{"id":45,"date":"2005-12-19T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-12-19T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2005\/12\/the-family-stone-is-a-gem.html"},"modified":"2005-12-19T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-12-19T12:00:00","slug":"the-family-stone-is-a-gem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2005\/12\/the-family-stone-is-a-gem.html","title":{"rendered":"“The Family Stone” is a gem"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the spirit of other dark comedies about dysfunctional families–movies such as \u201cHome for the Holidays\u201d<\/a> or \u201cThe Royal Tenenbaums\u201d<\/A>–the latest Christmas flick, \u201cThe Family Stone,\u201d<\/a> is, on the surface anyway, a formulaic story about a young couple, Emmett and Meredith (played by Dermot Mulroney and Sarah Jessica Parker), who travel to New England to meet his parents for Christmas. Of course, Meredith is terribly nervous and naturally everything goes wrong, and the family doesn\u2019t like their potential daughter-in-law one bit. But amidst some slapstick laughs, this movie surprises by adding several thoughtful layers to the plot. (Warning: this post contains a few minor spoilers!)<\/p>\n

First I think it is worth noting that the movie incorporates a deaf son as one of the characters–the most natural, seamless and intelligent incorporation of someone with a disability in a movie that I can remember in a very long time. Why don\u2019t we see that more often in film, as a life affirming but not maudlin reflection of that oh-so-popular word \u201cdiversity\u201d?<\/p>\n

Next, as far as romantic comedies go, I loved this story because it does not give the romance(s) in this movie the \u201cJerry Maguire\u201d<\/a> treatment. In fact, “The Family Stone” is about just the opposite. This movie points out that someone else can\u2019t complete us or be our sole purpose in life. We have to look deeper inside ourselves to find wholeness.<\/p>\n

But the biggest twist in the movie is when the audience discovers, along with certain members of the Stone family, that the mother (brilliantly played by Diane Keaton), Sybil, is trying to keep a dark secret from everyone. The secret suddenly explains a lot of this family\u2019s caustic behavior. Again, this could have turned this movie into some sappy movie-of\u2013the-week clich\u00e9, but it didn\u2019t. It is only one more layer of story that leads up to what I saw as the most redemptive moment in the film. Meredith and Emmett\u2019s irreverent brother Ben (played by Owen Wilson) snuggle together on a bed and softly sing over and over the words \u201crepeat the sounding joy\u201d from the carol \u201cJoy to the World,” while downstairs Sybil Stone is marveling at the gently falling snow. The message to all of us at this–or any other–season is that joy can be found in the most difficult and unlikely times if we stop to listen to our spirits and embrace what is truly precious… and have a good laugh at ourselves and our frail humanity in the process.<\/p>\n

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In the spirit of other dark comedies about dysfunctional families–movies such as \u201cHome for the Holidays\u201d or \u201cThe Royal Tenenbaums\u201d–the latest Christmas flick, \u201cThe Family Stone,\u201d is, on the surface anyway, a formulaic story about a young couple, Emmett and Meredith (played by Dermot Mulroney and Sarah Jessica Parker), who travel to New England to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n"The Family Stone" is a gem<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""The Family Stone" is a gem\" \/>\n<meta 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