the family stone movie review

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Parents' guide to, the family stone.

Common Sense Says
Parents Say 2 Reviews
Kids Say 6 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

By Cynthia Fuchs , based on child development research. How do we rate?

Bittersweet story won't appeal to younger teens.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 15+?

Drinking in bar, to point of passing out and forgetting the evening; references

Minor language ("damn," "s--t").

Sexual activity hinted at (woman wakes up in wrong brother's bed); gay couple ki

Brief shot of Santa/Norelco ad on TV; beer labels visible in bar; an NPR logo ma

Some fighting between brothers, treated as comedy and leaving black eyes and cut

Any Positive Content?

Holidays are stressful, but family members really love each other.

Parents need to know that this romantic comedy focuses on family tensions emerging when grown children come home for the Christmas holidays. Characters argue and pout; brothers fight, causing black eyes and cut cheeks. Characters drink at a bar, to the point that one passes out and doesn't remember how she ends up in her fiancé's brother's bed. One character is accused of racism, homophobia, and general "uptightness." While it's mainly comedic, the movie also includes a plot thread where a character is dying of cancer (brief glimpse of her mastectomy scar).

To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Drinking in bar, to point of passing out and forgetting the evening; references to pot-smoking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Sexual activity hinted at (woman wakes up in wrong brother's bed); gay couple kisses chastely; parents kiss and snuggle in bed, revealing very briefly the mother's mastectomy scar.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Brief shot of Santa/Norelco ad on TV; beer labels visible in bar; an NPR logo marks a character's "liberal" leanings.

Violence & Scariness

Some fighting between brothers, treated as comedy and leaving black eyes and cut faces.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Where to watch, videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

Parents say (2)
Kids say (6)

Based on 2 parent reviews

One of my favorite Christmas films

Such a great family movie for older or more mature teens., what's the story.

In THE FAMILY STONE, the liberal-leaning, proud Stones are upset when good boy Everett ( Dermot Mulroney ) brings home a bad fiancée. Granted, Meredith ( Sarah Jessica Parker ) doesn't mean to be bad. In fact, she tries very hard to be liked. But she's just tense, fretful, and sometimes ignorant, making her a target for the free-thinking Stones. The family includes parents Sybil ( Diane Keaton ) and Kelly ( Craig T. Nelson ), and the kids: deaf Thad (Tyrone Giordano) and his African American partner Patrick (Brian J. White), pregnant Susannah (Elizabeth Reaser) and her charmingly brainy daughter Elizabeth (Savannah Stehlin), pot-smoking documentary filmmaker Ben ( Luke Wilson ), and the wittily "mean one," Amy ( Rachel McAdams ). Before such judges, every word Meredith speaks seems to indict her. Only Ben supports her. He encourages her: "You have the freak flag, you just don't fly it." Flying that flag will prove Meredith's salvation.

Is It Any Good?

Thomas Bezucha's film means well and offers fine performances, but is in the end tripped up by holiday-family-gathering movie clichés. The point of The Family Stone isn't really measuring up, though this is, of course, the presumption of Christmas-family-gathering movies.

While it provides pleasurable moments (Susannah watching Judy Garland sing in Meet Me in St. Louis on TV, Brad finding the perfect gift for Amy), The Family Stone is, finally, less brave than Meredith, resorting at last to cookie-cutter resolutions like slapsticky fights and everyone's-happy couplings.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the family relationships. How do the kids' behaviors resemble their parents'? How do the Stones come to see their presumed open-mindedness as insular and judgmental? How might Meredith's transformation from tense to sociable (here pushed along by a night of drinking), be achieved in a less stereotypical way?

Movie Details

In theaters : December 16, 2005
On DVD or streaming : May 2, 2006
Cast : Diane Keaton , Rachel McAdams , Sarah Jessica Parker
Director : Thomas Bezucha
Inclusion Information : Female actors
Studio : Twentieth Century Fox
Genre : Comedy
Run time : 102 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : some sexual content including dialogue, and drug references.
Last updated : November 20, 2024

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Cast & crew
User reviews
The Family Stone

An uptight, liberal businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family's annual Christmas celebration and finds that she's a fish out of water in their free-spirite... Read all An uptight, liberal businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family's annual Christmas celebration and finds that she's a fish out of water in their free-spirited way of life. An uptight, liberal businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family's annual Christmas celebration and finds that she's a fish out of water in their free-spirited way of life.

