The Family Stone (2005)

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

http://www.ew.com/article/2014/12/23/family-stone-point-counterpoint

 

 

I enjoy this movie even though I know its bad. Its one of those movies that just makes you cringe the entire way through.

[RyanSz 3140]

This movie pissed me off because it created characters who were so much caricatures of political ideals. Sarah Jessica Parker was very much meant to come off as a conservative with a stick up her ass while the entire family she visits is the most liberal family every created. Liberals would see this family and go "goddamn tone it down a bit!" From the dad who smokes with with his sons, to the daughter who's a teacher who laments on the issues teachers face in this country, to the gay, deaf son who's in an interracial relationship, SJP's character didn't stand a chance. It was really cringe worthy when they had the discussion about Diane Keaton wishing all of her kids were gay and Parker trying to bring up the point of how hard that life is with public perception at the time, and is basically treated like Hitler in a second by everyone at the table, including her boyfriend. Then of course the ending is so much in the vein of the Wayne's World "super happy ending" where everyone gets what they want and they all bond over the loss of this family member who was kinda hostile throughout the movie.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

its pretty remarkable how nearly everyone in this movie is a pretty terrible person. I think the only two that actually seem like decent people are the gay son and his partner and thats only because they're not particularly fleshed out and serve mainly as an easy target for SJP to make questionable statements about.

 

Dermot Mulroney instantly getting a visible boner when his fiancee's much younger sister arrives is even more insane. He cant bother to even pretend that he isnt immediately attracted to her.

 

I really think this is a solid movie for a christmas episode just because there is some bizarre shit going on.

[RyanSz 3140]

I think Claire Daine's character comes out okay as she wasn't actively trying to take her sister's boyfriend and was there to help her sister through a difficult situation. The gay couple did have a moment of dickishness when SJP was asking why Keaton would want her kids to be gay considering how rough many had had it trying to come out into a world that doesn't truly accept them yet, and why she would want a rough life for her kids. The boyfriend got pissed at her then when she asked if he got what she was trying to say, by sort of connecting it to the trials of black people and the Civil Rights Movement and gay people at the time, and the boyfriend instantly became hostile, but that was really the only scene.

 

Then there's the daughter who's the stay at home mom who lets her one kid run roughshod over the house and get into everything, like SJP's shoes, which she ends up breaking and the whole family just laughs it off and gets pissed at SJP for being mad at this inconsiderate and unapologetic mother and daughter. Yet the worst might be Rachel McAdams who is actively trying to destroy SJP solely for the fact of who she is and how she works, with really nothing else motivating her.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

To me, this movie is most memorable for its standee or banner (I can't remember which one it was), because we cut out the giant Craig T. Nelson head and kept putting it in different places throughout our theater for a good year or so, usually just inside a door or closet or just around a dark corner or something.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

This, Four Christmases, Fred Clause...... There are some genuinely terrible Christmas movies just begging to be covered.

[RyanSz 3140]

I think if they do a Christmas flick it needs to be Surviving Christmas, that thing is an utter dumpster fire.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Ben Affleck was such a smug prick in that movie.

[RyanSz 3140]

The only line I laughed at in that whole movie was Gandolfini saying of course his son was traumatized, because he saw his nude mom do a "V for victory" with her legs.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

Between Surviving Christmas and The Mexican, James Gandolfini sure did his best to make some terrible Rom Com's more watchable.

[sub780lime 1]

I actually like this movie, but it's acknowledged ignorance as I know there are so many things wrong with it. I keep it in my annual rotation of Christmas movies, which runs 30 deep, so there is a lot of room for some bad holiday movies...with Surviving Christmas also making the list. Now, before this, I'd rather see Christmas with the Kranks covered. Oh my goodness, what a pile.