amy goes through, which eventually brings her full circle. She sees herself as honest, not mean, and expresses that uncensored candor in her sardonic wit."
Others
- Sarah Jessica ParkerSarah Jessica ParkerSarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
as Meredith Morton, Everett's girlfriend, an uptight, contemporary New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
career woman, who initially fails to bond with her boyfriend's family. Cast amid the final season of her HBO series Sex and the CitySex and the CitySex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...
, Parker, who had struggled to find a role that distinguished from her television characterCarrie BradshawCarrie Preston is the fictional narrator and lead character of the HBO sitcom/drama Sex and the City, portrayed by actress Sarah Jessica Parker. She is a semi-autobiographical character created by Candace Bushnell, who published the book Sex and the City, based on her own columns in the New York...
, declared Meredith a breakaway from her previous roles: "She is [...] controlling, rigid and tightly wound. When she tries to dig herself out of awkward moments, she only makes matters worse." - Claire DanesClaire DanesClaire Catherine Danes is an American actress of television, stage and film. She has appeared in roles as diverse as Angela Chase in My So-Called Life, as Juliet in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, as Kate Brewster in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, as Yvaine in Stardust and as Temple Grandin in...
as Julie Morton, Meredith's younger sister, who works at a foundation awarding grants to artists. She arrives with the Stones to provide moral support when her sister’s life is in a state of chaos. Danes has stated, that the film's delicate balance of comedy and drama challenged the cast to walk a fine line between the two styles. - Brian J. WhiteBrian J. WhiteBrian Joseph White is an American actor, dancer, football player, lacrosse player, stock broker and youth activist.-Personal life:...
as Patrick Thomas, Thad’s partner. - Paul SchneiderPaul Schneider (actor)Paul Andrew Schneider is an American film actor.-Early life and career:Schneider was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. He graduated from the North Carolina School of Arts...
as Brad Stevenson, Amy's ex-boyfriend.
Soundtrack
Songs heard on the film's soundtrack include:- "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" performed by Dean MartinDean MartinDean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
- "Jingle BellsJingle Bells"Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and commonly sung winter songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857...
" performed by Johnny MercerJohnny MercerJohn Herndon "Johnny" Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others... - "Fooled Around and Fell in LoveFooled Around and Fell in Love"Fooled Around and Fell in Love" was a single by blues guitarist Elvin Bishop. It appeared on his 1975 album Struttin' My Stuff and was released as a single the following year. Bishop does not sing lead vocals on the track; feeling that his gravelly voice didn't do the song justice, he invited...
" performed by Elvin BishopElvin BishopElvin Bishop is an American blues and rock and roll musician and guitarist.-Career:Bishop was born in Glendale, California, and grew up on a farm near Elliott, Iowa. His family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he was ten years old... - "Miracles" and "Count on MeCount on Me"Count on Me" is a duet by American recording artists Whitney Houston and CeCe Winans. It is an uplifting song about leaning on a friend for support when needed. Released in early 1996, the song was the fourth single from the soundtrack album of the motion picture Waiting to Exhale, and the second...
" performed by Jefferson StarshipJefferson StarshipJefferson Starship is an American rock band formed in the early 1970s. The group is a spin-off from the iconic 1960s psychedelic/folk group Jefferson Airplane. The band has undergone several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the same Jefferson Starship name... - "Right Back Where We Started FromRight Back Where We Started From"Right Back Where We Started From" is a song written by Pierre Tubbs and J. Vincent Edwards which was first recorded in the summer of 1975 by Maxine Nightingale for whom it was an international hit...
" performed by Maxine NightingaleMaxine NightingaleMaxine Nightingale is a British R&B and soul music singer. She is best known for her hits in the 1970s, with the million seller "Right Back Where We Started From" Maxine Nightingale (born 2 November 1952; Wembley, London) is a British R&B and soul music singer. She is best known for her hits in... - "Have Yourself a Merry Little ChristmasHave Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis. Frank Sinatra later recorded a version with modified lyrics, which has become more common than the original. The song was written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane...
" performed by Judy GarlandJudy GarlandJudy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
Critical reception
The film received generally mixed reviews from film critics. Review aggregate Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 52% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 151 reviews, with a rating average of 5.9 out of 10. The critical consensus is: "This family holiday dramedy features fine performances but awkward shifts of tone." Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics," which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 60%, based on a sample of 35 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted mean
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 56 based on 35 reviews.