Thomas Bezucha
Dermot Mulroney
Sarah Jessica Parker
Claire Danes
600 User reviews
143 Critic reviews
56 Metascore
4 wins & 8 nominations

Top cast 29

Everett Stone

Meredith Morton

Julie Morton

Sybil Stone

Kelly Stone

(as Ty Giordano)

Patrick Thomas

Susannah Stone Trousdale

Brad Stevenson

Elizabeth Trousdale

John Trousdale

David Silver
Jittery Cashier

Bus Driver One
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

Trivia Writer and director Thomas Bezucha put the nine cast members playing the Stones through several weeks of rehearsal so they would bond well enough off-camera to convincingly portray a family. This included a crash course in American Sign Language, as eight of the nine characters would be called upon to utilize American Sign Language in the script to either communicate with or interpret for the character of Thaddeus. While some critics, and the cast members themselves, pointed out that their American Sign Language use was sub-par, it was actually a realistic portrayal of a hearing family's use of the language, which is often perfunctory at best.
Goofs Over Amy by the window while the family is gawking at Meredith outside when they first arrive.

Sybil Stone : [to Amy, after opening Meredith's Christmas gift, a photo of a very pregnant Sybil] That's me and you, kid.

[Amy looks up, crying and nodding]

Sybil Stone : Me and you.

Connections Featured in Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Jack Black/Rachel McAdams/Charles Ross (2005)
Soundtracks Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Written by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn Performed by Dean Martin Courtesy of Capitol Records Under license from EMI Film & Television Music

User reviews 600

Family value.

happy_hangman
Jan 17, 2006

Everything New on Prime Video in November

How long is The Family Stone? Powered by Alexa
December 16, 2005 (United States)
United States
Official site
American Sign Language
La joya de la familia
Drew University - 36 Madison Avenue, Madison, New Jersey, USA
Fox 2000 Pictures
Major Studio Partners
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$18,000,000 (estimated)
$60,062,868
$12,521,027
Dec 18, 2005
$92,884,429
Runtime 1 hour 43 minutes
Dolby Digital

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The Family Stone Reviews

I just can't stand this group and the ending is unbelievable

Full Review | Jul 26, 2023

By the end of the film...I always find myself tearing up.

Full Review | Dec 5, 2022

The Family Stone flips the script by having Thad be loved and supported by all his siblings and both his parents. Nothing can compete with Diane Lane, as Thad’s mom...

Full Review | Sep 26, 2022

There is a lack of craft to the project in nearly every sense that sees great actors give good performances as bad characters.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Aug 28, 2022

Although "Stone" has some problems, it's still a film that works -- thanks to a very agreeable cast.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Nov 19, 2019

Remarkably for a Hollywood movie, this very entertaining comedy proves that the outward good cheer and inward bad vibes of the Christmas season can not only coexist, but amusingly feed upon each other.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 14, 2018

The movie feels sentimental but never cheesy: Our allegiances shift throughout, until we decide everyone deserves our sympathy, everyone has reasons.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 31, 2018

a gob of yuletide Play-Doh

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 17, 2010

The Family Stone works hard to warm the cockles of our hearts. The cast is attractive. The sentiments are commendable. But the love Bezucha wants us to feel for the family couldn't possibly compete with the love they already feel for themselves.

Full Review | Jul 7, 2010

I loved it.

Full Review | Apr 29, 2009

Full Review | Original Score: B | May 7, 2007

The farcical elements are much too loaded to provide any real fun, and the Stones come off more as sanctimonious, politically correct left-wing prigs than enchanting.

Full Review | Mar 1, 2007

The movie feels a lot like slacker brother Ben: a little sloppy, mostly predictable, some flashes of poignancy and wisdom, but ultimately doesn't live up to its potential.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 22, 2006

What's so refreshing about Thomas Bezucha's The Family Stone is how it plays off of genre expectations and effortlessly switches back and forth between comedy, romance and tragedy.

