The Family Stone
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Bonus Review #3
Film: The Family Stone [PG-13] 102 minutes
WIP: $10.00
When 1st Seen: 16 January 2006
Where Viewed: Regal Cinema Martin Village 16, Lacey, WA
Time: 3:40 p.m.
Dedicated to: LTS of Northfield, MN (you said I could do it)
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DVD |
To begin, when I saw the preview, noticed the all-star cast, and heard the title for The Family Stone I could think of only one thing and that was the The Royal Tenenbaums, which, candidly did not make me want to see this movie…ever. You can probably guess that I did not enjoy the Royal Tenenbaums very much. The plan for my day actually began the day before when I thought about it being Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and how I think it is important to see an important film on MLK, Jr. Day. So, I decided to see if Paradise Now was playing anywhere still in the state of Washington. Much to my delight Moviefone.com directed me to an independent, all-volunteer staffed, movie house in the state’s capital city of Olympia, a city I have yet to visit since relocating to WA last July. Those familiar with Seattle traffic, which can be absolutely stunningly horrendous and is probably the source of a 1000 other people’s blogs, so I’ll spare you here, will realize as I did that a movie start time of 6:30 p.m. in Olympia, roughly 63.5 miles to the south (according to my trusty Mapquest.com), was going to be problematic. In order to not face hours in transit, I would need to leave Seattle mid-day and do something in the south prior. So, I thought, you know what, I’ll go see Narnia: Epsisode I again, for the third time, and then I can write the long-awaited bonus review. It just so happened that a luxurious new Regal Cinema called the Martin Village 16 was showing Narnia at 3:15 p.m. just about 8 miles from downtown Olympia--perfect, and somewhat coincidental that I would discover this aptly-named theater as part of my MLK, Jr. Day plan. I left the house at 2:10 p.m. after failing to complete Planet 7 of Katamari Damacy by 5 cm and drove southward on I-5 in the pouring rain. It has now been raining for something like 30 straight days in Seattle, by the way. I used to think the Seattle rain was a myth like the Denver snow perpetuated to keep people from California from moving, but it’s not. Nope, it rains here all the time. Even when it’s sunny, like right now, it usually takes a turn for the worse in like 20 minutes and then, well, it rains for the next 16 straight hours. I arrived at the theater on schedule having to rely on my memory for the directions given that I left the carefully hand-scribbled notes on the dining room table where the sit at this moment. When I arrived at the fancy ticket ATM now available at many Regal Cinemas, I found my heart broken and Narnia: Episode I was sold out for the next two shows. How could this be? Had the people of Lacey, WA just recently heard of the movie? Nevertheless, I was stuck in the same situation I described myself at length in my sidebar the other day when a person is forced to choose a movie from the marquee based strictly on timing. Yikes. There it was, at 3:40 p.m. with a running time of 102 minutes, The Family Stone. So, I gulped, remembered my pledge, and bought the ticket at the matinee price, at least! Inside the theater, I approached the customer service desk to receive my Regal Crown Club points since their fancy ticket ATM cannot deliver these points, and this horrible woman lied to the customer service agent saying I had cut in front of her in the line to the desk. I’m certain she wasn’t a local resident because I imagine the people of Lacey, WA to be very nice people one and all. Turns out, all she wanted to know was a movie time—something she could have found out herself easily by stepping out to the marquee. Anyway, I got my points, and then bought myself a gigantic bag of hot, buttery popcorn (called a medium) and gigantic Mr. Pibb® (also called a medium) figuring if I’m going to see a movie I’m not that excited about seeing, I might as well have good treats to eat and drink while being tortured. As I approached the ticket usher, another woman, whom I am also quite certain was not a local, rushed passed me and the ticket usher carrying her even larger popcorn and even larger beverage much to the protest of the ticket usher who, I was surprised, did not chase her down. I followed her, noting her ticket in her hand, for quite a ways down the hallway until I managed to flag her down and say, “The ticket usher was trying to get you to stop and give her your ticket.” She smiled, and then frowned, and then headed back the opposite direction to turn in her ticket probably worried she was going to miss the commercials before the trailers before the please-be-quiet and silence-your-cell-phone announcements before the Dolby® Digital sound effect feature before the opening credits. One of these days, I’ll write an entire side bar for you on my opinion of these nuisances. I arrived at my auditorium thinking they should have a moving sidewalk in this theater for as long a distance as it was from the front door to the door of the auditorium. Once inside I joined a decently large crowd of people who all looked a little like they might have been in a similar situation of picking the film only because Narnia: Episode I was sold out, but none of us was bitter about it if that’s what you’re thinking.
I arrived just in time to catch the preview of one of my most eagerly anticipated new films, Vendetta starring Natalie Portman. I didn’t pay attention to the preview, rather I organized my seat and popcorn and frosty beverage. Then, I thought about how much I really didn’t want to see this film and what that said in relation to preferring to see Narnia: Episode I a third time before seeing this even a first time.
All of that set up, probably made me enjoy the movie far more than I otherwise might have had I intended to see the film because I am a huge Thomas Bezucha, writer and director of The Family Stone, fan—not going to lie, I had to get the spelling of his name off the Internet. Now, honestly, I have always been a huge Sarah Jessica (You’ll always be Annie to me!) Parker fan. After Jodie Foster, she was my second movie star crush as a kid. I thought she was amazing. Truth be told, I like all of the actors in this all-star cast very, very much, especially Diane Keaton who reminds me so much of my mom’s twin cousins for some reason. She just has that cute smile that reflects an inner glow combined with a sense of realism like she knows that she’s a real person, not some over-stuffed actress. Forget it, I cannot explain it well, just suffice it to say, I think she’s special and underrated. The cast, from Dermot Mulroney to Luke Wilson to Claire Danes (who, for some reason, got top billing in the cast list despite playing a relatively minor role to SJP or even Craig T. Nelson which I guess shows that her agent is working overtime) was outstanding. As for the story, it couldn’t have been less like the family Tenenbaum’s story. While nearly as dysfunctional and, if it’s possible, probably more politically correct than any family previously portrayed on film, this was a family I suspect most people could find themselves at home with. My bet is you will connect with the undervalued, eccentric, Ben Stone (Luke Wilson), the less than perfect daughter, Amy Stone (Rachel McAdams), or the always-has-to-be-perfect older brother, Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney), and it goes on. Maybe you will even find yourself identifying with poor SJP’s Meredith Morton, the girlfriend of Everett, he brings home for Christmas to meet the family Stone for the first time. Her arrival, in fact, catalyzes the series of events out of which the plot for the movie unfolds. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes heart-wrenching, and sometimes highly controversial as poor Meredith finds herself insulting nearly everyone at the table when her mouth seems to act more swiftly than her mind during Christmas Eve dinner, this film is about as real today as they come. At its heart, the film is about figuring out who you are and what you want out of life, though there are so many sub-stories going on that some of these, especially the Amy Stone/Brad Stevenson relationship, don’t get as fully developed as we might have liked. In the end, I have to admit to liking this movie quite a bit. I had heard from some friends that it wasn’t very good, and I have to beg to differ. It actually was a good movie, and I would recommend it joining the list of must-see-before-Christmas family movies along with A Christmas Story and It’s a Wonderful Life. This movie will remind us one and all to remember that the best way to diffuse potentially volatile family gatherings is with love and laughter.
Now Available for Purchase on DVD
The Family Stone (Widescreen Version) [DVD] (2005) DVD
The Family Stone [DVD] (2005) DVD
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