On the negative side, Manohla Dargis opened her damning review in the New York Times, with "All happy families resemble one another, Tolstoy famously wrote, and each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, but Tolstoy didn't know the Stones, who are happy in a Hollywood kind of way and unhappy in a self-help kind of way. This tribe of ravenous cannibals bares its excellent teeth at anyone who doesn't accommodate the family's preening self-regard." and went on from there to blister the film for almost every scene and aspect. Among her sharper comments were:
- “There are few character types Hollywood loves to hate more than the female business executive, what the movies once called a ‘career woman.’”
- “The hitch here is that Mom is fairly monstrous, and most of her five kids fairly unbearable.”
- “Shrouded in saintliness and as neutered as geldings, Thad and Patrick offer further proof that as far as pop culture representation is concerned, gay men are fine, as long as they're redecorating or straighter than straight.”
- “... the women are pills, but they're also far more fun to watch than the men, who all are terribly kind and dull, dull, dull ."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
gave the film three stars out of four. He stated the film "is silly at times, leaning toward the screwball
Screwball Comedy
Screwball Comedy is an album by the Japanese band Soul Flower Union. The album found the band going into a simpler, harder-rocking direction, after several heavily world-music influenced albums.-Track listing:...
tradition of everyone racing around the house at the same time in a panic fueled by serial misunderstandings [but] there is also a thoughtful side, involving the long and loving marriage of Sybil and Kelly." He further added, "The Family Stone sorts out its characters admirably, depends on typecasting to help establish its characters more quickly, and finds a winding path between happy and sad secrets to that moment when we realize that the Family Stone will always think of this fateful Christmas with a smile, and a tear."
In Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, Justin Chang called the film "a smart, tart but mildly undercooked Christmas pudding" and added the "lovingly mounted ensembler has many heartfelt moments and a keen ear for the rhythms of domestic life, which make the neatly gift-wrapped outcome somewhat disappointing [...] Bezucha tosses the viewer into every conversation headfirst, deploying a rough, at times disorienting visual style that works in rhythm with the layers of overlapping dialogue to deliver a pleasingly antic, semi-improvisational feel [...] but while individual scenes have an authentically off-the-cuff feel, the narrative structure as a whole feels a tad schematic."
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said, "A contemporary version of the traditional screwball romantic comedy, The Family Stone is a film that's at times as ragged and shaggy as its family unit. But as written and directed by Thomas Bezucha, its offbeat mixture of highly choreographed comic crises and the occasional bite of reality make for an unexpectedly enticing blend." In Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
rated the film three out of a possible four stars and added, "It's a comedy with a dash of tragedy — the kind of thing that usually makes me puke. But I fell for this one [...] Writer-director Thomas Bezucha lays it on thick, but he knows the mad-dog anarchy of family life and gives the laughs a sharp comic edge."
Commercial performance
The film opened at #3 at the U.S. Box office raking in $12,521,027 USD in its first opening weekend. After spending 15 weeks in theatres, The Family Stone earned $60,062,868 in the US and $32,220,983 in foreign markets, bringing its worldwide total to $92,283,851.Accolades
Nominations- Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or ComedyGolden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or ComedyThe Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1950...
(Sarah Jessica ParkerSarah Jessica ParkerSarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
) - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Musical or ComedySatellite AwardsThe Satellite Awards are an annual award given by the International Press Academy. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards.- Film :*Best Actor – Drama*Best Actor – Musical or Comedy*Best Actress – Drama...
(Craig T. NelsonCraig T. NelsonCraig Theodore Nelson is an American actor. He is probably best known for his Emmy-winning roles as Hayden Fox on the TV series Coach, and as Steve Freeling in the 1982 film Poltergeist. He also starred in The Incredibles in 2004 as Mr...
) - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Diane KeatonDiane KeatonDiane Keaton is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970...
and Rachel McAdamsRachel McAdamsRachel Anne McAdams is a Canadian actress. After graduating from a theatre program at York University, Toronto in 2001, she worked steadily as an actress until finding fame in 2004 with starring roles in teen comedy Mean Girls and romantic drama The Notebook...
) - GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film in Wide Release
- Casting Society of AmericaCasting Society of AmericaFounded in Los Angeles, California in 1982, the Casting Society of America is a professional society of about 350 casting directors for film, television, and theatre in Australia, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. The society is not to be confused with an industry union. The...
Artios Award for Best Feature Film Casting - Comedy - American Cinema EditorsAmerican Cinema EditorsFounded in 1950, American Cinema Editors is an honorary society of film editors that are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing itself. The society is not to be confused with an industry union, such as the I.A.T.S.E...
Eddie Award for Best Edited Feature Film - Comedy or Musical