Full Review | Jul 29, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | May 12, 2006

Tocante sem ser melodramático, desenvolve bem seus personagens, cujas interações soam sempre reais. Além disso, o filme oscila com segurança entre o drama e a comédia e conta com um elenco formidável.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 14, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 1, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Mar 18, 2006

...turns from endearing to phony even before the first carol is sung.

Full Review | Feb 21, 2006

Full Review | Feb 17, 2006

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Sweepstakes

EW debates 'The Family Stone': The best Christmas movie, or the worst?

The Family Stone is one of those Christmas movies viewers either love or hate, mostly because it's just about impossible to sort of like Diane Keaton or sort of dislike Sarah Jessica Parker. Stone is also known for forcing audiences to confront difficult questions, including "Which Wilson brother do I prefer?" and "How do I feel about Dermot Mulroney's cry face?"

Correspondent Samantha Highfill and senior writer Darren Franich decided to talk out their feelings about the controversial (in our office, anyway) 2005 film. Sam's in the film's pro corner; Darren's bringing all the cons.

Happy holidays!

SAM: Where does one begin when talking about The Family Stone ? Let's start with the fact that it's about a beautifully dysfunctional family led by the brilliant duo of Diane Keaton and Craig T. Nelson. Has there ever been a better parental pairing in a Christmas movie? No, there has not. Add in Rachel McAdams, Dermot Mulroney, Luke Wilson, Elizabeth Reaser, and Tyrone Giordano as their grown children, and I've never wanted to hang out with a family more. Seriously, you saw them play Charades. They're FUN. Plus, they all know sign language—because brother Thad is deaf—which just makes them cooler.

DARREN: On paper, it's the perfect family, and the perfect set-up for a great Christmas movie. Unfortunately, The Family Stone is not a Christmas movie. It's a horror movie in which the perfect family's perfect Christmas gets invaded by Sarah Jessica Parker, portraying the worst character in movie history. SJP plays Meredith Morton, who's nominally some kind of executive from Manhattan. But actually, she's a social terrorist from space who has the emotional intelligence of a five-year-old raised in a bomb shelter. My problems with the movie start with her character: Parker played the definition of a hip New Yorker in Sex and the City , so it's a tonal nightmare to see her playing a big-city executive who appears to have never heard of gay people, or deaf people, or to have learned really any basic level of human interaction.

But more to the point: Can we talk about the fact that this is a movie where Dermot Mulroney takes his girlfriend home for Christmas…and then meets his girlfriend's sister…and then immediately falls in love with the sister…and then asks the sister to try on his grandmother's wedding ring? And it's totally okay, because the girlfriend wants to date Dermot Mulroney's brother? Sam, I ask you: Doesn't The Family Stone only make sense if we pretend everyone onscreen is completely insane?

SAM: You know what is insane, Darren? Love. Love makes us do crazy things, like fall for our terrible girlfriend's sister or our hot boyfriend's brother. But here's the thing: We're overthinking this. The Family Stone isn't Interstellar ; it doesn't need to be analyzed. This is a quirky, incredibly chaotic family that sometimes swaps love interests. So what? It's a Christmas movie. Anything is possible! And I won't complain about it, because Luke Wilson is the one thing that makes Sarah Jessica Parker tolerable.

What I will say about SJP's portrayal is that this film takes the idea that Sarah Jessica Parker is annoying, then plays it up to the umpteenth degree—even making sure her ponytail is so tight that it hurts to look at her. I have to appreciate a film that takes Carrie Bradshaw, distorts her, and doesn't stop until she's completely unlikable. Yet she doesn't ruin the film. Her whole purpose is to serve as the counterpoint to this messy, liberal family.

Is Meredith the worst? Yes. Does her awfulness bring about some great moments for the "perfect" family? Yes. And for me, that's her entire purpose. (Well, that and her dance.) But to go back to your question of sanity: I think these people are "insane" in a way. They know that they're losing their mother, and they're grieving. If grief doesn't make people do "insane" things, I don't know what does.

DARREN: Booo, I say. Booo! I know that my visceral reaction to the movie is rooted in how and when I saw it: With my mom, when I was home for Christmas from college. We went in expecting a funny/heartwarming family comedy: We got a movie where talented actresses pratfall over spilled food, and then suddenly every things shifts on a dime because CANCER. You're so busy forgetting to laugh that you barely have time to not cry.

