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December 20, 2005
The Family Stone: B

The trailer for this film is slightly misleading as it's cut to look like it would be a trite, Nora Ephron-style holiday comedy. It's actually a lot more interesting than that. It sports a talented cast playing a large close-knit family whose biggest flaw is that they are maybe too close-knit. They are not the perfect holiday family but neither are they disfunctional in your standard Hollywood fashion either. I actually enjoyed their dynamic and found that some of the heavier moments were well performed and at times, touching.

The main focus of the movie though is hard to swallow romantic mix and match of a few of the characters and Sarah Jessica Parker as the unlikeable, high strung outsider to the family who says and does things that I doubt anyone in their right mind would do in this situation.