Monday's Movie-The Family Stone

A Novel Menagerie asks us to post about a movie that you watched the week before. We usually watch quite a few movies over the weekend and it is sometimes difficult to only discuss one.

The movie that we watched this weekend that was a pleasant surprise was The Family Stone.


Here are some of the details from the film:

Genre: Comedy

Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Claire Danes, Diane Keaton, Luke Wilson, Durmot Mulroney, Rachel McAdams

Runtime: 1 hr, 43 mn

MPAA Rating: PG13

Here is a summary of the movie from the MSN Movie website:
A woman meets her future in-laws and discovers they don't much care for her in this comedy from writer and director Thomas Bezucha. Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) is a successful young businessman who is dating Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker), and has asked her to spend Christmas with his family, with plans to ask his mother Sybil (Diane Keaton) for the titular family wedding band and propose to Meredith on Christmas. Meredith is more than a bit nervous about meeting Everett's folks, and things only get worse when they arrive -- Meredith is by her nature straight-laced and a bit uptight around strangers, while Sybil and family patriarch Kelly (Craig T. Nelson) are free-thinkers who, except for Everett, have raised a family of cheerfully rebellious children, most notably younger daughter Amy (Rachel McAdams), older brother Ben (Luke Wilson), and adopted sibling Thad (Tyrone Giordano, who is both deaf and gay.

Meredith and the Stone family do not get along well at first, especially Sybil, who is appalled at the prospect of Everett giving Meredith the family's heirloom wedding ring; in dire need of moral support, Meredith asks her younger sister, Julie (Claire Danes), to join her for Christmas with the Stones. However, the plan runs into a snag when Everett's head is turned by pretty Julie, and Meredith finds herself on the receiving end of attention from slobby Ben. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

My Movie Thoughts:

This movie was full of actors that I thoroughly enjoy so I can't believe that I waited so long to watch it. Even though this is a Christmas themed movie, I think it can be enjoyed any time of the year. For Christmas, Everett decides to bring his girlfriend Meredith home to meet his family. Unfortunately, everyone in the family seems to dislike Meredith, or is it the fact that they don't think Meredith is the right girl for Everett? It makes for a very uncomfortable holiday get-together, as the only person that Meredith can seem to carry on a normal conversation with is Everett's brother Ben. And how much worse can it possibly get when Meredith finds herself waking up in the bed of her boyfriend's brother? Oh my goodness, this movie had me both laughing and crying. I must admit that I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. The twists and turns of the family events were quite predictable, but it was enjoyable all the same. I love movies that focus on family dynamics, and this one did an excellent job of that. Since we also watched Paul Blart Mall Cop this weekend, and I probably laughed more while watching The Family Stone, I can't help but rate this movie 5 out of 5 bags of popcorn!