Image courtesy of www.impawards.com
Director :
Thomas Bezucha
Cast :
Claire Danes……….Julie Morton
Diane Keaton……….Sybil Stone
Rachel McAdams……….Amy Stone
Dermot Mulroney……….Everett Stone
Craig T. Nelson……….Kelly Stone
Sarah Jessica Parker……….Meredith Morton
Luke Wilson……….Ben Stone
Tyrone Giordano……….Thad Stone
Brian J. White……….Patrick Thomas
Elizabeth Reaser……….Susannah Stone Trousdale
Meeting someone’s family is a right of passage in both real life and on the silver screen. From Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner to Meet the Parents and all points between, going home to meet a significant other’s parents is a recurring theme in both life and film. And nearly a year after we met the Fockers we get to meet The Family Stone.
Or at least Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker) gets to. In a serious relationship with the eldest child of the Stone clan, Everett (Dermot Mulroney), Meredith comes home with her boyfriend to meet the whacky Stone clan: Amy (Rachel McAdams), a smarmy back-talker, slacker Ben (Luke Wilson), deaf Thad (Tyrone Giordano) and his partner Patrick (Brian J. White), pregnant Susannah (Elizabeth Reaser) and Everett’s parents Kelly (Craig T. Nelson) and Sybil (Diane Keaton).
When Meredith doesn’t fit in nearly as well as a family as open and accepting as the Stones seem to be, she brings in her sister Julie (Claire Danes) to try and help out. From here it’s an offbeat family drama as the family deals with the many issues facing it in a humorous manner.
But to think of The Family Stone as a comedy is incorrect. It has plenty of hilarious moments supplied by the ensemble cast but it’s a much more serious film than it’s been portrayed as. The film’s dramatic side is much more prevalent than the “offbeat comedy” vibe it’s been branded.
There’s a lot going on as Meredith’s arrival signals a shift in the family’s dynamic; Sybil is at a different stage in her life as the matriarch of the family and she’s trying to adjust to her children beginning families of their own. Keaton has a powerful performance as a mother trying to hold it together while seemingly her world is coming apart. It’s a cute film that doesn’t aspire to do any more than it does. There’s nothing shocking or brilliant, but the film has a lot of great moments both dramatically as well as comedically.
But the real shocker in it all is Luke Wilson as Ben. Stuck in secondary roles in comedies as the “Joey Bishop” of the Frat Pack, Wilson is often overlooked for many reasons. He has the performance of a lifetime as Ben; Ben is the sort of stock character he generally plays but Wilson is given a lot to work with this time around. He doesn’t just have some quality lines in a funny movie; he’s given a pallet to work with and crafts a wonderful character out of it. With the sort of talent assembled for the film Wilson is able to consistently steal a lot of scenes.
And it’s the cast that makes the film work. Thomas Bezucha has a cast that has certain talents and he doesn’t require them to do more than they can. Mulroney is a good looking guy who can carry a scene occasionally, McAdams works well in a supporting role and Danes is good in spurts, amongst others. He has a big cast that has certain talents and focuses on what they can do; Nelson, for example, is a paternal figure who works well in spurts and Bezucha doesn’t require Nelson to carry the film.
