The Family Stone

[Deleted]

So, has anybody actually seen it? I know some people who have and without giving away spoilers, it's apparently not the movie you want to bring your family to for the Holidays. Very depressing.

[mugatu]

I saw it. I guess I was pleasantly surprised in the sense that I thought I had figured out the entire movie by the trailer (which I did, in a sense), but was happy to find out it wasn't as cut and dry as I thought. It has it's funny parts, but there are also scenes that are touching and sad. I love how close the family is. It reminded me alot of my own. As for the actors:
Luke Wilson- This is actually the first movie I really liked him in. He usually annoys the crap out of me.
Sarah Jessica- The character is nothing like Carrie Bradshaw, but Golden Globe nomination?? I don't think so. She's better than Jennifer Aniston though.
Rachel McAdams and Dermot Mulroney bring teh sexy and the rest of the cast was great.

Not the bestmovie ever made, but a nice holiday film.

[anne]

I saw it this afternoon. I can't say I was blown away by it. I wasn't moved to call anyone right away and tell them they must see it. But I didnt' feel let down either. I knew before I saw it that it was more than justa hilarious family movie, so I wasn't thrown by the mismarketing that I've heard some complain about. I thought the entire cast was fantastic, though SJP did bug me a bit. All in all, I 'd say it was a fantastically acted movie with a mediocre script.

[sleepy]

I was dragged to it against my will by Mr. Sleepy, and I hated it. I was bored for most of it, and the "sad" scenes were obviously put there to tug at the heartstrings, so it didn't work for me. I thought it was rubbish. And SJP can blow me -- I know her character is supposed to be annoying, but she took obnoxious to a new level.

[scarlet]

sleepy said:

I was dragged to it against my will by Mr. Sleepy, and I hated it. I was bored for most of it, and the "sad" scenes were obviously put there to tug at the heartstrings, so it didn't work for me. I thought it was rubbish. And SJP can blow me -- I know her character is supposed to be annoying, but she took obnoxious to a new level.

I felt mostly the same way -- except most of the characters, save Luke Wilson's, bugged me to distraction. I found them all to have that self-righteous "aren't we so PC" slant that just grates.

[sleepy]

Oh, completely! I am a SCREAMING liberal, but even I thought that they were so smug and perfect in their liberal PC-ness. Ugh. It was tiresome.

[scarlet]

sleepy said:

Oh, completely! I am a SCREAMING liberal, but even I thought that they were so smug and perfect in their liberal PC-ness. Ugh. It was tiresome.

Exactly! I'm usually the "bleeding heart" at any family gathering, and I couldn't stand these people. I found the one scene at the dinner table, where they all basically gang up on SJP's character, to be especially annoying. Granted, she wasn't explaining herself very well, but even I understood what she was trying to say. That they basically treated her like a pariah was so over-the-top that I wished she had told them all to go to hell.

[speciousreasoning]

I saw it too. It was okay. The family did annoy me with the self righteousness. But it was okay. I do like Luke Wilson - he was great. I didn't even mind SJP (what???).
Not great, but okay. Do I ever want to see it again? Probably not.

[anne]

scarlet said:

sleepy said:

Oh, completely! I am a SCREAMING liberal, but even I thought that they were so smug and perfect in their liberal PC-ness. Ugh. It was tiresome.

Exactly! I'm usually the "bleeding heart" at any family gathering, and I couldn't stand these people. I found the one scene at the dinner table, where they all basically gang up on SJP's character, to be especially annoying. Granted, she wasn't explaining herself very well, but even I understood what she was trying to say. That they basically treated her like a pariah was so over-the-top that I wished she had told them all to go to hell.

I actually took that scene in an entirely different way, and thought it was very good. To me, it illustrated how much an entire family can hurt when one member of the family is identified as being different or less than perfect. SJP was doing a crappy job of trying to explain a viewpoint that was very hurtful to them. It wasn't because she was being un-PC. It was because she was identifying a member of their family as being "not normal" when in the eyes of his family (and him) he WAS normal. I saw all of that as being about the pain they all felt for what he was going through, which was solidified with Diane Keaton throwing something at him to get his attention to reassure him that she loved him.

[scarlet]

anne said:

I actually took that scene in an entirely different way, and thought it was very good. To me, it illustrated how much an entire family can hurt when one member of the family is identified as being different or less than perfect. SJP was doing a crappy job of trying to explain a viewpoint that was very hurtful to them. It wasn't because she was being un-PC. It was because she was identifying a member of their family as being "not normal" when in the eyes of his family (and him) he WAS normal. I saw all of that as being about the pain they all felt for what he was going through, which was solidified with Diane Keaton throwing something at him to get his attention to reassure him that she loved him.

Oh, I know that's what it was meant to convey, I just think it didn't come off in a way that made me feel for any of the characters. It seemed like, from the get-go, the whole family took great glee in SJP's characters discomforts and idiosyncrasies and did nothing to put her at ease in the least. And when her "perfect" sister got there, it was as if they all (Luke Wilson's character being the exception) took great joy in being so accepting of her -- almost as if to rub Meredith's nose in it.