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The Family Stone degenerates, and that too quickly, and ends up as a cliched Hollywood pot-boiler, writes Ervell E. Menezes
WHAT happens when a prospective in-law is about to enter the fold of a close-knit, if somewhat bohemian, family? Well, that’s the take-off point of The Family Stone. Career woman Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker) has fallen in love with Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) and he’s bringing his bride-to-be to meet his family for Christmas. Some of the family members have already run into her, especially Everett’s youngest sister Emma (Rachel McAdams) but she doesn’t think much of her. In fact she is repulsed by her, especially her "grotesque throat-clearing act." How the family reacts to this prim and proper, sophisticated New Yorker is the very meat of the first half of the film. There’s mama (Diane Keaton) and papa (Craig T. Nelson) and a handful of disparate siblings, including one who is there with his gay partner. So, there’s much fun with their different reactions to "the Outlaw," and this is cleverly handled by director Thomas Bezucha. Brad (Luke Wilson) is more civil to her, and even offers her a mug of coffee when she takes off on one of her tantrums. Meredith then sends for her sister Julie (Claire Danes) for moral support and the whole picture changes. It’s a question of getting beneath their masks to discover their true selves. An inebriated Meredith (when that happens) proves to be much warmer and more like her real self. No prizes for guessing correctly, but they’ll be soon changing partners. Whether these switches are credible or not hardly matters. It’s part of the plot, at times hilarious, but mostly predictable. There’s the usual lip sympathy for the blacks and in this case (for marketing purposes, no doubt) they kill two birds with one stone—the blacks and the gays. But the second half of the film limps. Claire Danes does make her presence felt apart from showing her versatility after her initial role as the sick child in Little Women, but it is Sarah Jessica Parker who steals the show. Diane Keaton and Craig T. Nelson do their bit and Luke Wilson endears himself to the audience but the slapstick palls. In fact The Family Stone itself degenarates, and that too quickly, and ends up as a cliched Hollywood pot-boiler. See it only if you have nothing better to do.
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