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The Family Stone (2005) DVD Review
The Family Stone (2005) DVD Credits:
The Family Stone (2005) Directed by:
Thomas Bezucha
The Family Stone (2005) Written by:
Thomas Bezucha
The Family Stone (2005) Cast:
Claire Danes, Tyrone Giordano, Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Dermot Mulroney, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Elizabeth Reaser, Paul Schneider, Brian J. White, Luke Wilson
The Family Stone (2005) Released by:
Not available at this time
Region:
1
The Family Stone (2005) DVD Release Date:
1st May 2006
Our Rating: Extras Rating:

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The Family Stone (2005) Synopsis:

The comedy revolves around the annual holiday gathering of a Bohemian family that's thrown into turmoil when the fair-haired son introduces his fiancée, a high strung New York businesswoman whom the family hates.

The Family Stone (2005) DVD Review:


Holidays are the one time that a number of very different people find themselves sharing a great deal of time together. Family at least has the history and stories of past holidays to relate to, but the awkwardness comes when new people join the family, bringing their own holiday tradition into the home of strangers. The Family Stone goes to great lengths to make the family politically correct as well as extremely liberal, so that the humor is far greater when a rich conservative girlfriend is brought home for dinner just to raise questions about homosexual children at the dinner table. Although many of the messages are quite translucent and obvious, they are also true messages and ones that we would be smart to remember during the holidays. Besides, the cast has such fun with the characters that it is easy to forget that there are blatant messages being made.

The Family Stone is an ensemble piece about the Stone family all living together in an aging New England Colonial during Christmas. Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) has found success in Manhattan, both in business and relationships. He brings his girlfriend Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker) home to meet his family, but she is uptight and conservative, the opposite of the Stone family. Meredith manages to offend the family with a conversation about Thad Stone, the gay deaf son in the family, gets drunk with the other son (Luke Wilson), and invites her sister (Claire Danes) to come to the Stone house so that she can have someone in her corner. When Meredith refuses to sleep in the same bed as Everett she puts Amy (Rachel McAdams), the sister, on the couch for the weekend. Basically everything that Meredith does rubs the family the wrong way and it all gets worse with a sickness in the family and the news that Everett plans to marry Meredith.

The film was almost made with a completely different cast until funding fell through, and that is the best thing that ever could have happened to the project, because this cast is picture perfect. Each of these actors seem born to play these roles, and they all seem to be having so much fun playing them that you have to wonder how similar they are to their real personalities. Diane Keaton is fantastic as the heart of the family, and she seems to let herself have a great deal of fun in this role. It is also a lot of fun watching McAdams get the chance to be a comedic supporting character rather than the usual romantic lead.

The film really is a lot of fun, and that is all thanks to a fantastically dedicated cast. The script really is heartwarming, but it was the real relationships that the cast created with each other that made it great. This can be seen in some of the special features on the DVD, which is fitting for a film like this.

The highlight of the special features on the DVD is the cast interview at the Screen Actor’s Guild screening. Luke Wilson has a dozen hilarious stories from the shoot that he tells in his perfect deadpan delivery to put everyone in fits of laughter. Most of the stories are at Craig T. Nelson’s expense, but it is all in good fun and you can tell that they really do enjoy each other’s company. There are also a number of featurettes that have interviews with the cast, but they aren’t as funny when they are separated. Some of the blooper reel is amusing, and the deleted scenes are worth checking out, but the commentary tracks need improvement. If you are the kind of person that enjoys the technical side of film, there is a commentary track featuring writer/director Thomas Bezucha, producer Michael London, editor Jeffrey Ford and production designer Jane Ann Stewart. The other commentary track has Sarah Jessica Parker and Dermot Mulroney, but it is an absolute disaster. Parker spends the whole commentary giggling about nothing in particular while Mulroney can’t seem to remember basic details about the shoot. Since the whole film relied upon the dynamic of the family, it would have been nice had more of the cast been on the commentary track. Had McAdams and Wilson been included in the commentary at least there would have been something for Parker to laugh about.

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The Family Stone (2005) DVD review written by: Ryan Izay

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