Now, cancer plotlines in movies can be incredibly moving. But here, it just feels like a massive bummer airdropped in from out of nowhere. I'm intrigued by your argument that everyone in this movie is acting like a crazy person because they're repressing their grief. But I don't think that really explains the last act of the movie, when everyone becomes a cartoon character. And it also doesn't explain Rachel McAdams, playing the world's least convincing hipster (whoa, sweatpants!). But I don't want to hate on McAdams too much, because she's the most fascinating character in the movie. She hates Sarah Jessica Parker, and she has a weird non-sibling chemistry with Dermot Mulroney: This all feels very grown-up Flowers in the Attic to me.

Am I overanalyzing? I can't help it! You're so right about the cast being great, but The Family Stone itself is such a weird combination of wacky and perfect that they wind up feeling more like a family from a Christmas advertisement. Like, isn't it weird that the family is supposed to be this beacon of liberal tolerance—gay deaf son! Rachel McAdams playing Winona Ryder! Luke Wilson playing Owen Wilson!—but then the end of the movie is the picture of mid-century Americana, everyone happily married and pregnant? The Family Stone tries to have its cake, eat it, smear the cake all over the actors' faces and declare itself a triumph of the human spirit.

SAM: I actually don't think this film is trying to declare itself as anything! I get that it walks this weird line of "is this supposed to be funny or is this supposed to be sad?"—but I think that's what makes it both. The Family Stone is—love squares aside—a very realistic look at a family dynamic in times of coping. Yes, Diane Keaton has cancer, but it never feels schmaltzy. I don't think you're necessarily supposed to cry when you watch it—though if you didn't, I question the existence of your soul, Franich.

I had a similar first experience with the film: Went to see it with the family; was not expecting all the cancer. I didn't love it for that very reason. But upon re-watching, I realized The Family Stone is about funny moments in times of sadness. Honestly? I feel stupid talking so seriously about a movie that I don't feel takes itself too seriously. It's not preaching about the loss of a family member; if anything, it teaches us how not to deal with loss.

And I have to say, I don't think they turn into a Christmas advertisement. Sure, everyone's hair looks great in that final scene—but I think it's also the movie's most depressing moment. It's the picture of a hurting, messed up family. They're not punching each other or laughing or throwing things, but not because they've evolved into the perfect family. It's because the Stones are no longer themselves. Who's to say that Rachel McAdams' character stays with the EMT, or that SJP will even be a member of the family next year? Nobody. In that moment, they're trying to have a good holiday without their matriarch, and they're lost. They'll go back to screaming at each other as soon as possible.

More importantly, how have we not talked about Brian White's chunky sweaters yet? Because: AMAZING.

DARREN: I feel the need to declare that I am not the Grinchiest Grinch on Earth. Last year, I watched It's a Wonderful Life for the first time, and was a blubbery mess for the last twenty minutes. Like, Sam, literally, I was crying for twenty minutes . That hasn't happened since the last time I injured myself playing a sport my parents forced me to play!

So I like what you're saying about the messed-up quality of the Stones. To be honest, I think I'd like the movie more if it doubled down on the grief thing—if you could really feel how Diane Keaton's condition was driving all the members of the family to pretend to be their best selves, until they become their worst selves.

The Family Stone might not be my cup (glass) of tea (eggnog), but I can't get too mad about a movie becoming a new go-to yuletide entertainment. The Franiches were always a Christmas Story family, although at some point my brother and I started watching Scrooged —both of which hail from the '80s. Love, Actually came out more recently, but it's as British as British can be. So even though I don't necessarily approve of vaguely-incestuous sister-swapping, I can support the notion of The Family Stone taking a place in the canon of American Christmas films.

SAM: I would like the record to reflect that one mention of Brian White's sweaters was all it took to open Darren's heart. Because they're that great.

The only other thing I'll say is that I don't disagree with the notion that doubling down on the grief thing would help—yet I'd also hate if the movie did that. Because oddly enough, I find this to be a very fun holiday film. Yes, there's all the grief—but that's just one part of this family's holiday. And while another part involves sister-swapping, so long as it gets me a slap fight between Luke Wilson and Dermot Mulroney, I'm happy.