The Family Stone: Feel the Wuv (Review)

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

Director: Thomas Bezucha




Ah, your kinfolk. You can't pick 'em like your friends. And nothing says it better than a movie like The Family Stone which follows Everett (Mulroney) who's taking his icequeen of a girlfriend Meredith (Parker) over to his parents' house for the holidays. In his world, Everett's a buttoned-down captain of industry but it soon becomes apparent that he wasn't always that way based on his extroverted family. Director/ screenwriter Tom Bezucha cover's all the filmatic yule-tide bases without (surprise!) making the seasonal setting the wingnut-cliche that keeps all the wheels on the wagon. As the family matriarch, Diane Keaton seems to be reprising her Something's Gotta Give role at points and Luke keeps the Wilson family's laid-back slacker comic tradition alive; SJP seems to go on Carrie Bradshaw-in-power suit auto-pilot which isn't that bad -- but it ain't too good, either. Rachel "in theaters every 3-months" McAdams, on the other hand, proves she's got mad skills making with the funny while Shopgirl Claire Daines phones in her performance. With all of that said, let's face it, there's gonna be a lot of these kinds of films released during the "Thanks-nukkah" season , so if you're going to succumb to peer pressure you might as well get it over with and go to see this one, preferably at a matinee. Laters...

I think this one's coming out nationally on December 13.